Amka

Amka or Amqa (Hebrew: עַמְקָה Arabic: عمقا‎) is a moshav in the Matte Asher Regional Council of Israel's North District, near Acre. The location of the moshav roughly corresponds the former Arab village, depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Yemenite Jews, who arrived from the southern Arab country of Yemen, founded the village's successor Amka in 1949. In 2014 its population was 629.

Etymology

Palmer thought the name Amka to come from the Arabic form of “deep”, while Ringgren suggested that the name preserves the name of Beth Ha-Emek, a city mentioned in Joshua 19:27 as part of the allotment of the Tribe of Asher.

History

Ancient history

During the Roman period, the village located at the same site was called Kefar Amqa. In the Byzantine period the location was probably identified with the village of "Amico".

During the Crusades

During the Crusader period, it was referred to as Amca. In 1179 Joscelin III acquired the land of the village, and in 1220 Jocelyn III´s daughter Beatrix de Courtenay and her husband Otto von Botenlauben, Count of Henneberg, sold their land, including ‘’Amca’’, to the Teutonic Knights.