Jezreel Valley and Mount Tabor, Israel

Jezreel Valley

The Jezreel Valley ; Hebrew: עמק יזרעאל‎, Emek Yizrael, also known as the Plain of Esdraelon (Esdraelon is the Koine Greek rendering of Jezreel^[1]), and as the Zirin Valley (Arabic: سهل زرعين , Sahel Zir'in), and as the Meadow of Amr's son (مرج بن عامر, Marj Ibn Amer), is a large plain and inland valley in the south of the Lower Galilee of Israel, on the northern border of the West Bank. The valley was once the channel by which the Dead Sea (to the southeast of the valley) connected to the Mediterranean Sea; around two million years ago, the land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Great Rift Valley rose to such a degree that this connection was severed, and periodic floods from the Mediterranean Sea were interrupted, resulting in the Dead Sea no longer having an outlet, and becoming heavily saline. Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2048 × 1536 pixel, file size: 421 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) (All user names refer to en. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2048 × 1536 pixel, file size: 421 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) (All user names refer to en. ... Mount Tabor Mount Tabor (Hebrew: ‎) is located in Lower Galilee, at the eastern end of the Jezreel Valley, 11 miles (17 km) west of the Sea of Galilee. ... Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... “Hebrew” redirects here. ... Koine redirects here. ... Arabic ( or just ) is the largest living member of the Semitic language family in terms of speakers. ... Galilee (Hebrew hagalil הגליל, Arabic al-jaleel الجليل), meaning circuit, is a large area overlappping with much of the North District of Israel. ... Composite satellite image of the Mediterranean Sea. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Saline may refer to: Salinity Saline (medicine) Saline, Michigan Saline, Scotland - a village in the burgh of Fife, Scotland. ...

It takes its ancient name from the city of Jezreel (known in Arabic as Zir'in; زرعين) located on a low hill on the southern edge and overlooking the valley, though some scholars think that the name of the city originated from the name of the clan that founded it, as in their view the Merneptah stele mentions the existence of this clan, not the similarly spelt Israel^[2]; Jezreel means God sows or El sows^[3]. The phrase "valley of Jezreel" was sometimes used to refer to the central part of the valley, around the city of Jezreel, while the southwestern portion was known as the valley of Megiddo, after the ancient city of Megiddo, which was located there. The Merneptah Stele is the reverse of a stela erected by Amenhotep III written by Merneptah. ... Ä’l (אל) is a Northwest Semitic word and name translated into English as either god or God or left untranslated as El, depending on the context. ... Megiddo (Hebrew: ) is a hill in Israel near the modern settlement of Megiddo, known for theological, historical and geographical reasons. ...

In addition to Jezreel and Megiddo, the valley is the location of a number of other important settlements both ancient and modern. The largest modern settlement in the Jezreel Valley is the city of Afula (Hebrew: עפולה‎, Arabic: عفولة), also known as the "Capital of the Valley"; Afula may once have been the Biblical city of Ophrah^{[citation needed]}, which the Book of Judges identifies as the home of Gideon. The valley formed an easier route through the Levant than crossing the mountains on either side, and so saw a large amount of traffic, and was the site of many historic battles; the earliest battle for which there is known to be a surviving detailed account - the Battle of Megiddo - was fought in the valley. Due to the surrounding terrain, Egyptian chariots were only able to travel from Egypt as far as the Jezreel valley and the valley north of Lake Huleh. Afula (עפולה; Hebrew: ; ; Arabic: ‎ ) is a city in the North District of Israel, often known as the Capital of the Valley, Jezreel Valley. ... “Hebrew” redirects here. ... Arabic ( or just ) is the largest living member of the Semitic language family in terms of speakers. ... This Gutenberg Bible is displayed by the United States Library. ... This entry incorporates text from Eastons Bible Dictionary, 1897, with some modernisation. ... Book of Judges (Hebrew: Sefer Shoftim ספר שופטים) is a book of the Bible originally written in Hebrew. ... Gideon (גִּדְעוֹן, Standard Hebrew GidÊ»on, Tiberian Hebrew Giḏʻôn), also known as Jerubbaal, is a character that appears in the Book of Judges, in the Bible. ... The Levant The Levant (IPA: /lÉ™vænt/) is an imprecise geographical term historically referring to a large area in the Middle East south of the Taurus Mountains, bounded by the Mediterranean Sea on the west, and by the northern Arabian Desert and Upper Mesopotamia to the east. ... The Battle of Megiddo (15th century BC) was fought between Egyptian forces under the command of the pharaoh Thutmose III and a large Canaanite coalition under the King of Kadesh. ... Hula Valley, seen from the Golan Heights. ...

According to the Bible, the valley was the scene of a victory by the Israelites, lead by Gideon, against the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the children of the east^[4], but was later the location at which the Israelites, lead by king Saul, were defeated by the Philistines^[5]; according to textual scholars, the account of a Philistine victory at Jezreel derives from the monarchial source, in contrast to the republican source, which places the Philistine victory against the Israelites at Gilboa^[6][7]. In Christian Eschatology, the part of the valley on which the Battle of Megiddo was fought is believed to be destined to be the site of a final battle, between good and evil, known as Armageddon (a word derived from Megiddo). An Israelite is a member of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, descended from the twelve sons of the Biblical patriarch Jacob who was renamed Israel by God in the book of Genesis, 32:28 The Israelites were a group of Hebrews, as described in the Bible. ... In the Bible, Midian (Hebrew: מִדְיָן, Standard Midyan Tiberian ; Arabic مدين; Strife; judgment) is a son of Abraham and his concubine Keturah (who according to midrash is Hagar). ... According to the Book of Genesis and 1 Chronicles, Amalek (Hebrew: , Standard  Tiberian ) was the son of Eliphaz and the grandson of Esau (Gen. ... Saul (שאול המלך) (or Shaul) (Hebrew: שָׁאוּל, Standard Tiberian  ; asked for or borrowed) is a figure identified in the Books of Samuel and Quran as having been the first king of the ancient Kingdom of Israel. ... Map showing the location of Philistine land and cities of Gaza, Ashdod, and Ashkelon Map of the southern Levant, c. ... Carmina Cantabrigiensia, Manuscript C, folio 436v, 11th century Textual criticism or lower criticism is a branch of philology or bibliography that is concerned with the identification and removal of errors from texts and manuscripts. ... Gilboa is the name of several places: Two towns in the United States: Gilboa, New York Gilboa, Ohio Gilboa Ridge is a geographic feature in Israel. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Wycliffe Tyndale · Luther · Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      In Christian theology, Christian eschatology is the... The evangelist John of Patmos writes the Book of Revelation. ...

