Tzrifin () is an area in Gush Dan (Dan Region) in central

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, located on the eastern side of

Rishon LeZion Rishon LeZion ( , "First to Zion") is a city in Israel, located along the central Israeli coastal plain south of Tel Aviv. It is part of the Gush Dan metropolitan area. Founded in 1882 by Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire who were ...

and including parts of Be'er Ya'akov. The area proper is defined as an 'area without jurisdiction' between the two cities. Nearly the entire area of Tzrifin proper was taken up by the central

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

(IDF) base, Camp Yigael Yadin (a.k.a. Camp Tzrifin, Camp 782), with which it is synonymous, even though the base also spills into Rishon LeZion and Be'er Ya'akov. Camp Yadin contains a multitude of training bases, as well as Prison Four, the largest Israeli military prison. In late 2010s it was decided to vacate the area, move its bases to Camp Ariel Sharon in the South and repurpose the land for residential development.

Etymology

Tzrifin is a hebrew form of Sarafend (Ṣarafand / صرفند), an

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

rendition of the Phoenician place-name *Ṣrpt.

History

During the 18th and 19th centuries, the area of Tzrifin belonged to the Nahiyeh (sub-district) of Lod that encompassed the area of the present-day city of

Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut ( ''Mōdīʿīn-Makkabbīm-Rēʿūt'') is a city located in central Israel, about southeast of Tel Aviv and west of Jerusalem, and is connected to those two cities via Highway 443. In the population was . The populati ...

in the south to the present-day city of El'ad in the north, and from the foothills in the east, through the Lod Valley to the outskirts of

Jaffa Jaffa (, ; , ), also called Japho, Joppa or Joppe in English, is an ancient Levantine Sea, Levantine port city which is part of Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel, located in its southern part. The city sits atop a naturally elevated outcrop on ...

in the west. This area was home to thousands of inhabitants in about 20 villages, who had at their disposal tens of thousands of hectares of prime agricultural land. Tzrifin was founded in 1917, during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, as a British base named Sarafand or Sarafend, after the nearby Arab village Sarafand al-Amar. Sarafand was a central British base in a strategic location situated nearby the important railway junction at Lydda ( Lod) – which was accessible from the base via a spur off of the Jaffa–Lydda–Jerusalem railway. The Transjordan Frontier Force (TJFF) was established at Sarafand on 1 April 1926 with a cadre drawn from the

Arab Legion The Arab Legion () was the police force, then regular army, of the Emirate of Transjordan, a British protectorate, in the early part of the 20th century, and then of the Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, an independent state, with a final Ar ...

. The TJFF subsequently moved to Zerqa in October 1926. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the

Jewish Brigade The Jewish Infantry Brigade Group, more commonly known as the Jewish Brigade Group or Jewish Brigade, was a military formation of the British Army in the World War II, Second World War. It was formed in late 1944 and was recruited among Yishuv, Y ...

was formed in Tzrifin. Starting in the 1930s, next to the military camp there was a

concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...

for Arab and Jewish Palestinian convicts in administrative detention, and for Jewish illegal immigrants. On 14 May 1948, the day of the

Israeli declaration of independence The Israeli Declaration of Independence, formally the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel (), was proclaimed on 14 May 1948 (5 Iyar 5708), at the end of the 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine, civil war phase and ...

, British forces vacated Sarafand. False rumours suggested the British sold the base to the Arabs, but only Arab residents of nearby villages, some of whom worked in the base, entered the base for looting. The adjacent Arab village Sarafand al-'Amr was depopulated on 15 May. After a two-day battle, between the 18th and 19 May, the base was captured by the Jewish forces from the Givati Brigade. The place was named Tzrifin after a historical city with that name located in the area and mentioned in the

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

. As the years passed,

expanded to the east, eventually reaching the fence line of Camp Yadin. As a result, the IDF decided to vacate Tzrifin and sell its land to private residential developers due to the high land value. By the early 2020s the IDF is expected to vacate all of its installations from Tzrifin, with most of their functions being relocated to new bases to Camp Ariel Sharon in the

Negev The Negev ( ; ) or Naqab (), is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its southern end is the Gulf of Aqaba and the resort town, resort city ...

desert, Southern Israel. In 2019 the central part of the camp was demolished to give way for 1,100 new apartments for Rishon LeZion.

