Historical Roots of Heritage Horticulture in the Southern Coastal Plain of Israel

Motti Zohar. Yuval Ben-Bassat, Guy Bar-Oz

From Historical roots of heritage horticulture in the southern coastal plain of Israel. Land, 14: 285.

This study reconstructs the agricultural landscape of the southern coastal plain of late Ottoman and British Mandatory Palestine (today southwestern Israel) utilizing late 19th and early 20th century cartographic materials and aerial photographs. Immense human effort and ingenuity were required to maintain sustainable agricultural on the fringes of the desert. Given today’s increasingly severe climate crisis, the lessons drawn from these historical agricultural practices have particular resonance. The agricultural land use described in this work extended into the coastal dunes of the region where the shallow water table was exploited to create complex agricultural systems that enabled the growth of citrus trees, grapes, and other crops for export and trade. Aerial photos and maps reveal the critical aspects of this region’s neglected agricultural history. The stability and resilience of these systems, some of which are still in existence 76 years or more after they were abandoned, as seen in the survey conducted for this study, point to the importance of understanding and preserving this chapter of the region’s agricultural heritage. The unique varieties of fruit trees adapted to the local climate of the western Negev still have significant economic value and are threatened with extinction from rapid urban encroachment.

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The study area (delineated by the red polygon) extending from present-day Netiv Ha-ʿAsara to Ashdod along the southern coastal region of Israel. The red circles indicate 21st century settlements (~15 settlements labelled in black on a white background, within the research area and environs). The pre-1948 settlements (late Ottoman-British mandate period) are labelled in white with yellow backgrounds (10 settlements within the research area).

Present-day vegetation in the research area: (a) mulberry (Morus) and Ephedra (Ephedra foeminea) near Kibbutz Gvaram; (b) Mushki orange trees in irrigated orchards in the Karmiya reserve; (c) traditional dabouki grapes (Vitis vinifera); (d) irrigated orchards in the Karmiya reserve; (e) sycamores (Ficus sycomorus).