Mishmar HaEmek

During the Fourth Aliyah (1924–1928), a time of Jewish migration to the British-controlled Mandatory Palestine, the Jezreel Valley was the top priority of the Jewish National Fund (JNF). The fund wanted to settle the arable valley in order to establish a significant Jewish agricultural community and to create a contiguous bloc of Jewish settlements connecting Haifa with the existing bloc of Jewish settlements between Afula and Beit She'an.[11] In 1924 the JNF purchased lands owned by the Christian Lebanese Sursock family near Nahalal. Afterwards it decided to expand south and in 1926 purchased most of the land of Abu Shusha, where Bedouins and Turkmens lived.[12]

The pioneers of Mishmar HaEmek came to Mandatory Palestine during the Third Aliyah. They were Polish Jews from Galicia and were members of three groups who graduated from HaShomer HaTzair movement, one from the town of Afula and two from the Jerusalem area. On 21 January 1922, they, along with some unaffiliated people, joined together in the Neve Sha'anan neighborhood of Haifa to form the gar'in (Hebrew: גרעין, lit. "Seed/Grain") of a future settlement. It was initially named "Kibbutz Bet" (Bet is the second letter in Hebrew. "Kibbutz Aleph" of the movement later became the kibbutz of Beit Alfa).[13][4][14] At its formation the gar'in had 80 members, but a year later, the number had been reduced to 65.[15] In the summer of 1922 they moved to Nahalal in the Jezreel Valley where they participated in swamp drying and road paving. At Nahalal some members suffered from diseases and the lack of a stable livelihood.[4] By early 1924, the member count was at 60 as old members left and new members joined. The main reason for leaving was the difficulty of trying to adjust to the kibbutz lifestyle. Some left because they wished to continue their academic career, others because of family issues and some because of ideological opposition.[15] In 1925 the kibbutz, which then consisted of 60 adults and six children, moved to Afula, where they did road paving and worked in construction.[4][7]

Mishmar HaEmek in historical context

In Afula, the kibbutz united with another HaShomer HaTzair gari'n called "Kibbutz Dalet" (the fourth letter in Hebrew), which was formed in the town of Hadera in 1924.[15] The unification ceremony was performed like a Jewish wedding, in which the "groom" (Kibbutz Bet) and the "bride" (Kibbutz Dalet), were betrothed and a Ketubah (Jewish marriage contract) was read in front of the crowd.[7] On 3 November 1926, the members (numbering 90 after the unification) were given the land next to the Abu Shusha. Initially, only 15 men and women left Afula to Abu Shusha and settled in a nearby khan, from where they began preparing for agricultural work. In the next year, two mules were bought and 120 dunams of fields of wheat and barley were sowed. That time the members left the khan and began building the new settlement in its modern location, making history as a single Jewish settlement in this part of the valley.[4] In November 1928 the kibbutz was renamed "Kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek" as proposed by Menachem Ussishkin, after its members could not agree on a name.[16] In the meantime, the members who remained in Afula continued their work there paving roads and constructing the Great Synagogue of Afula. The construction of a synagogue raised some ideological issues for some of the members who were mostly secular socialists.[17]

Mishmar HaEmek 1926

On 26 August 1929, during the 1929 Palestine riots, the kibbutz was attacked by Arab rioters equipped with firearms. The members, with the aid of Arab policemen, managed to fend off the rioters. British policemen ordered the

Mishmar HaEmek with Manasseh Heights in the background, 1933

kibbutz to evacuate and promised to take care for their property, and so the members left the following day. On 28 August, Arab rioters burned the kibbutz's barn, uprooted trees, stole corn from the fields and vandalized two gravestones in the kibbutz's cemetery. It was the only time in its history where it was abandoned, and it joined 16 other Jewish communities that were also abandoned during the riots. Unlike others, Mishmar HaEmek was resettled six days later.[18] The evacuation was intended to protect human lives, but many saw it as abandonment.[19]

In early 1930 the rest of the members left Afula and joined the members in Mishmar HaEmek, which brought the population of the kibbutz to 101, with 85 adults and 16 children.

