Merhavia (kibbutz)

Merhavia מֶרְחַבְיָה‎
Hebrew transcription(s)
• standard	Merhavya
Merhavia
Coordinates:
Grid position	179/223 PAL
Council	Jezreel Valley
Region	Galilee
Affiliation	Kibbutz Movement
Founded	1929
Founded by	Galician Hashomer Hatzair members
Population (2008)	799
Website	www.merchavia.org.il

Golda Meir in the fields at Kibbutz Merhavia (1920s)

Merhavia (Hebrew: מֶרְחַבְיָה‎, lit. Great Enlargement – God) is a kibbutz in northern Israel, just east of Afula. It falls under the jurisdiction of Jezreel Valley Regional Council and in 2006 had a population of 759.

History

The place was earlier named in Arabic Al-Fuleh ("The beans"), also rendered as El Fuleh, al-Fula etc. It was possibly the place called Alpha in the list of Thutmes III.

In the Crusader era it was known as la Feve or Castrum Fabe. It had a Templar castle (first mentioned in 1169/72), of which just some mounds remain. The area was under Crusader control between 1099 to 1187. In 1183 the Battle of Al-Fule took place here, between the Crusaders and the forces of Saladin.

In 1226, Syrian geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi mentioned it as being "a town in Jund Filastin," and formerly a Crusader castle between Zir'in and Nazareth. The area was again under Crusader control between 1240/1 and 1263.

The Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) noted a ruined church about 200 meters SSE of the castle, which probably was the remains of the Crusader parish church. However, these remains were destroyed in 1939-1940.

Ottoman era

According to Denys Pringle, al-Fula, the Arab village, seem to have existed until the end of the sixteenth century.

In 1799, during Napoleon's Syrian campaign, the Battle of Mount Tabor was fought around Al-Fuleh.

In 1816, James Silk Buckingham described Fooli as a village. He observed there the remains of a large building, which he presumed was "Saracen". By the water wells he found two covers for sarcophagi, one was ornamented with sculptures. There were several other settlements in sight, all populated by Muslims.

In 1838, Edward Robinson described both Al-Fuleh and the adjacent Afuleh as "deserted".

In 1859 Al-Fuleh had 64 inhabitants, and the tillage was 14 feddans, according to the English consul Rogers. William McClure Thomson, in a book published the same year, noted that both El Fuleh and the adjacent Afuleh, were "both now deserted, though both were inhabited twenty-five years ago when I first passed this way." Thomson blamed their desertion on the bedouin.

In 1875 Victor Guérin noted the remains of multicoloured mosaics by Bir Fouleh. At this time, Al-Fuleh was the home of 15 Arab families. In 1882, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Al-Fuleh as a small adobe village, "with a few stone houses in the middle. It stands on a swell of ground, and is surrounded by corn land, and has marshy ground to the north. The water supply is from wells west of the village. Round the site are remains of the ancient Crusader fosse."

British Mandate era

Kibbutz Merhavia was established in 1929 adjacent to moshav Merhavia (from which it took its name). The founders were members of Hashomer Hatzair who had immigrated from Galicia after World War I and had been living in Haifa, including Eliezer Peri, who later represented Mapam in the Knesset.

Name

The name Merhavia is derived from the Book of Psalms 118:5;

Out of my straits I called upon the LORD; .. answered me with great enlargement – God.

In the metaphorical sense: "God set me free" - the experience of the Jews immigrating to the Land of Israel and achieving a new homeland without the straits of persecution.

Notable residents

• Ran Goren
• Golda Meir (1898–1978), fourth Prime Minister of the State of Israel
• Yaakov Shabtai (1934–81), novelist, playwright, and translator
• Yedidya Ya'ari
• Tuvya Ruebner, poet, editor, translator and photographer

Bibliography

• (p. 116)
• pp. 25

External links

• Village website (Hebrew)
• Survey of Western Palestine (SWP), Map 9: IAA, Wikimedia commons