English

Malachi Shefer one of Yavnel's sons, who also happens to be a member of our group, explains about the place and its history.

About Yavnel: Joshua Osovzky, on of the Baron Rothschild's clerks in the Galilee, purchased 20,000 acres of land in the lower Galilee, during the final years of the 18th century. His replacement, Kloariski, established seven field crop settlements between 1901 and 1904 on that land; SDE EILAN [SEJERA], MITZPA, KFAR TABOR [MESSHA], YAVNEL [YEMA], BEYT GAN, KINNERET and MENAHAMIA [MELHAMEYA]. About 40 families settled in Yavnel, most of them came from the METULA settlement (the number of farmers there was reduced due to the lack of sufficient farmland) as well as "Khoran Refugees"; people who were banished from their homes there - among them OLIM from Rumania and Bulgaria.

At the start of the 20th century the area was infamous for its bedouin robbers - Khorani robbers.

About the Yavnel Stream (Fejaz stream): From the establishment of Yavnel and until the British mandate, the route from Yavnel to Tiberias went through Wadi Fejaz. The abundant springs along the stream's valley, its remoteness, and its short distance from the Jordan river - these were the reasons for the proliferation of robbers waiting in ambush there. They would rob the travellers, take their loot and hide out in the wilderness on the eastern bank of the Jordan

About the Khorani road ( DARB EL_KHOWARNA): This, in the past one of the important trade routes; it began at Khoran in Syria, continued through the Yarmoukh valley to cross the Jordan river, up along the Yavnel stream, through the Beit Netufa valley and ended in Akko