Ma’anit Colony

of the town of Pardes Hanna-Karkur. The kibbutz was established in 1942 by members of the Hashomer Hatzair movement who had fled from Czechoslovakia and Poland, with some arriving as part of Zionist immigration. It was founded on land that traditionally belonged to the depopulated Palestinian village of Wadi ‘Ara, in the Haifa Subdistrict.

The name Ma’anit refers to the first furrow ploughed in a field, symbolizing what its founders, including Abraham Herzfeld, viewed as the beginning of a broader wave of settlement in the region. Due to its location near Wadi ‘Ara, the kibbutz was situated on the frontlines during the 1948 Nakba war and was subjected to attack by the Iraqi Army.

The GALAM Ltd. company, which produces starch and glucose for the food industry, is based in Kibbutz Ma’anit. In 2010, the company recorded $137.6 million in annual sales, half of which came from exports. After developing a new natural sweetener derived from the stevia plant, GALAM signed a contract with Corn Products International, which cultivates and processes stevia in South Africa.

As of 2022, Ma’anit had a population of 883 settlers.

Sources:
Due to the limited availability of Arabic sources, Israeli sources were used, including:

• The Hebrew-language website of the settlement
• The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics
• The Palestine Rememberedentry for Wadi ‘Ara village