Afula עפולה | |
|---|---|
     | |
 Coat of arms | |
  Afula  Afula | |
| Coordinates:32°36′23″N35°17′17″E / 32.60639°N 35.28806°E /32.60639; 35.28806 | |
| Grid position | 177/224PAL |
| Country |  Israel |
| District | Northern |
| Founded | 1900 BCE(Canaanite settlement) 7th century(Samaritan town) 14th century(Arab village) 1925–present(Jewish village/city) |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Avi Elkabetz[citation needed] |
| Area | |
• Total | 26,909dunams (26.909 km2; 10.390 sq mi) |
| Population (2023)[1] | |
• Total | 64,578 |
| • Density | 2,399.9/km2 (6,215.6/sq mi) |
| Ethnicity | |
| • Jews and others | 98.9% |
| • Arabs | 1.1% |
Afula (Hebrew:עפולה) is a city in theNorthern District ofIsrael, often known as the "Capital of the Valley" due to its strategic location in theJezreel Valley. In 2023 the city had a population of 64,578.[1]
Afula's ancienttell (settlement mound) suggests habitation from theLate Chalcolithic to the Ayyubid period. A fortress was built at the site during theCrusader or Mamluk period.
A small Arab Palestinian village during the Ottoman period, it was sold in 1872 along with the entire Jezreel Valley to theLebaneseSursock family. In 1925, the same area was acquired by theAmerican Zionist Commonwealth as part of theSursock Purchase. The majority Muslim and Christian population were removed by the family, andJewish immigrants, marking the foundation of modern Afula. After the establishment of theState of Israel in 1948, Afula was settled byJewish immigrants fromIraq, Yemen andRomania. In 1972, it gained the status of acity. The 1990s saw Jewish immigration from Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union contribute to the growth of the city. Since 1995, the city has almost doubled[when?] its population.
The name follows that of the small Arab village which occupied the site until theFirst World War, possibly originating in the Canaanite-Hebrew rootʿofel "fortress tower",[2] or the Arab word for "ruptured".[3]
The ancient mound of ʿAfula, known as Tel ʿAfula, is close to the city center, west of Route 60 and south of Ussishkin Street. Very little of the initial six-acre tell remains due to construction work done in this area since theBritish Mandate period. The southern peak of the mound is the better preserved part. It was once widely considered to be the biblical site ofOphrah, the hometown of thejudgeGideon,[4] but contemporary scholars generally disagree with this supposition. Archaeological finds date from theChalcolithic through theByzantine period, followed by remains from the Crusader and Mamluk periods.[5][6]
ʿAfula is possibly the place of Bronze AgeʿOphlah, mentioned in the lists of PharaohThutmose III.[7]Zev Vilnay suggested to identify Afula with biblical (Iron Age II)Ophel, mentioned in2 Kings.[8] After the destruction of theKingdom of Israel, the area continued to be inhabited and excavations have revealed artifacts from the periods ofPersian andRoman rule.[9]
The first excavations at Tel ʿAfula, carried out in 1948, found Late Chalcolithic– Early Bronze Age remains. Tombs from the Early Bronze Age, Middle Bronze Age II, Late Bronze Age– Iron Age I and Roman period were discovered near the municipal water tower. Archaeologists discovered the Crusader-Mamluk fortress on the southern peak of the tell, a Byzantine olive oil press and evidence of an Early Bronze Age settlement near the northern peak.[10]
In 1950–1951, excavations on the northwestern slope of the peak revealed a pottery workshop forTell el-Yahudiyeh Ware from Middle Bronze Age II and another pottery workshop from Middle Bronze Age I.[10]
From the 1990s, several small excavations unearthed an uninterrupted sequence of settlement remains from the Chalcolithic until the Late Byzantine periods as well as remains from the Mamluk period.[11]
In 2012, excavations were conducted by theIsrael Antiquities Authority on the southern peak of Tel ʿAfula where the Crusader-Mamluk fortress is located. Due to construction activity from the 1950s, settlement layers on the tell may have been destroyed. Only meager remnants were found, indicative of a settlement from Early Bronze Age I and the Roman period. Pottery from Early Bronze Age III, Iron Age I and a single HellenisticAttic fragment indicate settlement on the tell in these periods. Fragments of glazed bowls from the 13th century (Mamluk period) were found along the southern edge of the excavation.
