Jo'ara is a former military installation in the
Menashe Heights
The Manasseh Hills or hill country of Manasseh, directly derived from Hebrew: Menashe Heights (), called Bilad ar-Ruha in Arabic, meaning "Land of Winds", is a geographical region in northern Israel, located on the Carmel Range, between Mount Ca ...
. A small
Palestinian Arab
Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine.
*: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous ...
village existed on the hill until the 1930s. Between 1938 and 1948, it became the main military school for commanding officers of the
Haganah
Haganah ( , ) was the main Zionist political violence, Zionist paramilitary organization that operated for the Yishuv in the Mandatory Palestine, British Mandate for Palestine. It was founded in 1920 to defend the Yishuv's presence in the reg ...
and
Palmach
The Palmach (Hebrew: , acronym for , ''Plugot Maḥatz'', "Strike Phalanges/Companies") was the elite combined strike forces and sayeret unit of the Haganah, the paramilitary organization of the Yishuv (Jewish community) during the period of th ...
. After the establishment of
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 ...
, the hill was used as a military base and officers school, and between 1970 and 2016 by the
Youth Battalions' (Gad'na) pre-military programme. The base and its museum were closed down in 2016–2017.
Historical settlement
Byzantine period
A grave has been excavated here, yielding coins from
Arcadius
Arcadius ( ; 377 – 1 May 408) was Roman emperor from 383 to his death in 408. He was the eldest son of the ''Augustus'' Theodosius I () and his first wife Aelia Flaccilla, and the brother of Honorius (). Arcadius ruled the eastern half of ...
(395–408) and
Theodosius II
Theodosius II ( ; 10 April 401 – 28 July 450), called "the Calligraphy, Calligrapher", was Roman emperor from 402 to 450. He was proclaimed ''Augustus (title), Augustus'' as an infant and ruled as the Eastern Empire's sole emperor after the ...
(408–450).
Ottoman period
During the
Ottoman era, a Muslim village called Jarah (''lit.'' "
hyena
Hyenas or hyaenas ( ; from Ancient Greek , ) are feliform carnivoran mammals belonging to the family Hyaenidae (). With just four extant species (each in its own genus), it is the fifth-smallest family in the order Carnivora and one of the sma ...
") existed in the area. In 1596 the village appeared under the name of ''Ja'ara'' in
tax registers, being part of the ''
nahiya
A nāḥiyah ( , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiyeh, nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level divisi ...
'' (subdistrict) of Sahil Atlit in the ''
Sanjak
A sanjak or sancak (, , "flag, banner") was an administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans also sometimes called the sanjak a liva (, ) from the name's calque in Arabic and Persian.
Banners were a common organization of nomad ...
'' (district) of
Lajjun
Lajjun (, ''al-Lajjūn'') was a large Palestine (region), Palestinian Arab village located northwest of Jenin and south of the remains of the biblical city of Tel Megiddo, Megiddo. The Israeli kibbutz of Megiddo, Israel was built 600 metres ...
. It had a population of 4 households, all
Muslim
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
. They paid a fixed tax-rate of 25% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, goats and beehives, in addition to occasional revenues; the taxes totalled 2,000
akçe
The ''akçe'' or ''akça'' (anglicized as ''akche'', ''akcheh'' or ''aqcha''; ; , , in Europe known as '' asper'') was a silver coin mainly known for being the chief monetary unit of the Ottoman Empire. It was also used in other states includi ...
.
During the 19th and first half of the 20th century, Ja'ara was one of the settlements of the so-called "Fahmawi Commonwealth" established by
Hebronite clans belonging to
Umm al-Fahm
Umm al-Fahm ( , ''Umm al-Faḥm''; ''Um el-Faḥem'') is a city located northwest of Jenin in the Haifa District of Israel. In its population was , nearly all of whom are Palestinian citizens of Israel. The city is situated on the Umm al-Fahm ...
. The Commonwealth consisted of a network of interspersed
communities
A community is a Level of analysis, social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place (geography), place, set of Norm (social), norms, culture, religion, values, Convention (norm), customs, or Ide ...
connected by ties of
kinship
In anthropology, kinship is the web of social relationships that form an important part of the lives of all humans in all societies, although its exact meanings even within this discipline are often debated. Anthropologist Robin Fox says that ...
, and socially, economically and politically affiliated with Umm al Fahm. The Commonwealth dominated vast sections of
Bilad al-Ruha/Ramot Menashe,
Wadi 'Ara
Wadi Ara (, ) or Nahal 'Iron (), is a valley and its surrounding area in Israel populated mainly by Arab Israelis. The area is also known as the "Northern Triangle".
Wadi Ara is located northwest of the Green Line, in the Haifa District. High ...
and
Marj Ibn 'Amir/Jezreel Valley during that time.
In 1882, the
Palestine Exploration Fund
The Palestine Exploration Fund is a British society based in London. It was founded in 1865, shortly after the completion of the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem by Royal Engineers of the War Department. The Fund is the oldest known organization i ...
's ''Survey of Western Palestine'' described ''Jarah'' as "a small village on the east side of the watershed, with four springs below it. There are rock-cut tombs, so that the place seems to be an ancient site."
[Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p]
42
/ref> They further noted that the tombs were blocked up.[Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p]
54
/ref> A population list from about 1887 showed that J'arah had about 135 inhabitants, all Muslim.
British Mandate
In the 1922 census of Palestine
The 1922 census of Palestine was the first census carried out by the authorities of the British Mandate of Palestine, on 23 October 1922.
