Kfar Giladi

Kfar Giladi was founded in 1916 by members of Hashomer on land owned by the Jewish Colonisation Association. It was named after Israel Giladi, one of the founders of the Hashomer movement. The area was subject to intermittent border adjustments between the British and the French, and in 1919, the British relinquished the northern section of the Upper Galilee containing Tel Hai, Metula, Hamra, and Kfar Giladi to the French jurisdiction. After the Arab attack on Tel Hai in 1920, it was temporarily abandoned. Ten months later, the settlers returned. Several older buildings stand on the kibbutz that memorialize previous battles on the site, before and during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.

In 1921 a top secret arms store was dug 10 metres into the hillside. Measuring 5 by 5 metres square and 2 metres high its entrance was concealed in a stable. It was never discovered by the Mandate authorities.Ben Zvi, Rahel Yanait (1976; translated by Marie Syrkin 1989) Before Golda: Manya Shochat. A Biography. Biblio Press, New York. {{ISBN|0-930395-07-7}} p.114

Between 1916 and 1932, the population totaled 40–70. In 1932, the kibbutz absorbed 100 newcomers, mainly young immigrants. From 1922 to 1948, between 8,000–10,000 Jewish immigrants were smuggled into Palestine through Kibbutz Giladi, circumventing the Mandatory ban on Jewish immigration.{{cite news |last=Ashkenazi |first=Eli |date=February 24, 2012 |newspaper=Haaretz |title=Kibbutz Celebrates Past as Pre-state Gateway to Holy Land |url=https://www.haaretz.com/.premium-one-kibbutz-gateway-for-thousands-of-olim-1.5280266 |access-date=April 19, 2019}} The immigrants came from Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, Afghanistan and Eastern Europe.

In an operation known as Mivtzah HaElef, 1,300 Jewish children were smuggled out of Syria between 1945 and 1948. At the kibbutz, the children were dressed in work clothes and hidden in the kibbutz chicken coops and cowsheds.

In August 2006, during the 2006 Lebanon War, twelve reserve IDF soldiers were killed after being hit by a Katyusha rocket launched by Hezbollah from Southern Lebanon. The group of artillery gunners were gathering on the kibbutz in preparation for action in the conflict.

During the Gaza war, northern Israeli border communities, including Kfar Giladi, faced targeted attacks by Hezbollah and Palestinian factions based in Lebanon, and were evacuated.[https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-to-evacuate-civilians-from-28-communities-along-lebanese-border-amid-attacks/ IDF to evacuate civilians from 28 communities along Lebanese border amid attacks]

On 30 September 2024, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) launched a limited ground invasion into Southern Lebanon. On that same day, the IDF declared that Kfar Giladi became a closed military area.{{Cite web |title=Metula, Misgav Am, Kfar Giladi in Israel's North declared closed military zones |url=https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-822625 |access-date=2024-09-30 |website=jpost.com|language=en}}

File:כפר גלעדי - החצר-JNF008584.jpeg|Kfar Giladi 1930

File:שדה בכפר גלעדי בעמק החולה-JNF034433.jpeg|Kfar Giladi 1930

File:כפר גלעדי - מראה כללי.-JNF044251.jpeg|Kfar Giladi 1934

File:Zoltan Kluger. Kfar Gileadi (Upper Galilee).jpg|Kfar Giladi 1937

File:Kfar Giladi.jpg|Palmach camp at Kfar Giladi. 1948

File:Kfar Giladi ii.jpg|Members of the Palmach from Kfar Giladi on exercise. c. 1947

File:KfarGiladi HotelEntry.jpg

Eight historic buildings built in 1922 are being preserved and restored. Built of Galilee stone and materials imported from Lebanon, they are among the few remaining vestiges of early kibbutz housing.

An archaeological site at Kfar Giladi was excavated in 1957 and 1962.Kaplan, J., Kfar Giladi, Israel Exploration Journal, 8:274, 1958 It revealed remains four stages of occupation in different periods. An early Neolithic stage was suggested to date between 6400 and 5800 BC. Finds included Dark faced burnished ware with incisions and rope patterns.{{cite book|author1=Council for British Research in the Levant, p. 54 & 63|author2=British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem|author3=British Institute at Amman for Archaeology and History|title=Levant|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cbVtAAAAMAAJ|access-date=1 May 2011|year=1973|publisher=British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem}} Flints included axes, adzes, arrowheads and denticulated sickle blade elements. Similar finds were located in a later neolithic stage including a female clay figurine dating between 5800 and 5400 BC. Two later periods of occupation were attributed to Chalcolithic occupations similar to Wadi Rabah.{{cite book|last=Moore|first=A.M.T.|title=The Neolithic of the Levant|publisher=Oxford University, Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis|year=1978|pages=436–442|url=http://ancientneareast.tripod.com/182.html}}

Another nearby Neolithic site was excavated in 1973.{{cite book|author=Francis Hours|title=Atlas des sites du proche orient (14000-5700 BP)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KlZtAAAAMAAJ|access-date=1 May 2011|year=1994|publisher=Maison de l'Orient méditerranéen|isbn=978-2-903264-53-6}} They found Byblos points and tips of Jericho points and Amuq points, polished cutting axes, chisels and fine-toothed sickles. Finds were similar to Tell Ramad.

File:The Kfar Giladi mausoleum.jpg

In 1961, J. Kaplan conducted an excavation at Giv'at ha-Shoqet, a hill located southwest of the built area of Kfar Giladi, and revealed a mausoleum with three burial levels. The uppermost level, Stratum I, contained an empty sarcophagus inscribed with the Hebrew name Hezekiah, indicating it belonged to a Jewish individual. Kaplan proposed that the mausoleum was built to house this sarcophagus.

