Ramat Yohanan Colony

Ramat Yohanan is a kibbutz located in the north of the occupied Palestinian territories, near Kiryat Ata and adjacent to the kibbutzim of Kfar HaMaccabi and Yagur. As of 2022, the settlement had a population of 1,068 settlers. In 2014, Forbes Israel ranked the kibbutz as the sixth wealthiest in Israel, with an estimated value of approximately 250 million shekels.

The kibbutz was established in 1931 on the lands of the depopulated Palestinian village of Hawsha in the Haifa district. The occupation authorities claim that the land was purchased by Yehoshua Hankin from Lebanese owners in 1925. The founders of the kibbutz were a mix of native Jews and immigrants from the United States. The settlement was named after South African politician Jan Smuts, a prominent supporter of Zionism and a personal friend of Chaim Weizmann.

After graduating from high school in 1940, Yitzhak Rabin joined the NOAR HAOVED (Working Youth) training program at the kibbutz.

The site was the location of the Battle of Ramat Yohanan during the 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine. In the battle, the Druze regiment of the Arab Liberation Army faced off against Haganah forces. As the defenders ran out of ammunition, they resorted to fighting with knives until reinforcements resupplied them. Eventually, the Druze forces also ran out of ammunition and withdrew to their base in Shefa-‘Amr, suffering many casualties.

The kibbutz cultivates a variety of agricultural products, primarily avocados, lychees, and citrus fruits. It also operates a large dairy farm with 600 milking cows, thousands of acres of agricultural fields, and a major poultry operation.

The kibbutz’s main economic strength comes from two companies:

• Palram, a manufacturer of plastic panels for the construction industry.
• Canopia, which produces garden and outdoor products.

Since the 1970s, Ramat Yohanan hosted an Ulpan program (Hebrew language immersion and cultural exchange), which in later years was aimed primarily at American and Russian students. The program was discontinued in 2017 due to changes in immigration assessment policies implemented by the Israeli occupation government.

Sources:
Due to the limited availability of Arabic-language sources, we relied on Israeli sources, including the official Hebrew website of the settlement and the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics.
Information on the village of Hawsha was taken from the Palestine Remembered website.