Mishmar HaEmek 1934

In 1931, Shomeria School was established. It was the first regional educational institution of the Kibbutz Artzi movement.[20] It operated as a boarding school and put into practice HaShomer HaTzair's socialist ideology, creating an independent "children's society." The pupils saw their parents only on holidays or special visiting days throughout the year. The children had a daily schedule, with the morning devoted to education, the afternoon to labor, and the evening to cultural activities. Originally, the school was housed in temporary cabins. Later in 1931, the Kibbutz Artzi movement commissioned a large concrete building for the school which was planned and designed by Joseph Neufeld. It was built only in 1937 after the needed funds were raised. The construction was done by the kibbutz members to reduce costs. It was known as the "Children's House" and when completed it was among the biggest structures in the region and thus also nicknamed "the Big House". Its chosen location was on a hill overlooking the houses of the kibbutz, symbolizing the importance of education. The institution provided education to four other kibbutz communities that were established in the Jezreel Valley including Beit Alfa, Sarid, Mizra and Merhavia, later joined by children from Kibbutz Gan Shmuel and youth from the Youth Aliyah.[21]

View of Mishmar HaEmek with its large school building in the background, December 1938

In the following years, in addition to the school, the members also constructed a water tower, built a cowshed, planted a vineyard and various fruit trees and dug wells.[16] The JNF wanted to cement the Jewish ownership over lands it had purchased. Because third of Mishmar HaEmek's territory consisted of rocky hills unsuited for agriculture it had a policy of planting forests and Mishmar HaEmek followed this policy and in the 1930s planted some 50,000 trees east of the kibbutz. The forest was also projected to provide material for local wood industry, and for decades provided a source of income for the kibbutz.[22] Berta Guggenheimer was an activist who planned playgrounds all over the country and with her niece Irma Lindheim, a member of the kibbutz set up a children's playground in the kibbutz. In the 1930s there was an arrangement to allow Arab children from the nearby villages to visit and play with the kibbutz children making it a unique place for the kibbutzim movement.[23]

In the 1930s, Mishmar HaEmek absorbed two separate groups of HaShomer HaTzair. The first group had 17 people and was from the United States and first settled in the kibbutz in 1931. In 1933 their number rose to 30 and in 1934 they moved to an area near the town of Hadera. Another group settled between 1937 and 1938 and later established the kibbutz of Hatzor in 1946.[24][25] By 1947, Mishmar HaEmek had a population of 550. The Jewish National Fund and Worton Hall Studios made a 1947 movie called The Great Promise (Dim'at Ha'Nehamah Ha'Gedolah), and a number of scenes were filmed in the kibbutz.[2] In total, until 1957, the kibbutz instructed some 16 groups who established kibbutzim all over the country, including HaZore'a, Ein HaShofet, Ramat HaShofet and Megiddo in the vicinity of Mishmar HaEmek.[26]

The residents of Mishmar HaEmek represented the more Arab-friendly and peace-oriented left-wing of the Israeli Labor Movement. Some of the movement's leaders, such as Mordechai Bentov and Ya'akov Hazan, hailed from the kibbutz.[27]

At the start of 1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine, Mishmar HaEmek came under attack from nearby Arab militants under the command of Ahmad Attiyah Awad.[27] Yusuf Abu Durra took over after Awad's death in March 1938.[28][29] The attacks came in the form of repeated arson attacks on grain fields and forests. They were described by a member as a "crime greater than murder," as the burning of the wheat fields denied the members their main food source. Around 30,000 trees in the kibbutz's vicinity were destroyed and an enormous amount of property was lost. There were no direct attacks on the kibbutz itself, but almost every night there were stray shots fired in its direction. Many of the kibbutz men had to spend time guarding instead of working the fields.[27]

British High Commissioner Arthur Grenfell Wauchope visited the kibbutz and appointed 15 members as armed guards; however, in August 1936, the situation worsened when the attacks became more frequent. The British government sent 60 soldiers to the kibbutz and in October the attacks on the kibbutz ended.[18] Poet and future Israeli politician Uri Zvi Greenberg criticized the members of Mishmar HaEmek for not taking matters into their hands after the attacks on their fields. In a poem he wrote about the events he changed the name of the kibbutz from "Mishmar HaEmek" (Guard of the Valley) to "Hefker HaEmek" (Abandonment of the Valley).[30]

