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History of Hadera


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Early years

Hadera was founded in 1891, in the early days modern Zionism by Eastern European immigrants from Lithuania and Latvia on land purchased by Yehoshua Hankin, known as the Redeemer of the Valley. The land was purchased from a Christian effendi, Selim Khuri. This was the largest purchase of land in Palestine by a Zionist group, although the land was of low quality and mostly swampland. The only inhabitants prior to the purchase were a few families raising water buffaloes and selling reeds. The town may derive its name from the Arabic word khadra, meaning "green" in reference to the wild weeds which covered the marshes on which the town is built.

The first settlers lived in a house known as the Khan near Hadera's main synagogue. Initially, Hadera was a lonely outpost of 10 families and 4 guards. In its early years, however, the town had issues with land ownership having drained the swamps with the aid of Egyptian workers sent to them by Baron Edmond de Rothschild.

Old tombstones in the local cemetery reveal that out of a population of 540, 210 died of malaria. Relations between the residents of Hadera and neighbouring Bedouins were poor and HaShomer organization was assigned to guarding the fields. By the early twentieth century, the town had become a regional economic centre. Land disputes in the area were resolved by the 1930s, by which time, the population had grown to 2,002 in 1931. Free schooling was introduced in the city in 1937 in all schools apart from the Histadrut school.

After 1948

Hadera's population began to grow dramatically after Israeli independence in 1948 as immigrants flocked to the country. Among the immigrants to the city were Russian and other European immigrants and also 40 Yemenite families. In 1964, Hadera was declared a city, and in 1953, Israel's first paper mill opened in the city. Sponsored by investors from within Israel as well as from the United States, Brazil, and Australia,
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