Zionist settlement

Between 1912 and 1925 the Lebanese Sursock family of Beirut (then under the French Mandate of Syria) sold their 80,000 acres (320 km²) of land in the Vale of Esdraelon to the American Zion Commonwealth; Sursock himself had purchased the land, in 1872, from the Ottoman government for about ₤20,000, but around the 1920s the American Zion Commonwealth paid nearly three quarters of a million pounds, more than 35 times what the Sursuks payed the Ottomans, and purchased the land for Jewish resettlement^{pg. 49} Sursock is a Greek Orthodox , Lebanese family and one of Beiruts aristocratic families. ... The French Mandate of Syria was a League of Nations Mandate created after the First World War when the Ottoman Empire was split by the Treaty of Versailles. ... The American Zion Commonwealth (Hebrew: קהילת ציון אמריקאית) was a Zionist settlement corporation that played an important part in the Jewish settlement of Palestine before the establishment of the State of Israel. ... The American Zion Commonwealth (Hebrew: קהילת ציון אמריקאית) was a Zionist settlement corporation that played an important part in the Jewish settlement of Palestine before the establishment of the State of Israel. ...

However, 8,000 Palestinian fellahin (landless farmers) inhabitants in 22 Arab villages, suddenly lost the land they had worked on for the absentee landowners, and although the new owners of the land were compelled to pay compensation in addition to the purchase of the land itself, for the most part they considered themselves evicted following these sales. In some cases, the farmers refused to leave their land, as in Afula (El-Ful)^[1], but the new Zionist owners decided that it would be forbidden for fellahins to remain as tenants on land intended for Jewish labor, and they also followed the socialist ideology of the Yishuv, believing that it would be wrong for a (Jewish) landlord to exploit a landless (Arab) peasantry. Charles Gleyre, Three Fellahs (fr. ... A bilingual poster in Romanian and Hungarian promoting a film about Jewish settlement in Palestine, 1930s. ... Yishuv is a Hebrew word meaning settlement. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

As eviction orders increased over the following years, British police had to be used to expel the villagers from their homes. The dispossessed fellahin had to make their way to the coast to search for new work; most ended up in shanty towns on the edges of Jaffa and Haifa^[8]. In the 1920s the American Zion Commonwealth founded the modern day city of Afula; The first moshav, Nahalal, was settled in this valley on September 11, 1921. Jaffa port Jaffa ( Hebrew: יָפוֹ, Yafo Arabic: يَافَا  ; also Japho, Joppa; also, ~1350 B.C.E. Amarna Letters: Yapu; ), is an ancient port city located in south Tel Aviv, Israel on the Mediterranean Sea. ... Hebrew חֵיפָה Arabic حَيْفَا Founded in 3rd century CE Government City District Haifa Population 267,000 1,039,000 (metropolitan area) Jurisdiction 63,666 dunams (63. ... Afula (עפולה; Hebrew: ; ; Arabic: ‎ ) is a city in the North District of Israel, often known as the Capital of the Valley, Jezreel Valley. ... Moshav (Hebrew: מושב Translit. ... Nahalal, a moshav (communal agriculture settlement) in Israels Jezreel Valley was the first moshav established in Israel. ... is the 254th day of the year (255th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar). ...

See also

• Jezreel Valley Regional Council
• Dead Sea

The Jezreel Valley Regional Council is a regional council in northern Israel that encompasses most of the settlements in the Jezreel Valley. ... The Dead Sea (‎, yam ha-melaħ, Sea of Salt; Quranic Arabic: , baħrᵘ l- mayitⁱ [3], Death Sea) is a salt lake between the West Bank and Israel to the west, and Jordan to the east. ...

References

1. ^ Jewish Encyclopedia
2. ^ Cheyne and Black, Encyclopedia Biblica
3. ^ ibid
4. ^ Judges 6:3
5. ^ 1 Samuel 29:1-6
6. ^ 1 Samuel 28:4
7. ^ 1 Samuel 31:1-6
8. ^ Gilmore 1983, pp. 44-45

• Nevill Barbour: Nisi Dominus: A Survey of the Palestine Controversy. George G. Harrap, London 1946, pp. 117-118
• Polk, Stamler, Asfour: Backdrop to Tragedy: The Struggle for Palestine. Beacon Press, Boston, 1957, pp. 237-238.
• The above two books are quoted in David Gilmour: Dispossessed: the Ordeal of the Palestinians. Sphere Books, Great Britain, 1983, pp. 44-45.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Jezreel Valley

• Jezreel Valley College
• Emek Medical Center
• Jezreel Valley Regional Council Official website (in Hebrew)

Coordinates: 32°35′47″N 35°14′31″E / 32.59639, 35.24194 Image File history File links COA_of_Israel. ... Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...