At the centre of Tel ʿAfula stand the remains of a 19-metre square fortress from the Mamluk period, possibly first built during theCrusader period.[6][5] The lower fourcourses are made of rough boulders, while the top remaining layer is made of reusedRomansarcophagi. The wall is a total of 5.5 meters tall. Pottery remains indicate that it was occupied in the 12th and 13th century.[5] The gate is dated based on pottery findings to the Mamluk period (13th–14th centuries CE), but as of the end of the 2017 excavation campaign it could not be determined when fortress itself was built, since it is perfectly possible that just the gate was renovated in the Mamluk period; the square shape and the use of Roman sarcophagi as building stones is closely resembling the Crusader tower at Sepphoris.[6]
In 1321, ʿAfula was mentioned under the name ofAfel byMarino Sanuto the Elder.[12]
A map byPierre Jacotin from Napoleon's invasion of 1799 showed this place, named asAfouleh in a French transliteration of the Arabic.[13]
In 1816,James Silk Buckingham passed by and describedAffouli as being built on rising ground and containing only a few dwellings. He noted several other nearby settlements in sight, all populated by Muslims.[14]
In 1838,Edward Robinson described both ʿAfula and the adjacentEl Fuleh as "deserted".[15][16]William McClure Thomson, in a book published in 1859, noted that ʿAfula and the adjacentEl Fuleh were "both now deserted, though both were inhabited twenty-five years ago when I first passed this way." Thomson blamed their desertion on theBedouin.[17]
In 1875,Victor Guérin described ʿAfula as a village on a small hill overlooking a little plain. The houses were built ofadobe and various other materials. Around thewell, which Guérin thought was probably ancient, he noticed several broken sarcophagi serving as troughs.[18] In 1882, thePalestine Exploration Fund'sSurvey of Western Palestine described El ʿAfula as a small adobe village in the plain, supplied by two wells.[7]
A population list from about 1887 showed that el ʿAfula had about 630 inhabitants, all Muslim.[19]Gottlieb Schumacher, as part of surveying for the construction of theJezreel Valley railway, noted in 1900 that it consisted of 50-55 huts and had 200 inhabitants. North of the village was a grain stop, belonging to theSursocks.[20]
In 1904, the Ottoman authorities inaugurated the Jezreel Valley railway, at first operating betweenHaifa and Beysan via ʿAfula and soon extended toDera'a. Work eventually continued with an extension towards Jerusalem, the connection toJenin being completed in 1913.
During theGreat War, ʿAfulah was a major communications hub.[citation needed] In 1917, when ColonelRichard Meinertzhagen from the British intelligence established contact with theNili Jewish spy network in Palestine, a German Jewish doctor stationed at al ʿAfulah railway junction provided the British with valuable reconnaissance reports on Ottoman and German troop movements southwards.[citation needed]
With the advance of GeneralEdmund Allenby's British forces into Ottoman Palestine, al ʿAfulah was captured by the4th Cavalry Division of theDesert Mounted Corps, during the cavalry phase of theBattle of Sharon in September 1918.[citation needed]
According to theBritish Mandate's1922 census of Palestine,Affuleh had 563 inhabitants; 471 Muslims, 62 Christians, 28 Jews and 2 followers of theBaháʼí Faith;[21] 61 of the Christians were Orthodox, while one wasMelkite.[22]
In 1925, the area was acquired with money from theAmerican Zion Commonwealth as part of theSursock Purchase.[23][24] The Arab tenant farmers were given four years during which they could either buy the land or leave, in the meantime having the right to cultivate it.[23] A quarter of the one hundred Arab families who had lived in the area accepted compensation for their land and left voluntarily; the remainder were evicted by the new owners.[24][25] Jews began settling in Afula shortly after as the town developed, with many American andPolish Jews purchasing the parcels. Many of the Polish Jews who bought land in the town perished in theHolocoaust, and were therefore unable to develop their plots.[26] Nearby land had been purchased in a similar manner in 1909 or 1910, whenYehoshua Hankin, in his first major purchase in the Jezreel Valley, bought 10,000 dunams (10 km2) of land on which Merhavia andTel Adashim were to be built.[24]
In 1924 former leaders ofHashomer established an arms factory in Afula. Disguised as a farm equipment repair workshop, it produced bullets and weapon parts.[27]
By the1931 census, the population had increased to 874; with 786 Jews, 86 Muslims, nine Christians, and three classified as "no religion", in a total of 236 houses.[28]
