The moshav was named after agronomist Haim Margaliot-Kalvarisky [he], a principal director of the Jewish Colonization Association who was appointed by Baron Edmond de Rothschild to supervise the work of Jewish colonies in Galilee in the early twentieth century.[2]
History
A settlement existed at the site in the Iron Age I (1200-1000 BCE), and again from the Persian period (586-332 BCE) until the latter part of the Byzantine period (5th-6th centuries CE).[3]
The ruins of the Crusader and Ottoman castle
The Crusader castle of Chastel Neuf (in medieval French) or Castellum Novum (in Latin), lit. "New Castle", was built around 1106-1107 immediately north of the current moshav.[3] Refortified by Mamluk sultanBaibars in 1266, the castle was completely rebuilt in the 18th century[4] by Zahir al-Umar, who ruled the Galilee in the 18th century (1730s–1775).
Remains of the castle, covering an area of 9 dunams, include a rock-hewn Crusader moat, cisterns, and a vaulted gatehouse and other wall remains from the 18th century.[3][4]
The moshav was built in part on the grounds of the former ShiiteArab Palestinian village of Hunin, established in the 18th century and depopulated during the 1948 war.[3]
Margaliot was established in 1951, by Jewish immigrants from Yemen and Iraq, on the site of the depopulated Arab village.[3]
In the 2023 conflict between Hamas and Israel, Hezbollah targeted northern Israeli border communities, forcing evacuations, including in Margaliot.[6] On October 21, two foreign workers from Thailand were wounded by shrapnel in an attack by Hezbollah in the Margaliot area.[7] In March 2024, an anti-tank missile launched by Hezbollah on Margaliot resulted in the death of a foreign worker from India.[8] In May 2024, the settlement cut all contact with the Israeli government and demanded the IDF's withdrawal.[9]
Notable residents
Yossi Sarid (1940–2015), politician and news commentator
