Kfar Giladi כפר גלעדי |
|
---|---|
Founders' house
|
|
Coordinates: 33°14′33″N 35°34′30″E / 33.24250°N 35.57500°ECoordinates: 33°14′33″N 35°34′30″E / 33.24250°N 35.57500°E | |
District | Northern |
Council | Upper Galilee |
Affiliation | Kibbutz Movement |
Founded | 1916 |
Founded by | Hashomer members |
Population (2016) | 653 |
Website | www.kfar-giladi.org.il |
Kfar Giladi (Hebrew: כְּפַר גִּלְעָדִי, lit. Giladi Village) is a kibbutz in the Galilee Panhandle of northern Israel. Located south of Metula on the Naftali Mountains above the Hula Valley and along the Lebanese border, it falls under the jurisdiction of Upper Galilee Regional Council. In 2016 it had a population of 653.
Kibbutz Giladi was founded in 1916 by members of Hashomer on land owned by the Jewish Colonization Association. It was named after Israel Giladi, one of the founders of the Hashomer movement. The area was subject to intermittent border adjustments between the British and the French, and in 1919, the British relinquished the northern section of the Upper Galilee containing Tel Hai, Metula, Hamra, and Kfar Giladi to the French jurisdiction. After the Arab attack on Tel Hai in 1920, it was temporarily abandoned. Ten months later, the settlers returned. Several older buildings stand on the kibbutz that memorialize previous battles on the site, before and during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
Between 1916 and 1932, the population totaled 40–70. In 1932, the kibbutz absorbed 100 newcomers, mainly young immigrants. From 1922 to 1948, between 8,000–10,000 Jewish immigrants were smuggled into Palestine through Kibbutz Giladi, circumventing the Mandatory ban on Jewish immigration. The immigrants came from Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, Afghanistan and Eastern Europe.