In a1945 survey, the population of ʿAfula was estimated at 2300 Jews and ten Muslims.[29] The town had a total of 18,277dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.[30] Of this, 145 dunams of land was used to cultivate citrus and bananas, 347 dunams were for plantations and irrigable land, 15,103 for cereals,[31] while 992 dunams were built-up land.[32]
During this time, the community was served by theJezreel Valley Railway, a side branch of the largerHejaz Railway. Since 1913 it had also been theterminus station of the branch connecting it toJenin and later also toNablus. Sabotage actions of Jewish underground militias in1945,1946 and shortly before the1948 Arab–Israeli War rendered first the connection to Jenin, then progressively the entire Valley Railway,inoperable.[citation needed]
Repairs to the Jezreel Valley Railway after 1948 restored service toHaifa, but only until 1949 when it was abandoned. In 2011, construction began on a large-scale project to build a newstandard gauge railway from Haifa toBeit She'an with stations inAfula and other towns, along roughly the same route as the historical valley railway.Israel Railways began passenger service on thenew line on October 16, 2016.[33]
Due to Afula's proximity to theWest Bank, it has been a target forPalestinian political violence.[34] On 6 April 1994, theAfula Bus suicide bombing killed five people in the center of Afula. In theAfula axe attack in November 1994, a 19-year-old female soldier was attacked and murdered by an axe-wielding ArabHamas member.[35]
During theSecond Intifada, Afula was the target of asuicide attack on a bus on 5 March 2002, in which one person died and several others were injured at Afula's central bus station. In theAfula mall bombing on 19 May 2003, a female suicide bomberblew herself up at the Amakim mall, killing three and wounding 70.[36] This attack was claimed by theIslamic Jihad Movement in Palestine and theFatah movement'sAl-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
On 17 July 2006, during the2006 Lebanon War,Hezbollah firedKatyusha rockets at Afula, one of the southernmost rocket attacks on Israel from Lebanon. Six people were treated for shock as a result of the attack. On 28 July, a rocket landed causing a fire. The rocket carried 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of explosives.[37]
In September 2016, it was announced that seven new neighborhoods would be built, doubling the city's population.[38]
In 2015, a tender of theIsrael Land Authority for 27 lots in Afula was won by 45 ArabPalestinian citizens. Following the results, a group ofJewish residents petitioned to cancel the tender, formally citing price coordination but also admitting that the arrival of "a large group ofArab citizens coming to live here together" raised sensitivities in the neighborhood.[39]
In another case in 2018, a Jewish homeowner in Afula refused to rent an apartment to an Arab woman. The Nazareth District Court ruled that the refusal constituted unlawfuldiscrimination on national grounds and ordered him to pay 30,000 NIS in damages, noting that despite the landlord’s claim that he held no racist views, his actions demonstrated anti-Arab bias.[40] Reports in theIsraeli press have highlighted the persistence ofanti-Arab sentiment in the city.[41] Former Afula Mayor Avi Elkabetz joined the protest and said, "the residents of Afuladon't want a mixed city, but rather a Jewish city, and it's their right. This is not racism."[42][43]
The land tender sparked protests by local Jewish residents who declared their opposition to Arabs settling in the city. Demonstrators warned that the influx of Arab families would turn the neighborhood into "a village… soon there will be a mosque and a school… where have we come to?" and claimed this would drive Jews to leave Afula.[44] Civil society groups condemned the protests as discriminatory and urged the municipality to respect equal rights for all citizens. On 13 June 2018, a demonstration was held in Afula against the sale of an apartment to Arabs, joined not only by residents but also by the city’s deputy mayor. In response, theAnti-Defamation League (ADL) sent a letter to the mayor of Afula expressing strong opposition to institutional discrimination, calling on him to take a firm public stance against anti-Arab bias and to address stereotypes and prejudice through educational initiatives for youth in the city.[45] Additional coverage of these campaigns and the city council’s involvement appeared in the Israeli media.[46][47]
In June 2019, a demonstration happened in protest against a house being sold to an Arab family, joined by Afula's mayor, Avi Elkabetz, who had run for office on a platform of "preserving the Jewish character of Afula."[48]
In 2022, 89.5% of the population was Jewish and 10.5% was counted as other.[49]
Afula has aMediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification:Csa). The average annual temperature is 20.4 °C (68.7 °F), and around 468 mm (18.43 in) of precipitation falls annually.
