Degania Bet

Degania Bet
דְּגַנְיָה ב'
Hebrew transcription(s)
 • standard Dganya Bet
Degania Bet
Coordinates: 32°42′0″N 35°34′33.6″E / 32.70000°N 35.576000°E / 32.70000; 35.576000Coordinates: 32°42′0″N 35°34′33.6″E / 32.70000°N 35.576000°E / 32.70000; 35.576000
Council Emek HaYarden
Region Sea of Galilee
Affiliation Kibbutz Movement
Founded 1920
Founded by Immigrants from the Second Aliyah
Population (2008) 514[1]
Website www.degania-b.org.il (Hebrew)

Degania Bet (Hebrew: דְּגַנְיָה ב') is a kvutza or kibbutz in northern Israel. Located to the south of the Sea of Galilee adjacent to Degania Alef, it falls under the jurisdiction of Emek HaYarden Regional Council. Degania Bet was established in 1920. In 2008 it had a population of 514.[1]

History

Antiquity

This was possibly the place called Union, or Homonœa, by Josephus.[2]

Ottoman era

During the Ottoman era was here a Muslim village called Umm Junieh.[3] A map from Napoleon's invasion of 1799 by Pierre Jacotin showed the place as ruined.[4]

In 1875 Victor Guérin observed the village of Oumm Djouneh, sitting on a hill east of the river Jordan.[5] In 1881, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described the place, (then named Umm Junieh), as a stone and adobe village, on the east side of the river Jordan, on the top of the eastern bank of the river. It contained about 250 Muslim inhabitants. All the plain around was arable soil; no trees. A mill was worked at the village.[6]

British Mandate

Degania Bet was founded in 1920 by immigrants from the Second Aliyah,[7] led by Levi Brevda (Levi Ben Amitai).[8] It was the first planned kibbutz and was designed and built by the German Jewish architect Fritz Kornberg.[9][10] One of its founders was Levi Eshkol. During the 1920 Palestine riots it was attacked and abandoned for several months.[7]

During the 1936-39 Arab revolt it served as a base for establishing tower and stockade settlements.

In the 1931 census of Palestine Deganya B had a population of 138, all Jews, in a total of 39 houses.[11] increasing in 1945, to 290, still all Jewish.[12]

War of Independence 1948

On May 20, 1948, during the Battles of the Kinarot Valley, in one of the first battles of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, the residents of Degania Alef and Bet, assisted by a small number of military personnel, repelled a Syrian attack and succeeded in halting the advance of the Syrian army into the Jordan Valley.[7]

Economy

In addition to its 350 cow dairy herd, crop fields, almond orchards, banana, date and avocado plantations, Degania Bet industrialized in the 1960s with Degania Sprayers, now a green industry; in 1984 it opened the Degania Silicone factory. An additional source of income is its kibbutz cottage tourist accommodation, and it specializes in organized bicycle tours.

Notable residents

References

  1. 1 2 "Locality File" (XLS). Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. 2008. Retrieved 2010-07-10.
  2. ↑ Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 371
  3. ↑ From personal name, according to Palmer, 1881, p. 136
  4. ↑ Karmon, 1960, p. 167.
  5. ↑ Guérin, 1880, p. 283
  6. ↑ Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 362
  7. 1 2 3 Mapa's concise gazetteer of Israel (in Hebrew). Yuval El'azari (ed.). Tel-Aviv: Mapa Publishing. 2005. p. 125. ISBN 965-7184-34-7.
  8. ↑ http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/lyakhovichi/Biographyhome.htm
  9. ↑ Shmuel Burmil, Ruth Enis (2011). The Changing Landscape of a Utopia: The Landscape and Gardens of the Kibbutz. Past and Present. Grüne Reihe - Quellen und Forschungen zur Gartenkunst (Band 29). pp. 154–158. ISBN 978-3-88462-284-1.
  10. ↑ Chyutin, Michael and Bracha (2007-04-24). Architecture and Utopia. Ashgate Pub Co. p. 90. ISBN 0-7546-4831-1.
  11. ↑ Mills, 1932, p. 82
  12. ↑ Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 12

Bibliography

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External links

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