Migdal HaEmek

Migdal HaEmek (Hebrew: מִגְדַּל הָעֵמֶק, lit. Tower of the Valley, also officially spelled Migdal HaEmeq, Arabic: مجدال هعيمق) is a city in the Northern District of Israel. In 2022 it had a population of 27,088.^[1]

Migdal HaEmek מִגְדַּל הָעֵמֶק‎ مجدال هعيمق
City
Hebrew transcription(s)
• ISO 259	Migdal ha ʕemq
• Also spelled	Migdal HaEmeq (official)
Migdal HaEmek Show map of Jezreel Valley region of Israel Migdal HaEmek Show map of Israel
Coordinates: 32°40′17″N 35°14′26″E
Country	Israel
District	Northern
Founded	1953
Government
• Mayor	Eliyahu Barda
Area
• Total	7,637 dunams (7.637 km2 or 2.949 sq mi)
Population  (2022)[1]
• Total	27,088
• Density	3,500/km2 (9,200/sq mi)
Ethnicity [1]
• Jews and others	99.95%
• Arabs	0.05%
Name meaning	Tower of the Valley

Migdal HaEmek was established in 1953 as a ma'abara for Jews from Arab countries, before becoming a development town. The original site of the ma'abara was west of the current site, at Shimron hill. There is a tower to the north-east, above the town.

Many Israeli and global high tech companies are located in three industrial parks. Among the companies: Tower Semiconductor, RSL Electronics, KLA-Tencor, CI Systems, Nilit, Vishay Intertechnology, Enzymotec and Flex.

History

Pre-1948

A Roman road ran nearby, with traces found close to the former village of al-Mujaydil. This may indicate that the region was opened to intensive settlement during the Roman period.^[2]

Prior to 1953, in the area where Migdal HaEmek was to be established, stood the former Arab Palestinian village of al-Mujaydil. It had existed there since at least 1596 during the Ottoman period.^[3][4][5] In July 1948 al-Mujaydil was completely destroyed^[6] due to aerial bombing^[7] during the operations conducted by the Golani Brigade, when the villagers fled, resulting in its depopulation.^[8]

Migdal HaEmek (est. 1953)

See also: Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries and Al-Mujaydil § 1948 and aftermath

Migdal HaEmek was established in 1953 as a ma'abara for Jews from Arab countries, before becoming a development town. The original site of the ma'abara was west of the current site, at Shimron hill.

In 1959, during the Wadi Salib riots, the "Union des Nords-africains led by David Ben Haroush, organised a large-scale procession walking towards the nice suburbs of Haifa creating little damages but a great fear within the population. This small incident was taken as an occasion to express the social malaise of the different Oriental communities in Israel and riots spread quickly to other parts of the country; mostly in towns with a high percentage of the population having North African extraction like in Tiberias, in Beer-Sheva, in Migdal HaEmek."^[9]

The chief rabbi of the city is Rabbi Yitzchak Dovid Grossman, who won the Israel Prize in 2004 for his social service work and outreach youth programs. Every year volunteers from Habonim Dror come to Migdal HaEmek to volunteer in the community.^{[citation needed]}

Demographics

According to CBS, in 2001 the ethnic makeup of the city was all Jewish and "other" non-Arabs. There were 11,900 males and 12,200 females. More recently the Jewish Agency estimated Migdal HaEmek's population at 28,000, almost half foreign-born, from Russia, the Caucasus, Ethiopia, Morocco, Iraq and South America.

Education

According to CBS, there were 22 schools and 5,777 students in the city in 2001: 13 elementary schools (2,995 students), and 2 high schools (2,782 students). 47.8% of 12th grade students qualified for a matriculation certificate in 2001.

Economy

Many Israeli and global high tech companies are located in three industrial parks. Among the companies: Tower Semiconductor (foundry), RSL Electronics (Control and Diagnostic solutions for defence and commercial applications ), KLA-Tencor (inspection tools), CI Systems (electro-optical test systems, non contact temperature sensors and wet chemistry analyzers), Nilit (Nylon for textile industry and thermoplastics for industrial and commercial applications), Vishay Intertechnology (discrete and passive semiconductors components), Enzymotec (functional lipids) and Flex (Electronics contract manufacturer).

Notable people

• Haim Dayan (born 1960), former politician
• Naama Lazimi (born 1986), member of the Knesset
• Rabbi Nachman Bulman, who founded an Orthodox community there

References

1. "Regional Statistics". Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
2. Khalidi, W. (1992). All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948. Washington D.C.: Institute for Palestine Studies. p. 349. ISBN 0-88728-224-5.
3. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 187
4. Note that Rhode, 1979, p. 6 Archived 2019-04-20 at the Wayback Machine writes that the register that Hütteroth and Abdulfattah studied was not from 1595/6, but from 1548/9.
5. Khalidi, Walid (1992). All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948. Washington D.C.: Institute for Palestine Studies. ISBN 0-88728-224-5. Khalidi (1992), p.350
6. Masalha, Nur (2003). The politics of denial: Israel and the Palestinian refugee problem. The University of Michigan: Pluto Press. ISBN 0745321208.
7. Institute, For Defence Studies and Analyses (1987). News Review on West Asia, Volume 18. The University of Virginia: Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses. ISBN 0745321208.
8. Morris, Benny (2004). The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-00967-6.
9. Jeremy Allouche, The Oriental Communities in Israel, 1948-2003, , p.35

External links

• Official website