The layer below, Stratum II, situated beneath the mausoleum floor, contained seven rectangular graves, some featuring lead coffins adorned with depictions such as Hercules; one of them had a gold diadem and bracelet adorned with semi-precious stones. The lowest stratum (stratum III) included a marble sarcophagus belonging to Heracleides.

Kaplan identified two usage periods: the first (Stratum I and III) dating to no later than the Severan dynasty (192–235 AD), with Hezekiah and Heracleides buried, and the second (Stratum II) with the seven graves dating around 290–310 AD.{{Citation |title=Volume 5/Part 1 Galilaea and Northern Regions: 5876-6924 |date=2023-03-20 |work=Volume 5/Part 1 Galilaea and Northern Regions: 5876-6924 |pages=19-22 |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110715774/html |access-date=2024-01-22 |publisher=De Gruyter |language=en |doi=10.1515/9783110715774/html |isbn=978-3-11-071577-4}}

{{Weather box

| location = Kfar Giladi (2007-2020 Temperature Normals, 1935-1948, 2007-2020 Temperature Extremes, 1991-2020 Precipitation Normals)

| metric first = yes

| single line = yes

| Jan record high C = 23.3

| Feb record high C = 27.1

| Mar record high C = 33.3

| Apr record high C = 38.4

| May record high C = 40.5

| Jun record high C = 40.9

| Jul record high C = 41.3

| Aug record high C = 43.5

| Sep record high C = 45.2

| Oct record high C = 38.8

| Nov record high C = 33.8

| Dec record high C = 30.8

| Jan high C = 14.8

| Feb high C = 17.1

| Mar high C = 20.2

| Apr high C = 24.2

| May high C = 28.4

| Jun high C = 31.2

| Jul high C = 32.9

| Aug high C = 33.3

| Sep high C = 32.1

| Oct high C = 29.1

| Nov high C = 23.1

| Dec high C = 17.7

| year high C = 25.3

| Jan mean C = 11.3

| Feb mean C = 13.1

| Mar mean C = 15.6

| Apr mean C = 18.8

| May mean C = 22.6

| Jun mean C = 25.3

| Jul mean C = 27.1

| Aug mean C = 27.7

| Sep mean C = 26.4

| Oct mean C = 24.1

| Nov mean C = 18.7

| Dec mean C = 14.0

| year mean C = 20.4

| Jan low C = 7.9

| Feb low C = 9.1

| Mar low C = 11.0

| Apr low C = 13.5

| May low C = 16.9

| Jun low C = 19.4

| Jul low C = 21.4

| Aug low C = 22.0

| Sep low C = 20.8

| Oct low C = 18.6

| Nov low C = 14.4

| Dec low C = 10.3

| year low C = 15.4

| Jan record low C = -3.0

| Feb record low C = -4.0

| Mar record low C = 0.0

| Apr record low C = 2.0

| May record low C = 9.0

| Jun record low C = 12.8

| Jul record low C = 16.0

| Aug record low C = 15.5

| Sep record low C = 12.0

| Oct record low C = 11.0

| Nov record low C = 4.0

| Dec record low C = -1.2

| precipitation colour = green

| Jan precipitation mm = 197.1

| Feb precipitation mm = 160.8

| Mar precipitation mm = 89.7

| Apr precipitation mm = 38.0

| May precipitation mm = 9.6

| Jun precipitation mm = 0.7

| Jul precipitation mm = 0.1

| Aug precipitation mm = 0.1

| Sep precipitation mm = 4.3

| Oct precipitation mm = 22.8

| Nov precipitation mm = 81.1

| Dec precipitation mm = 152.8

| unit precipitation days = 0.1 mm

| Jan precipitation days = 13.6

| Feb precipitation days = 11.8

| Mar precipitation days = 9.6

| Apr precipitation days = 5.7

| May precipitation days = 3.0

| Jun precipitation days = 0.3

| Jul precipitation days = 0

| Aug precipitation days = 0.1

| Sep precipitation days = 0.9

| Oct precipitation days = 4.6

| Nov precipitation days = 7.7

| Dec precipitation days = 12.0

|source 1= Israel Meteorological Service{{cite web|url=https://ims.gov.il/he/node/230 |title=Climatological Reports |publisher=Israel Meteorological Service | accessdate=16 April 2025 |language=he}}{{cite web

|url=https://ims.gov.il/he/data_gov |title=Climate Data Base | publisher=Israel Meteorological Service |accessdate= 16 April 2025 |language=he}}

}}

• Keeping the Kibbutz (2010 documentary about Kfar Giladi)
• Kfar Giladi–Tel Hai Cemetery

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category}}

• [http://www.kfar-giladi.org.il Official website] {{in lang|he}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20071010050539/http://www.jafi.org.il/education/100/places/giladi.html Kfar Giladi] Jewish Agency for Israel
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110724200810/http://www.mom.fr/-Bases-de-donnees-.html Atlas des sites Prochaine-Orient 14000 et 5700 BP - MOM's online application - Atlas of Near East Archaeological Sites 14000 to 5700 BP]
• [https://www.facebook.com/groups/2347516312/ Facebook group for former volunteers and for kibbutzniks]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfa-ftCKImo&t=7m00s movie taken in the 1930s]

{{Upper Galilee Regional Council}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Kibbutzim

Category:Kibbutz Movement

Category:Populated places established in 1916

Category:1916 establishments in Ottoman Syria

Category:Archaeological sites in Israel

Category:Populated places in Northern District (Israel)