Pardes Hanna-Karkur

Pardes Hanna-Karkur (Hebrew: פַּרְדֵּס חַנָּה-כַּרְכּוּר, Arabic: برديس حنه كركور‎) is a town in the Haifa District of Israel. In 2009, it had a population of 31,800.

History

In 1913, 15 square kilometers of land was purchased by the Hachsharat Hayishuv society from Arabs in Jenin and Haifa for 400,000 francs (a sum equivalent to 2 million US dollars). Two years later, the land was sold to a private investor, Yitzhak Shlezinger, the Odessa Committee and the First London Ahuza society. This land became the core of Karkur, Moshav Gan Hashomron and Kibbutz Ein Shemer. Until actual settlement began, the area was guarded by Hashomer, which planted eucalyptus trees to circumvent a Turkish law that allowed the Ottomans to expropriate lands if they were not cultivated for three years.

The early settlements did not fare well. Shlezinger went bankrupt and sold his land to the Jewish National Fund. The London Ahuza society hoped to settle English Jews on the land, but succeeded only partially. Eventually the Jewish National Fund and the London Ahuza society joined forces to establish Karkur.