Kfar Hittim
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Kfar Hittim כְּפַר חִטִּים, כפר חיטים |
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 Kfar Hittim
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| Coordinates: 32°48′1″N 35°30′9″E / 32.80028°N 35.50250°ECoordinates: 32°48′1″N 35°30′9″E / 32.80028°N 35.50250°E | |
| District | Northern |
| Council | Lower Galilee |
| Affiliation | Moshavim Movement |
| Founded | 7 December 1936 |
| Founded by | Jewish National Fund |
| Population (2015) | 666 |
Kfar Hittim (Hebrew: כְּפַר חִטִּים) is a moshav shitufi in northern Israel. Located on a hill 3 km west of Tiberias, it falls under the jurisdiction of Lower Galilee Regional Council. It was the world's first moshav shitufi, and can also be considered the first settlement. In 2015 it had a population of 666.
The moshav land was purchased by the Jewish National Fund in 1904, with the help of David Chaim, an Ottoman citizen previously in the employment of Edmond James de Rothschild. Two thousand dunams of land, consisting of 400 small parcels, were purchased from the Arab village of Hittin. The first attempt to settle there in 1913 failed due to friction with the local Arabs, the shortage of water and the lack of contiguity of the land.
In 1924, another attempt was made to settle in Kfar Hittin. Forty families moved to the site, where they lived in wooden cabins and built a barn, a communal chicken coop, a synagogue and a water tower. In the 1929 Palestine riots the moshav was attacked by the Arabs. As economic and security problems mounted, families left until the site was abandoned completely in 1933. Another short-lived attempt to settle the land was made in 1934, but the settlers left within a short period of time.
On 7 December 1936, 11 pioneers from HaKotzer group re-established the moshav as a tower and stockade settlement, using the abandoned synagogue as a fort and the old milk sheds as housing. The new settlement was set as moshav shitufi. On 19 December 1937 the moshav's guard, Shlomo Bin-Nun, was ambushed and murdered by an Arab gang.
During the 1940s additional families joined the moshav. Irrigation problems were solved in 1942 when piping was laid delivering water from the Sea of Galilee to the moshav. In 1944 a road connecting the moshav to Tiberias was laid. During this period the settlers started building permanent housing using basalt bricks and developed the moshav economy by building textile factory, dairy farm, garage, carpentry shop and bakery.
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