Ayelet HaShahar


Ayelet HaShahar is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located on the Korazim Plateau, by the Rosh Pina – Metulla road, it is approximately 35 kilometers south of Kiryat Shmona and falls under the jurisdiction of Upper Galilee Regional Council. In, it had a population of.

History

The land on which the kibbutz is located was bought by the Jewish Colonization Association in 1892. It was first settled by immigrants from Europe in 1915 during the Second Aliyah period. A census conducted in 1922 by the British Mandate authorities, recorded a population of 78 Jews. During the end of the British mandate, the kibbutz was the staging ground for Palmach operations: Night of the Bridges and the bombing of the Yarmuk Bridge.
After the 1947–1949 Palestine war, Ayelet HaShahar took over the land from the newly depopulated Palestinian village of Yarda.

Economy

Ayelet HaShahar is one of the larger fruit producers in Israel. They also raise dairy cattle and poultry, and manage beehives. There are fish ponds, which take water from canals that drain the nearby Hula Valley swamps.

Landmarks

, the capital of Canaanite Galilee, lies opposite the kibbutz. The Archaeological Museum of Hatzor is located at the kibbutz. Antiquities from Tel Hazor are displayed, but many of the original artifacts are actually at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

Notable residents