Yahiam Colony

Yehiam is a kibbutz located in the north of the occupied Palestinian territories, in the western Upper Galilee, approximately eight miles east of the coastal city of Nahariya and 14 miles southeast of the Lebanese border. As of 2022, the settlement had a population of 778 settlers and sits at an elevation of 365 meters above sea level.

The settlement lies adjacent to the ruins of the Ottoman-era fortress of Judin, which was built atop a Crusader castle dating back to the 13th century.

Yehiam was established by a group from the socialist-Zionist youth movement Hashomer Hatzair, composed of Holocaust survivors from Hungary and members from Pécs. They called themselves Kibbutz HaSela (“The Rock Kibbutz”), at a time when “kibbutz” was still understood to mean a traveling commune rather than a permanent settlement. The group initially lived in tents in the Kiryat Haim area while searching for a suitable place to settle. On November 26, 1946, Yehiam Kibbutz was founded at the site of the medieval fortress. Initially, only men settled there—first inside the fortress and later in tents at its base—while the women, children, and some men remained in Kiryat Haim, working to support the group.

According to one guidebook, the founding group consisted of 50 members who converted the ruins into a military training camp. Nearly a year later, following the UN Partition Plan on November 29, 1947, the settlement adopted its official name, Yehiam, in honor of Yehiam Weitz, the son of Zionist Agency official Yosef Weitz, who was killed nearby during the “Night of the Bridges” operation carried out by the Palmach on June 16–17, 1946, near the Palestinian village of al-Kabri.

The group’s initial attempt to inhabit the fortress nearly ended in disaster: ticks left behind by herds of goats sheltering there during the winter transmitted diseases. Within a month and a half, 20 members fell ill with fever. They were saved by penicillin, the recently introduced “miracle drug.” Signal fires were their only means of communication with comrades in Kiryat Haim and the outside world. The most pressing issue was the lack of potable water, as the rainwater collected in cisterns remained undrinkable even after treatment. The British Mandate authorities provided assistance in establishing the kibbutz, despite this being contrary to official British policy.

On January 20, 1948, a force from the Second Yarmouk Regiment of the Arab Liberation Army, stationed in Tarshiha and numbering between 200 and 300 soldiers, attacked the Yehiam colony using mortars, rifles, and machine guns. They surrounded the kibbutz from all sides and blocked all access roads. A platoon of British soldiers exchanged fire with the Arab forces, which withdrew but attempted another assault the following night. This attack was repelled by reinforcements from Haganah fighters.

On March 27, 1948, a Haganah convoy was dispatched to deliver supplies to the besieged kibbutz. The convoy, consisting of five trucks and an armored vehicle, was ambushed near al-Kabri by 250 Palestinian fighters. The incident was reported in The Scotsman newspaper on March 29, 1948:

“The second ambush occurred at Kairy, near Nahariya, seven miles north of Acre. The bodies of 42 Jews were found near five burned trucks. A convoy of six Zionist vehicles, including five trucks and one armored car, was reportedly attacked by 250 Arabs armed with rifles, two-inch mortars, and light machine guns. The convoy came under fire about an hour before sunset on Saturday night. A British flying column was reportedly dispatched to assist the Jews but failed to reach them. British artillery then opened fire with 12- and 25-pound high-explosive shells, forcing the Arabs to retreat.”

The kibbutz founders lived in tents among the ruins, supported by an improvised kitchen and supply drops. They remained visible to Arab forces on the surrounding hills, which subjected the site to heavy fire. Communication with the outside world relied on signal fires, handheld lights, and carrier pigeons to Nahariya and Kiryat Haim. While defending themselves, members of Yehiam also cultivated the land, growing vegetables, grapes, and peaches.

During Operation Dekel, the Israeli army forcibly occupied and depopulated the Bedouin village of Khirbet Hiddin on July 10–11, 1948. Later that year, during Operation Hiram (October 29–31, 1948), the Israeli army captured the remainder of the Galilee region.

After the 1948 war, permanent housing was constructed at Yehiam, including the first children’s home. Additional groups from Hashomer Hatzair joined the kibbutz from other parts of the occupied Palestinian territories, as well as immigrants from Cuba, France, Uruguay, Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, and Venezuela.

Sources:
Due to the scarcity of Arabic sources, Hebrew sources were used:

• The settlement’s website (in Hebrew)
• The “Israeli” Central Bureau of Statistics
• Information on Khirbet Judin from the Palestine Remembered website