Ga'aton

Ga'aton
Ga'aton is located in Northwest Israel
Ga'aton
Ga'aton
Coordinates: 33°0′22″N 35°12′52″E / 33.00611°N 35.21444°E / 33.00611; 35.21444
Grid position170/268 PAL
CountryIsrael
DistrictNorthern
CouncilMateh Asher
AffiliationKibbutz Movement
Founded1948
Founded byHungarian "May 1st" Hashomer Hatzair Members
Population
 (2022)[1]
725
First wedding at Ga'aton: Six couples married in the communal kitchen, c. 1940

Ga'aton (Hebrew: גַּעְתּוֹן) is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located in the western Galilee, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Asher Regional Council. In 2022 it had a population of 725.[1]

Etymology

The name Ga'aton is taken from the Ga'aton River that passes nearby and flows through Nahariya into the Mediterranean Sea.[2][3]

Ga'aton is also the name of a biblical town in the allotment of Asher, located at one of the ancient tells (mounds) near the kibbutz. The tell known as Hurvat Ga'aton ("ruins of Ga'aton"; Arabic Khirbat Ja'tun) northwest of the kibbutz and near the Ga'aton River is one candidate,[4] and there are other tells in the vicinity with remains from the time of the Hebrew Bible.[5] Most English translations of the Hebrew Bible offer the name Gaash (2 Samuel 23:30); in the Latin of the Vulgate it is Gaas.[6]

History

Antiquity

Hurvat Ga'aton

Ceramic remains found in Ga'aton were dated to the Byzantine era, 5th to 7th century CE.[7]

In the Crusader period, Ga'aton (named Iazon) was mentioned in 1160, when it and several other villages in the area of Castellum Regis was transferred to a Crusader named Iohanni de Caypha (Johannes of Haifa).[8] In 1182 Jazun was especially excluded from the list of estates belonging to Jocelyn III in the area.[9]

In 1220, when Jocelyn III's daughter Beatrix de Courtenay and her husband Otto von Botenlauben sold Mi'ilya and its dependencies to the Teutonic Knights, Ga'aton (called Ihazon, Jaharon, Jaroth) was again explicitly excluded from the sale.[10]

In documents dating to 1253 (Jasson)[11] and 1256, (Jashon) it was included in the area of Casal Imbert.[12]

In 1283 Ga'aton was still part of the Crusader states, as it was mentioned as part of their domain in the hudna between the Crusaders based in Acre and the Mamluk sultan Qalawun.[13][14]

Ottoman era

Incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517, Ja'tun appeared in the census of 1596, located in the Nahiya of Acca of the Liwa of Safad. The population was 11 households, all Muslim. They paid a fixed tax-rate of 25% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, fruit trees, cotton, goats and beehives; in addition to grasslands, occasional revenues and a water mill, a total of 3000 Akçe.[15][16]

In 1875, Victor Guérin found the village to have 15 farmers and shepherds,[17] however, in 1881, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) found at Khurbet Jathun[18] only heaps of stones and modern ruins, a few mills, and some well-dressed stones scattered about.[19]

British Mandate

The 1922 census of Palestine listed under "Ja'atun" a population of 19 Muslims.[20]

Part of the area was acquired by the Jewish community as part of the Sursock Purchases. In the 1945 statistics the population of Ga'aton was 140, all Jews;[21] the area was counted together with that of Shavei Tzion, Mazra'a and Ein Sara, and totalled 7,407 dunams of land according to an official land and population survey.[21][22]

State of Israel

Kibbutz Ga'aton was established in October 1948 in the hills east of Nahariya by a group of Jewish immigrants from Hungary. The name for the kibbutz was taken from a town mentioned in historical accounts of the Jewish return from Babylon which the founders believed was located on the site of Ja'tun.[23] According to Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi, the kibbutz was founded on the land of Khirbat Jiddin, a castle in Yehi'am Fortress National Park used by the al-Suwaytat Bedouin tribe[dubious – discuss] and listed by Khalidi as a depopulated Palestinian village.[24][25][26][dubious – discuss]