Location and geography

Tzrifin is located between Rishon LeZion on the west, and Be'er Ya'akov on all 3 other sides. It is above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

and from the Mediterranean seashore. The base in it has three main entrances—Jaffa Gate, Jerusalem Gate and Rishon LeZion Gate, all of which are located within the municipalities, and not within Tzrifin proper. The Jaffa Gate links a street within the base to Road 44 (Tzrifin Junction). At this location, there are a number of fast food restaurants and a pedestrian bridge which connects the base to the bus terminal on the other side of the road. The Assaf HaRofeh Medical Center is located near the Jaffa Gate. The Jerusalem Gate links the base to Tzahal Road (Road 4313) in Be'er Ya'akov, which ultimately connects to Road 44 at the Nir Tzvi Junction in the Emek Lod Regional Council. The Rishon LeZion gate is located deep within Rishon LeZion and connects Rishon's Jerusalem Street with the base.

Bases

As with many other IDF bases, Camp Yadin is a container base for many smaller ones. The following is a list of bases within Camp Yadin.

Training bases

*Bahad 6 – the school for logistics *Bahad 7 – the school for telecommunications and computers - technically located outside Camp Yadin *Bahad 10 – the school for medical professions *Bahad 11 – the

Human Resources Directorate The Israeli Personnel Directorate (, ''Agaf Koakh Adam'', abbreviated to AKA), formerly called the Manpower Directorate and the Human Resources Directorate, is the Israel Defense Forces body that holds responsibility for planning and coordinatio ...

training base ( Adjutant Corps, General Corps) *Bahad 12 – the school for command, belonging to the GOC Army Headquarters (now closed) * Bahad 16 – the school for extraction and rescue *Bahad 20 – the school for the Ordnance Corps *The school for military law and the disciplinary court department *The school for governing

Other bases (partial links)

*108th Air Force Unit and Erez Workshop * Military Police Corps area, including Prison Four (Unit 394), Yamlat 8225, CID Dan and ''Yamar'' Center * Lotem telecommunications unit (Unit 818) *779th Military Rabbinate Unit ( Beth din) *542nd

Medical Corps A medical corps is generally a military branch or staff corps, officer corps responsible for medical care for serving military personnel. Such officers are typically military physicians. List of medical corps The following organizations are exam ...

Unit *Anti- WMD Base B *276th Anti-WMD Center *Military court for off-duty days *Food supply center (Units 6100, 6110 and 6120) *562nd and 564th building and maintenance units *Combat Equipment and Spare Parts Center (''Matzlah'') (Unit 6800) *'' Hoshen'' Center (Unit 868) *Maintenance and Rehabilitation Center (Unit 7000) *791st Workshop

Non-military use

During the 1950s, a '' Ma'abara'' was located on the lands of Tzrifin, the residents of which eventually moved out to the nearby towns, especially Lod. Currently, several non-military installations are located in the Tzrifin area: * Assaf HaRofeh Medical Center, which provides care for both military and civilian patients * Shmuel HaRofe Geriatric Hospital *Warehouses belonging to the

Jewish Agency for Israel The Jewish Agency for Israel (), formerly known as the Jewish Agency for Palestine, is the largest Jewish non-profit organization in the world. It was established in 1929 as the operative branch of the World Zionist Organization (WZO). As an ...

*Various industrial complexes

Military evacuation and civilian development

The Israel Defense Forces is slated to move most bases in Tzrifin in 2013–2014 to the new City of Training Bases being built south of

Beersheba Beersheba ( / ; ), officially Be'er-Sheva, is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the centre of the fourth-most populous metropolitan area in Israel, the eighth-most p ...

. The area of the base will open to civilian development, and will be divided between the municipalities of

and Be'er Ya'akov. Most of the area, 840

dunam A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; ; ; ), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area analogous in role (but not equal) to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amo ...

s (0.84 km²), will go Rishon LeZion, and much of it will be zoned for commercial development. This will including an industrial zone for medical development, next to the Asaf HaRofe Hospital. Be'er Ya'akov will get 560 dunams (0.56 km²) mostly for residential development.

Archaeology

An archaeological excavation was conducted at ''Khirbet Tzrifin'' in 2010 by Ron Toueg on behalf of Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). Israel Antiquities Authority
Excavators and Excavations Permit for Year 2010
Survey Permit # A-5928

References

{{coord, 31, 57, 31.25, N, 34, 50, 22.33, E, display=title Military installations of Israel Geography of Central District (Israel)