MISHMAR HAEMEK

courtesy, Wikipedia

Mishmar HaEmek is a kibbutz in northern Israel, located in the southwestern part of the Jezreel Valley, between Highway 66 to its northeast and the foot of the Menashe Heights to its southwest. It falls under the jurisdiction of the Megiddo Regional Council and is one of the few kibbutzim that have not undergone privatization, still following the traditional collectivist and socialist kibbutz model.  Next to the kibbutz is Mishmar HaEmek Forest, planted by the Jewish National Fund and members of the kibbutz. It is a section of Megiddo Park (formerly named "Ramot Menashe park"), listed as a biosphere reserve by UNESCO. Flowing through Mishmar HaEmek is the Nahal Mishmar HaEmek, a tributary of the Kishon River. Some of the waters also come from the Spring of Shulamit. In 2019, it had a population of 1,271. At least six former members of the Knesset hail from Mishmar HaEmek.

In Biblical times, the site of Mishmar HaEmek was allotted to the tribe of Menasheh (on the west side of the Jordan) in the northwestern section of the tribal territory between Megiddo and Yokneam. The present kibbutz sits near the ancient site of Tel Shush which Israeli geographers and archaeologists have identified as the ancient Jewish village of Geva‘ Parashim from the time of the Hasmonean dynasty. Between the Arab conquest in the 7^th century and the 1920s, Bedouin and Turkmen tribes settled in the area, founding the settlement of Abu Shusha.  In the 1870s, much of the Jezreel Valley came under the ownership of the Sursock family, a Greek Christian family in Lebanon. From 1924 to 1926, the land in and around the area of the present kibbutz, including Abu Shusha, was purchased by the Jewish National Fund.

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 the HaShomer HaTzair movement, one from the town of Afula and two from the Jerusalem area. They later joined with another Zionist socialist group from Hadera and on November 3, 1926, the members (numbering 90 after the unification) were given the land next to Abu Shusha. But initially, only 15 men and women went to the site, and they 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 wheat and barley were sowed. Soon, the pioneers left the khan and began building the new settlement in its present location, making history as the first Jewish settlement in this part of the valley since Biblical times. As a HaShomer HaTzair stronghold, the settlement housed many pioneers of other kibbutzim and instructed them before they established their own kibbutzim.

In November 1928 the kibbutz was renamed "Kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek" as proposed by Menachem Ussishkin, after its members could not agree on a name. On August 26, 1929, during the bloody Arab riots, the kibbutz was attacked. The members, with the aid of Arab policemen, managed to fend off the rioters. British policemen ordered the kibbutz to evacuate and promised to take care of their property, and so the members left the following day. On August 28, Arab rioters burned the barn, uprooted trees, stole corn from the fields and vandalized two gravestones in the cemetery. It was the only time in its history where Mishmar HaEmek was abandoned, and it joined 16 other Jewish communities that were also abandoned during the riots. But unlike the others, it was resettled six days later. 

In 1931, Shomeria School was established as the first regional educational institution of the Kibbutz Artzi movement, an ideological ally of Hashomer HaTzair. It soon became the biggest structure in the region and operated as a boarding school. It 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. This institution provided education to several other kibbutz communities that were established in the Jezreel Valley as well as youth from the Youth Aliyah. In the mid-30s, the members also constructed a water tower, built a cowshed, planted a vineyard and various fruit trees, and dug wells. Berta Guggenheimer was an activist who planned playgrounds all over the country and with her niece Irma Lindheim, a member of Mishmar HaEmek, set up the kibbutz’s own children's playground. There was also an arrangement to allow Arab children from the nearby villages to visit and play with the kibbutz children.

At the start of 1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine, Mishmar HaEmek came under attack from nearby Arab settlers under the command of Ahmad Attiyah Awad, succeeded by Yusuf Abu Durra after his death. There were repeated arson attacks on grain fields and forests and 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. 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 by October the attacks on the kibbutz ended. But not ambushes. On February 2, 1938 Abraham Goldschleger, a kibbutz member and guide for Ein HaShofet, was ambushed and murdered by the Arab settlers 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. 