Economy

One of the kibbutz industries is Yamaton Ltd., a joint venture with Kibbutz Ein Hamifratz. The company produces honeycomb paper products.[27] Kibbutz Ga'aton is the home of the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company (KCDC).[28] The company's dance groups participate in some 200 performances a year in Israel and overseas.[29]

Notable people

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Regional Statistics". Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
  2. ^ Raphael Frankel and Israel Finkelstein, in an article published by them, entitled The Northwest Corner of Eretz-Israel in the Baraita ‘Boundaries of Eretz-Israel’, Cathedra: For the History of Eretz Israel and its Yishuv (pub. by: Yad Izhak Ben Zvi), vol. 27, Jerusalem 1983, p. 43. (see: Finkelstein, Israel (1983). "'The Northwest Corner of Eretz-Israel' in the Baraita 'Boundaries of Eratz-Israel'". Cathedra: For the History of Eretz Israel and Its Yishuv. 27 (27): 39–46. JSTOR 23398920.).
  3. ^ Tsafrir et al., 1994, p. 125
  4. ^ Frankel, Rafael (1978). "Ḥurvat Ga'ton". Israel Guide - Upper Galilee, Huleh Basin and Jordan Source Region (A useful encyclopedia for the knowledge of the country) (in Hebrew). Vol. 2. Jerusalem: Keter Publishing House, in affiliation with the Ministry of Defense. p. 51. OCLC 745203905.
  5. ^ Grootkerk, 2000, p. 33
  6. ^ von Starck, 1894, p. 58
  7. ^ Dauphin, 1998, p. 635
  8. ^ Strehlke, 1869, pp. 2-3, No. 2; Cited in Röhricht, 1893, RRH, p. 89, No. 341; Cited in Frankel, 1988, p. 259
  9. ^ Strehlke, 1869, pp. 13-14, No. 14; cited in Röhricht, 1893, RRH, pp. 162−163, No. 614; Cited in Frankel, 1988, p. 259
  10. ^ Strehlke, 1869, pp. 43-44, No. 53; pp. 47-49, Nos. 58-59; Cited in Röhricht, 1893, RRH, p. 248, No. 934; Cited Frankel, 1988, p. 259
  11. ^ Strehlke, 1869, pp. 84-85, No. 105; cited in Röhricht, 1893, RRH, p. 318, No. 1208; Cited Frankel, 1988, p. 259
  12. ^ Röhricht, 1893, RRH, p. 328, No. 1250; Cited Frankel, 1988, p. 259
  13. ^ The al-Qalqashandi version of the hudna, referred in Barag, 1979, p. 203, #7
  14. ^ Khamisy, 2013, p. 93, #10
  15. ^ Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 192
  16. ^ Note that Rhode, 1979, p. 6 Archived 2019-04-20 at the Wayback Machine writes that the Safad register that Hütteroth and Abdulfattah studied was not from 1595/6, but from 1548/9.
  17. ^ Guérin, 1880, p. 48
  18. ^ meaning "the ruin of Jathun", according to Palmer, 1881, p. 48
  19. ^ Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 176
  20. ^ Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Acre, p. 36
  21. ^ a b Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 4
  22. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 40
  23. ^ Israel: A History, Martin Gilbert
  24. ^ Morris, 2004, p. xxi, settlement #30.
  25. ^ Khalidi, 1992, p. 19.
  26. ^ Morris, 2004, p. 380
  27. ^ "Yamaton Honeycomb Paper Products". Archived from the original on 2023-10-31. Retrieved 2009-12-17.
  28. ^ Dance in Israel, Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company
  29. ^ Kibbutz Movement, Jerusalem Post, by LILACH GAVISH, MICHELLE SHABTAI, FEBRUARY 5, 2009

Bibliography

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