On 2 February 1938 Abraham Goldschleger, a kibbutz member and guide for Ein HaShofet, was ambushed and murdered by residents of Al-Kafrayn. Two residents of Ein HaShofet who accompanied him were also killed in the attack. One of the shooters was caught and executed.[28] In that period the Palmach (an elite force of the Jewish Haganah underground organization) used the trees in the nearby forest as cover for their main training camp and its fighters worked in the kibbutz so not to raise suspicion by the British soldiers.[16]

In the fall of 1942, during World War II, Mishmar HaEmek was used as a training camp by the British army. 160 Jewish volunteers, who would later become members of the Palmach, were trained by Royal Engineers in sabotage and wireless operation. Several tons of explosives were hidden in caches in case the area came under German occupation. This program was eventually terminated and orders were issued for the collection of all equipment and explosives to be returned to the British.[31]

Mishmar HaEmek 1942

During the 1947–48 civil war, the kibbutz came under full-scale attack by the Arab Liberation Army (ALA) on 4 April 1948.[32] The leader of the ALA, Fawzi al-Qawuqji, planned to seize Mishmar HaEmek to control the route between

Mishmar HaEmek defenses, 1948

Jenin and Haifa.[33] The attack began with a barrage from seven artillery pieces supplied by the Syrian army.[34] During the shelling of the kibbutz, houses were destroyed, civilians, defenders, and animals were killed and the prominent school building was heavily damaged.[18] A bomb shelter was later built there.[21] On 6 April 1948, the women and children of the kibbutz were evacuated with the aid of the British to other settlements in the Jezreel Valley[18] and a British-brokered ceasefire began[35] during which the Jewish forces fortified the kibbutz and dug trenches around its perimeter.[18]

Although the Arab forces had not entered the kibbutz, Qawuqji reported that the kibbutz was captured and the "conquest of Mishmar HaEmek" was falsely celebrated in Arab newspapers, which also reported heavy casualties among the Jewish forces. The ALA sent terms to the Haganah, saying they would lift the siege of the kibbutz, regroup and move toward Haifa if the Jewish forces would not retaliate against the nearby Arab villages in return. The Jewish forces declined the offer and the Arab offensive resumed on 8 April. In the night between 8–9 April, the Jewish forces launched a counter-attack under the command of Yitzhak Sadeh and captured the nearby Arab village of Al-Ghubayya al-Fawqa in a fierce battle. In the next days, troops of the Carmeli Brigade and the Palmach unit captured several other villages near Mishmar HaEmek and nearby Ein HaShofet, and destroyed them all.[35]

During the second phase of the war, on 24 December 1948 during the middle of Chanukah,[14] Iraqi planes bombed the kibbutz, hitting the children's house, killing three 9-year-old children and a pregnant woman[36] and injuring another four. Historian Yoav Gelber speculates that the Iraqis wanted to attack Ramat David Airbase but hit the kibbutz instead.[37]

Music lessons on the kibbutz, 1956

The kibbutz earned a name in Israel as the home of educators, authors, leaders, politicians and ministers. It also earned a name for being an important HaShomer HaTazir center.[26]

In 1950 the kibbutz established a plastics factory called Tama (Hebrew: תעשיות משמר העמק, Ta'asiyot Mishmar HaEmek, "Mishmar HaEmek Industries"), which in time became a central part of the kibbutz's economy. The factory was created to provide work for the elderly, since at the time Mishmar HaEmek had the highest number of elderly residents among the entire Kibbutz Artzi network.[26] That same year the kibbutz finished building a new large dining hall and kitchen, whose construction was delayed during the war. The dining room was Inaugurated in a day-long celebration that included a play put on by Shulamit Bat-Dori, a member of the kibbutz, telling the biblical stories of kings Saul and Solomon while hinting contemporary kibbutz issues. Members of all age groups participated in the play.[38]