During World War II, the nearby Palmach Cave was chosen by the Palmach upon its establishment in 1941, as a training site for its special undercover units. The cave was also used for meetings between Palmach commanders. In the fall of 1942, Mishmar HaEmek was used as a training camp by the British army. 160 Jewish volunteers, members of Palmach,  were trained by Royal Engineers in sabotage and wireless operations. 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.

In 1947, the Jewish National Fund and Worton Hall Studios made a movie entitled The Great Promise (Dim'at Ha'Nehamah Ha'Gedolah), and a number of scenes were filmed in Mishmar HaEmek. By 1947, Pinat HaGola ("Diaspora's Place") was built by the sculptor Zeev Ben Zvi as a memorial site for the children who died in the Holocaust. He built it with the students of the kibbutz. It was the earliest memorial site for the Holocaust in Israel.

On April 4, 1948, during the War of Independence, the kibbutz came under full-scale attack by the Arab Liberation Army (ALA). The leader of the ALA, Fawzi al-Qawuqji, planned to seize Mishmar HaEmek in order to control the route between Jenin and Haifa. The attack began with a barrage from seven artillery pieces supplied by the Arab army of Syria. During the shelling, houses were destroyed, civilians, defenders, and animals were killed and the prominent school building was heavily damaged. A bomb shelter was later built there. The Pinat HaGola was also damaged by a shell, but Ben-Zvi refused to repair it. On April 6, the women and children of the kibbutz were evacuated to other settlements in the Jezreel Valley and a ceasefire began during which the Jewish forces fortified the kibbutz and dug trenches around its perimeter.  

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 April 8. That night, 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. During the second phase of the war, on December 24, Iraqi planes bombed the kibbutz, hitting the children's house, killing four children and injuring another four.

After the war, in 1950, the kibbutz finished building a new large dining hall and kitchen, whose construction was delayed during the war. That same year, the people of Mishmar HaEmek established a plastics factory called Tama, 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. In the 1970s, a 25% stake was sold to Kibbutz Gal’ed.

In May 1950 an adjacent village and ma'abara (immigrant transit camp) called Keren Yesha was established for Yemenite Jews by the Jewish Agency. It was located atop Tel Shush, where the first members of the kibbutz settled in 1926. Eventually, political rivalries affected the relations between the two communities. The Hed Ha-Mizrach newspaper described life in Keren Yesha two months after its establishment, stating that 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. The newspaper Al HaMishmar, affiliated with the Kibbutz Artzi movement, reported that the kibbutz helped the new community and provided a number of services to the new immigrants. The newspaper reported that the Moshavim Movement, which held rival social and political views, was officially responsible for Keren Yesha, and asked that the kibbutz would cease its aid, telling the residents that they needed to choose between aid from Mishamr HaEmek or the Moshavim Movement.

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. This report caused outrage among kibbutz members, who denied the accusations and claimed that the relations between both communities are good and that the kibbutz provides the village with the support that the authorities fail to the deliver. Later, Davar issued an apology, saying it was a false report. In 1953, Keren Yesha was abandoned and the residents moved to nearby Midrakh Oz.

Mishmar HaEmek 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 recreational activities thanks to the weekly labor days, reduced to five.

On April 1 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 and right participated in the parade. In August, some members of the kibbutz and those of Kibbutz Artzi-affiliated kibbutzim, signed a petition calling upon the kibbutz movement to launch a non-violent protest against Israel Defense Forces actions against murderous Palestinians in Judea and Samaria during the First Intifada. 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.

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. 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.

Various services have developed in the kibbutz; some of them are operated privately by the kibbutz members, such as the "IDEA Information System", which provides software for 70% of the museums in Israel, including Yad Vashem. In 2019 the kibbutz finalized a deal with the kibbutzim of Evron and Sa'ar to buy a quarter of their share of a company called Bermad, estimated to be worth around 450 million NIS. The company manufactures water control products that are provided to over 70 other companies, with annual revenue of half a billion NIS, employing around 700 workers.

Other sites in Mishmar HaEmek include: the Plant Nursery, the Basketball Hall, the Winery, the Mishmar HaEmek Cemetery, and the Mishmar HaEmek Battle Memorial Monument.