- Eilabun
Infobox Israel municipality
name=Eilabun
imgsize=
hebname=Hebrew|עַילַבּוּן, עֵילַבּוּן
arname=عيلبون
meaning=
founded=19th century
type=lc
typefrom=1973
stdHeb=
altOffSp=Illabun
altUnoSp=Eilaboun, Ailabun
district=north
population=4,400
popyear=2005
area_dunam=4835
mayor=Eilabun ( _ar. عيلبون "Ailabun", _he. עַילַבּוּן, עֵילַבּוּן) is an Israeli-Arab local council in
Israel 's North District, located in theBet Netofa Valley . According to theIsraeli Central Bureau of Statistics , Eilabun had a population of 4,400 inhabitants in 2005. [ [http://www.cbs.gov.il/population/new_2007/table3.pdf Localities with populations over 1,000]Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics ] The population is predominantly Christian. In 1973, Eilabun achieved local council status by the Israeli government. [http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/il-lcelb.html Eilabun (Israel)] Dov Gutterman, FOTW]History
Eilabun was built on the ancient site of
Ailabu ( _he. עַיְלַבּוּ), a possible variation of the name Ein Levon. [cite book|title=Lexicon of the Land of Israel|publisher=Miskal - Yedioth Ahronoth Books and Chemed Books|language=Hebrew|year=1999|first=Immanuel|last=HaReuveni|pages=739|isbn=965-448-413-7] The modern town was founded by Christian Arab farmers from the town ofDeir Hanna in the 19th Century.1948 War
Israel 'sGolani Brigade 's 12th Battalion captured Eilabun onOctober 30 ,1948 - during the1948 Arab-Israeli War - from theArab Liberation Army (ALA). After the town's surrender, negotiated by four priests, the commander of the Golani troops selected 12 young men and had them executed, in what is known as theEilabun massacre . The village was then looted. [Benny Morris , "The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited," Cambridge University Press, 2004 pp.479-480] Most of the town residents were marched out to the Lebanese border, while hundreds fled to nearby gullies, caves and villages. [Morris (2004), p. 480] [Benvenisti, Meron (2000): "Sacred Landscape: Buried History of the Holy Land Since 1948", University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-21154-5, p. 153-154.] As part of an agreement betweenArchbishop Hakim and the leader of the "Arab Section" in the Israeli Foreign Ministry, the Eliabon exiles in Lebanon were allowed to return in summer of 1949. [Morris (2004), p. 480]People from Eilabun
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Hana Sweid References
ee also
*
List of Arab localities in Israel
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