| Climate data for Afula (1991–2020) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 24.7 (76.5) | 28.4 (83.1) | 37.0 (98.6) | 40.9 (105.6) | 43.2 (109.8) | 44.1 (111.4) | 41.9 (107.4) | 41.5 (106.7) | 43.2 (109.8) | 40.2 (104.4) | 35.6 (96.1) | 28.8 (83.8) | 44.1 (111.4) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 16.9 (62.4) | 18.2 (64.8) | 21.6 (70.9) | 26.0 (78.8) | 30.1 (86.2) | 32.5 (90.5) | 34.2 (93.6) | 34.6 (94.3) | 33.4 (92.1) | 30.9 (87.6) | 24.9 (76.8) | 19.0 (66.2) | 26.9 (80.4) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 11.5 (52.7) | 12.1 (53.8) | 14.6 (58.3) | 18.2 (64.8) | 22.2 (72.0) | 25.4 (77.7) | 27.7 (81.9) | 28.3 (82.9) | 26.6 (79.9) | 23.6 (74.5) | 18.0 (64.4) | 13.2 (55.8) | 20.1 (68.2) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 5.9 (42.6) | 5.9 (42.6) | 7.6 (45.7) | 10.3 (50.5) | 14.3 (57.7) | 18.2 (64.8) | 21.2 (70.2) | 21.9 (71.4) | 19.8 (67.6) | 16.2 (61.2) | 11.1 (52.0) | 7.4 (45.3) | 13.3 (55.9) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −5.2 (22.6) | −2.5 (27.5) | −0.4 (31.3) | −1.5 (29.3) | 6.2 (43.2) | 11.4 (52.5) | 15.4 (59.7) | 15.6 (60.1) | 10.2 (50.4) | 6.9 (44.4) | −0.3 (31.5) | −3.0 (26.6) | −5.2 (22.6) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 110.4 (4.35) | 96.6 (3.80) | 54.9 (2.16) | 15.8 (0.62) | 4.5 (0.18) | 0.8 (0.03) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.7 (0.03) | 19.5 (0.77) | 61.2 (2.41) | 101.4 (3.99) | 465.8 (18.34) |
| Average rainy days(≥ 0.1 mm) | 11.7 | 10.6 | 7.8 | 3.1 | 1.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 3.1 | 6.6 | 10.0 | 54.4 |
| Source 1:NOAA[50] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2:World Meteorological Organization (rainfall and rain days 1981–2010)[51] | |||||||||||||
TheAlon Tavor Industrial Zone, located northeast of Afula along Highway 65, is a major hub of manufacturing and industry in the region. Notable companies based there include:
These enterprises provide significant local employment and support the city’s economic base within the Jezreel Valley.
According to theIsraeli Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), as of 2001 there were 24 schools in Afula, serving a total of 8,688 students: 16 elementary schools with 3,814 students and 12 high schools with 4,874 students. In that year, 52.3% of 12th-grade students were eligible for abagrut (matriculation certificate).[55]
Cultural life in Afula includes community events, parks, and leisure programming that contribute to quality of life. The municipality emphasizes the importance of both formal andinformal education, aiming to foster academic aspiration, communal values, integrity, and excellence.Sports also play a role as an educational tool to promote healthy lifestyles, teamwork, and civic responsibility.[56]
Afula’s primary health institution,HaEmek Medical Center, was established on 29 April 1930 following initial planning in 1924.[57] It is a major regional hospital, serving an estimated 700,000 residents from Afula and surrounding areas, with a workforce of around 1,900 employees.[58]
HaEmek is a district general and teaching hospital, affiliated with theRappaport Faculty of Medicine at the Technion, and is operated byClalit Health Services.[59] It is also noted as a place of Arab–Israeli coexistence, where personnel from diverse backgrounds work together.[60]
The city's basketball club,Hapoel Afula, currently play in theLiga Leumit.The main football club,Hapoel Afula, wonLiga Alef in the 2012–13 season and is currently playing inLiga Leumit.
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