Sha'ar HaAmakim

Antiquity

Human habitation in the area dates at least as far back as the Hellenistic period.^[2] Although the site, in recent history, has borne the name of Ḫirbet el-Ḥârithîye, it is thought by modern-day archaeologists to have been the Second Temple-period site known as Geba / Gibea (Greek: Γάβα), based on Josephus' description of distances between Geba and Simonias and Beit She'arim (Roman-era Jewish village) in Lower Galilee.^[3][4][5]

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.^[6]

Ottoman rule

During the Ottoman era, a Muslim village at the site was named el Hâritheh.^[7] The village appeared as El Harti on the map of Pierre Jacotin compiled in 1799.^[8] In 1859, the population was recorded as 120 with tillable land of 12 feddans.^[9] In 1875, Victor Guérin reported about 40 houses.^[10] In 1882, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine described it as an adobe hamlet.^[9]

A population list from about 1887 showed that Harithiyeh had about 120 inhabitants; all Muslims.^[11]

British Mandate

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, the Al Zubaidat, who cultivated the Hartieh land, numbered 363, all Muslims.^[12]

The area was acquired by the Jewish community as part of the Sursock Purchase. 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.^[13] In the 1931 census, the Arab Zubeidat was counted under the Shefa-'Amr suburbs.^[14]

From 1931, and lasting several years, the Jewish Agency struggled to evict the Arab El Zubeidat, who were tenant farmers at Hartiya.^[15][16][17] According to Avneri, Hartiya land was to become Sha'ar HaAmakim.^[15] According to the Department of Statistics, however, Sha'ar HaAmakim had previously been part of Sheikh Bureik.^[18][19]

Kibbutz Sha'ar HaAmakim was founded in 1935 by immigrants from Romania and Yugoslavia. One of its founders was Aharon Cohen,^[20] later to be convicted of spying for the Soviet Union. Its name was derived from the nearby confluence of the Jezreel and Zevulun valleys.^[21] By the 1945 statistics it had a population of 360, all Jews.^[18][19]

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.^[22] In the 1960s, there were up to 100 volunteers each year.^[23] Bernie Sanders spent time at the kibbutz for several months in 1963.^[24][23][25]