The reported population was 757,182, including the military and persons of foreign nationality. The divis ...
conducted by the British Mandate authorities, ''Jaara'' had a population of 94, all Muslims,[Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Haifa, p]
34
/ref> decreasing in the 1931 census to 62, still all Muslims, in a total of 14 houses.[Mills, 1932, p]
92
/ref>
In the 1930s, the Jewish National Fund
The Jewish National Fund (JNF; , ''Keren Kayemet LeYisrael''; previously , ''Ha Fund HaLeumi'') is a non-profit organizationProfessor Alon Tal, The Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, The Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben Gurion ...
bought the hill and the lands around it from the Salah family, who lived in Haifa
Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...
and owned the agricultural village. In 1937 Jewish kibbutz
A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...
members settled the hill, but left a year later, because the area wasn't big enough, to a nearby area and established kibbutz Ein HaShofet
Ein HaShofet (, ''lit.'' Spring of the Judge) is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located in the Menashe Heights region around 25 km southeast of the city of Haifa, close to Yokneam, it falls under the jurisdiction of Megiddo Regional Council ...
.[
]
Haganah and Israel Defense Forces base
From 1938 onwards the hill, which was turned into a base, was used for the Haganah and Palmach commanders and instructors school. Haganah organization set up a training base and main training for the Haganah, in which
Some of the commanders and instructors trained here would count among the best future IDF officers, several becoming generals and chiefs of staff
The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supportin ...
, such as Yaakov Dori
Yaakov Dori (; October 8, 1899 – January 22, 1973), born Yaakov Dostrovsky, was the first Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). He was also the President of the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.
Biography
Yaakov Dostr ...
, Yigael Yadin
Yigael Yadin ( ; 20 March 1917 – 28 June 1984) was an Israeli archeologist, soldier and politician. He was the second Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces and Deputy Prime Minister from 1977 to 1981.
Biography
Yigael Sukenik (later Y ...
, Moshe Dayan
Moshe Dayan (; May 20, 1915 – October 16, 1981) was an Israeli military leader and politician. As commander of the Jerusalem front in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Chief of General Staff (Israel), Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defe ...
, Haim Laskov
Haim Laskov (; 1919 – 8 December 1982) was an Israeli public figure and the fifth Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces.
Biography
Haim Laskov was born in Barysaw in the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (present-day Belarus). He i ...
, Tzvi Tzur
Tzvi Tzur (also transliterated Zvi Tsur; ; 17 April 1923 – 28 December 2004) was an Israeli officer who served as the IDF's 6th Chief of Staff (1961–1963).
Biography Early life
Tzur was born in the Zaslav in the Soviet Union (now Izias ...
, Yitzhak Rabin
Yitzhak Rabin (; , ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the prime minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–1977, and from 1992 until Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, his ass ...
and Haim Bar-Lev
Haim "Kidoni" Bar-Lev (; 16 November 1924 – 7 May 1994) was a military officer during Israel's pre-state and early statehood eras and later a government minister.
Biography
Born Haim Brotzlewsky in Vienna and raised in Zagreb, Bar-Lev made al ...
.[
]
1948 war
During the 1948 war, the hill was used as the Haganah's base for attacks in the Battle of Mishmar HaEmek
The Battle of Mishmar HaEmek was a ten-day battle fought from 4 to 15 April 1948 between the Arab Liberation Army ( Yarmouk Battalion) commanded by Fawzi al-Qawuqji and the Haganah (Palmach and HISH) commanded by Yitzhak Sadeh and Dan Laner. ...
.
Training base and officers school (1948-67)
After the war it was used as a training base for the Nahal
Nahal () (acronym of ''Noar Halutzi Lohem'', lit. Fighting Pioneer Youth) is a program that combines military service with mostly social welfare and informal education projects such as youth movement activities, as well as training in entrepr ...
program that combined military service and the establishment of agricultural settlements.[
Between 1950 and 1967 it was used as the ]Golani Brigade
The 1st "Golani" Brigade (, ''Hativat Golani'') is an Israeli military infantry brigade. It is subordinated to the 36th Division and traditionally associated with the Northern Command. It is one of the five infantry brigades of the regular Is ...
's school for squad
In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of Military organization, military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and United States, U.S. doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a fireteam, ...
commanders.[
]
Youth battalions (Gadna) base (1970-2016)
For 45 years, between 1970 and 2016, the hill served the Israeli Defense Forces
Israeli may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel
* Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel
* Modern Hebrew, a language
* ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008
* Guni Israeli (b ...
' Youth Battalion's one-week familiarisation programme intended on preparing Israeli youth for their military service. High school students from all over Israel used to come to Jo'ara for a week of military training. The week included field craft and weapon training as well as historical and moral courses, all in boot camp conditions and discipline. The teenagers experienced a routine military life, wearing military uniform and obeying orders from their commanders.[
Jo'ara was chosen as a Gadna base because the open fields, forests and the hills that surround it are suitable for military training. The base was inaugurated on 9 October 1970 in presence of high ranked IDF generals. In 1991, when the Gadna Command was dismantled and moved to the ]Education and Youth Corps
The Education and Youth Corps (, ''Heil HaHinuh VeHaNo'ar'') is a corps of the Israel Defense Forces' (IDF) Personnel Directorate responsible for the education of IDF personnel. Its mission purpose it to instruct and develop "national values" amo ...
, the base moved to the command of the Chief Education Officer.[
The museum at Jo'ara was presenting the Hagana's officer training courses of 1944, when it reached a record 140 trainees, both men and women.][Lydia Aisenberg]
A small museum tells a big story:
The Joara museum offers visitors a chance to experience a pre-State Hagana officers' training course. The Jerusalem Post, 1 February 2007, accessed 28 December 2019
References
Bibliography
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{{coord, 32, 35, 45, N, 35, 6, 04, E, display=title
Hills of Israel