Fascinating Aerial Views of Gedera צילום רחפן של גדרה

Fascinating Aerial Views of Gedera צילום רחפן של גדרה
Gedera is in the Book of Chronicles I 4:23 and the Book of Joshua 15:36 as a town in the territory of Judah.[2] Its identification with the site of modern Gedera was proposed by Victor Guérin in the 19th century,[4] but was dismissed as "impossible" by William F. Albright who preferred to identify it with al-Judeira.[5][6] Biblical Gedera is now identified with Khirbet Judraya, 1 km (0.6 mi) south of Bayt Nattif.[7][8]
Tel Qatra, which lies at the northern edge of Gedera, is usually identified with Kedron, a place fortified by the Seleucids against the Hasmonaeans (1 Macc. 15:39-41, 16:9).[9] It has also been identified with Gedrus, a large village in the time of Eusebius (fourth century).[9] Eusebius identified Gedrus with biblical Gedor, which is a name also appearing on the Madaba map, but several other sites for Gedor have been proposed.[9]
Tel Qatra was occupied from the Middle Bronze Age to at least the early Islamic period.[9] Sometime between then and the Medieval period, settlement moved to the southern foot of the tell, where the Palestinian village of Qatra existed until 1948.[9] Its peak was in the Byzantine period, when the tell had at least one large public building.[9]
Gedera was founded in the winter of 1884 by members of the Bilu group, to the south of Qatra.[10] Gedera was established on a tract of village land purchased for the Biluites by Yechiel Michel Pines of the Lovers of Zion from the French consul in Jaffa, Poliovierre.[11][12] The first pioneers arrived at the site during the festival of Chanukah. In 1888, Benjamin and Mina Fuchs built Gedera's first stone house, later used as a Bnai Brith meeting house.[13] In 1912, a group of Yemenite immigrants settled in Gedera. During the British Mandate, Gedera became a popular resort due to its mild climate and fresh air.
Gedera 1930 1:20,000
Gedera 1945 1:250,000
In 1949-1953, thousands of immigrants from Yemen, Romania, Iraq, Poland, Egypt, Morocco, Tunis, India, Iran, Libya, and other countries were housed in tent camps.[14]
Gedera water tower
The land on which Gederah was established had once been owned by the Palestinians of Qatra, who had lost it due to debts.[10] They were cultivating it as tenant farmers when the Jewish owners arrived and resented the intrusion onto what they still thought of as their land.[10] According to another account, the land was actually owned by Qatra, but had been assigned by the government to the nearby village of Mughar when Qatra disclaimed ownership to avoid a certain murder charge.[12] Mughar then sold it to Polivierre, who sold it to Pines.[12] This, and the close proximity of the two sites, led to poor relations between the communities that sometimes led to violent clashes.[10] Israel Belkind, a member of Bilu, described Gedera's relationship with its Arab neighbors as among the worst in all the settlements.[10] Haim Hissin, also a Bilu member, criticized the Arabs for their provocative behavior, but also blamed the Jews for being unfair and arrogant.[10]
Qatra was depopulated by the Haganah on 17 May 1948.[15]
In the 1950s, a neighborhood called Oriel ("light of God") was established for new immigrants with visual impairments. The immigrants worked in a sheltered workshop, and the neighborhood was specially planned to promote their independence.[16]
On February 9, 2009, a Grad rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hit Gedera, marking the northernmost point in a round of 200 rockets targeting southern Israe