In May 1950 a village and ma'abara (immigrant transit camp) called Keren Yesha was established by the Jewish Agency for Yemeni Jews next to Mishmar HaEmek.[39][40] It was located atop Tel Shush, where the first members of the kibbutz settled in 1926. The village was abandoned and the residents moved to Midrakh Oz in 1953.[41] Political rivalries affected the relations between Mishmar HaEmek and Keren Yehsa. The Hed Ha-Mizrach newspaper described life in Keren Yesha two months after its establishment; the Yemeni immigrants lived in tents and although the residents claimed to be content, they also said that there was not enough support by the authorities.[39] The newspaper Al HaMishmar, affiliated with the Kibbutz Artzi movement, reported in 1950 that the kibbutz helped the new community and provided a number of services to the new immigrants.[42] The newspaper reported that the Moshavim Movement, which was officially responsible for Keren Yesha, asked that the kibbutz would cease its aid and told the residents that they need to choose between either aid from Mishamr HaEmek or the Moshavim Movement, which held rival social and political views.[43]

In July 1951, Keren Yesha protested against negligence by the authorities and blocked the nearby road. The newspaper Davar, affiliated with the Mapai party, reported that the protest was organized by the members of Mishmar HaEmek affiliated with the rival Mapam party and also claimed they have denied water and medical treatment to the immigrants after they decided to support Mapai.[44] This report caused outrage among kibbutz members, who denied the accusations and claimed that the relations between both communities are good and that kibbutz provides the village with the support that the authorities fail to the deliver.[45] Later, Davar issued an apology, saying it was a false report.[46]

In the 1970s, after the expansion of the Tama factory, a 20% stake (later increased to 25%) was sold to Kibbutz Gal'ed.[4] In the 1980s, the kibbutz suffered from the 1983 bank stock crisis. In an attempt to save the kibbutz from bankruptcy, Tama began manufacturing plastic netting used for bundling crops and in the late 1980s the crisis ended. Several successful business moves by Tama in the early 1990s led the kibbutz to an era of economic prosperity and high quality of life. During that period, education in the kibbutz was reformed, the children's societies were abolished, and the pupils were moved to schools outside of the kibbutz. This allowed the kibbutz to extend existing houses and set up new neighborhoods. Prosperity led the kibbutz to increase the salaries of its members, to create personal funds for families, and to institutionalize culture and recreation activities thanks to the weekly labor days, reduced to five.[4]

On 1 April 1990 15,000 people (according to Maariv) participated in a parade from the Menashe forest to Mishmar HaEmek in protest of the objection of Rabbi Elazar Shach to prevent a political coalition between the Haredi parties and the leftist parties which he described as "eaters of hares and swine" (non-Kosher food). Many leaders of the Israeli left participated in the parade including former politicians Ya'akov Hazan (91 years old at the time) and Emri Ron, both hailing from Mishmar HaEmek, Elisha Shapira the head of Kibbutz Arzi, and Rafael Eitan and Hagai Meirom, both members of the Knesset (Israel's parliament). These events happened in the context of "The Dirty Trick".[26] In August 1990 some members of the kibbutz, as well as other members kibbutzim affiliated with the Kibbutz Artzi, signed a petition calling upon the kibbutzim movement to launch a non-violent protest against Israel Defense Forces actions against Palestinians in the Palestinian territories during the First Intifada.[47]

Kibbutz children dancing on a hilltop, 2012

In 2010 the kibbutz decided, after a series of public meetings, to appoint a team of members to discuss the privatization of electricity, food, mail, barbershop and cosmetics. Other services were to be kept under the responsibility of the kibbutz, including healthcare, education and welfare. The dispute mainly concerned the privatization of the dining room.[48] At the end of the discussions, most privatization initiatives were rejected and only a few minor changes that had no practical effect on the collective lifestyle were accepted.

The extension has been constructed in four phases, three of whom are complete. As of 2020, a residential extension to the kibbutz's eastern side is under construction and is planned to include a total of 154 residential units, in residential buildings consisting of two apartments each. A southern part of the extension consists of 110 units and was approved in 2006,[49] on the location of the village and archaeological site of Al-Ghubayya al-Tahta.[50] The extension has been constructed in four phases, three of whom are complete. The second stage was approved in 2018 on the location of the old cowshed and includes an additional 44 housing units.[51][52]