Sha'ar HaAmakim

Sha'ar HaAmakim

Sha'ar HaAmakim in 2008
Sha'ar HaAmakim
Coordinates: 32°43′22.79″N 35°6′47.88″E / 32.7229972°N 35.1133000°E / 32.7229972; 35.1133000Coordinates: 32°43′22.79″N 35°6′47.88″E / 32.7229972°N 35.1133000°E / 32.7229972; 35.1133000
Council Zevulun Regional Council
Affiliation Kibbutz Movement
Founded 1935
Founded by Romanian and Yugoslavian immigrants
Website www.s-h.org.il

Sha'ar HaAmakim (Hebrew: שַׁעַר הַעֲמָקִים, lit. Gate of the Valleys) is a kibbutz in northern Israel associated with the Hashomer Hatzair movement. Located near Kiryat Tiv'on, it falls under the jurisdiction of Zevulun Regional Council. In 2006, it had a population of 548.

History

Antiquity

Hellenistic site near the kibbutz

Human habitation in the area dates at least as far back as the Hellenistic period.[1]

Crusades

In 1283, during the hudna ("truce") between the Crusaders based in Acre and the Mamluk sultan al-Mansur Qalawun, this location was named el Harathiyah and was described as part of the domain of the Crusaders.[2]

Ottoman rule

During the Ottoman era, a Muslim village at the site was called el Hâritheh.[3] The village appeared as El Harti on the map of Pierre Jacotin compiled in 1799.[4] In 1859, the population was recorded as 120 with tillable land of 12 feddans.[5] In 1875, Victor Guérin reported about 40 houses.[6] In 1882, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine described it as an adobe hamlet.[5]

British Mandate of Palestine

Horse-drawn and mechanical vehicles at the kibbutz' flour mill in the 1950s

In 1925 a Zionist organisation purchased 50 feddans in Hartieh from the Sursock family of Beirut. At the time, there were 60 families living there.[7] From 1931, and lasting several years, the Jewish Agency struggled to evict the Arab tenant farmers from Hartiya.[8][9][10] According to Avneri, Hartiya land was to become Sha'ar HaAmakim.[8] According to the Department of Statistics, however, Sha'ar HaAmakim had previously been part of Sheikh Bureik.[11][12]

The Sha'ar HaAmakim kibbutz was founded in 1935 by immigrants from Romania and Yugoslavia. Its name was derived from the nearby confluence of the Jezreel and Zevulun valleys.[13]

In 1945, Sha'ar HaAmakim had a population of 360, all Jews.[11][12]

State of Israel

Sha'ar HaAmakim hosted volunteers from around the world, including France and the United States, who worked at the kibbutz and participated in cultural exchanges.[14] In the 1960s, there were up to 100 volunteers each year.[15] Bernie Sanders, who later became a U.S. Senator, is reported to have stayed for several months in 1963.[16][17]

Economy

In 2016, it was reported most of the income for the kibbutz comes from its solar water heater factory, but members continue to work in agriculture, including dairy.[14] For more than five decades, it has produced and processed sunflower seeds which it markets under its name both in Israel and for export.[18] It also has a fish pond and orchards producing apples, peaches, and pears.[15]

References

  1. Segal, Arthur; Młynarczyk, Jolanta; Burdajewicz, Mariusz; Bar-Oz, Guy (2009). Excavations of the Hellenistic site in Kibbutz Sha'ar-Ha'Amakim. Haifa: Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa. ISBN 9789659041879.
  2. Barag, 1979, p. 204
  3. ”the ploughed land”, Palmer, 1881, p. 109
  4. Karmon, 1960, p. 163
  5. 1 2 Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 270
  6. Guérin, 1880, pp. 399-400
  7. List of villages sold by Sursocks and their partners to the Zionists since British occupation of Palestine Evidence to the Shaw Commission, 1930
  8. 1 2 Avneri, 1984, pp. 156-7
  9. 26 February 1935, House of Commons
  10. Bernie Sanders Stint at 'Stalinist' Kibbutz Draws Red-Baiting From Right, Nathan Guttman, February 5, 2016 The Forward
  11. 1 2 Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 15
  12. 1 2 Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 49
  13. History Sha'ar HaAmakim Seeds
  14. 1 2 Erlanger, Steven (February 5, 2016). "Bernie Sanders’s Kibbutz Found. Surprise: It’s Socialist.". The New York Times. Retrieved February 6, 2016.
  15. 1 2 Sales, Ben (February 8, 2016). "50 years on, Bernie Sanders still champions values of his Israeli kibbutz". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved February 8, 2016.
  16. Aderet, Ofer (4 February 2016). "Mystery Solved? Haaretz Archive Reveals Which Kibbutz Bernie Sanders Volunteered On". Haaretz. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  17. Sales, Ben (February 8, 2016). "50 years on, Bernie Sanders still champions values of his Israeli kibbutz". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved February 8, 2016.
  18. "Shaar Haamakim Seeds". Sha'ar Ha'amakim Seeds, Ltd. Retrieved February 6, 2016.

Bibliography

External links

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