Balfouria is a moshav

Moshav

Moshav is a type of Israeli town or settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists during the second aliyah...

 in northern Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

, south of Nazareth

Nazareth

Nazareth is the largest city in the North District of Israel. Known as "the Arab capital of Israel," the population is made up predominantly of Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel...

. Located near Afula

Afula

Afula is a city in the North District of Israel, often known as the "Capital of the Valley", referring to the Jezreel Valley. The city had a population of 40,500 at the end of 2009.-History:...

, it falls under the jurisdiction of Jezreel Valley Regional Council

Jezreel Valley Regional Council

Jezreel Valley Regional Council is a regional council in northern Israel that encompasses most of the settlements in the Jezreel Valley. It includes 15 kibbutzim, 15 moshavim, 6 communal settlements and two Bedouin villages...

. In 2006 it had a population of 312.

History

The initial core of settlers had assembled in 1919 and began training for the establishment of an agricultural settlement. A tract of and was purchased with the funds of the American Zion Commonwealth

American Zion Commonwealth

The American Zion Commonwealth was aZionist settlement corporation that played an important part in the Jewish settlement of Palestine before the establishment of the State of Israel....

, and Keren Hayesod

Keren Hayesod

Keren Hayesod – United Israel Appeal is the central fundraising organization for Israel, with operations in 45 countries. The work of Keren Hayesod is carried out in accordance with the Keren Hayesod Law, 5716-1956, passed by the Knesset in January 1956...

 acquired equipment. The moshav was founded in 1922, the third to be established in Palestine, and was named after Arthur James Balfour, writer of the Balfour Declaration (who consented to lending his name to the settlement), which embraced Zionist plans for a Jewish "national home". According to a Jewish National Fund

Jewish National Fund

The Jewish National Fund was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Palestine for Jewish settlement. The JNF is a quasi-governmental, non-profit organisation...

 publication of 1949, Balfouria was the first village to be founded in Palestine after the Balfour Declaration.

The founders were joined by former kibbutz

Kibbutz

A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...

 residents, a number of people from the Co-operative in Merhavia, as well as many settlers from Petah Tikva

Petah Tikva

Petah Tikva known as Em HaMoshavot , is a city in the Center District of Israel, east of Tel Aviv.According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, at the end of 2009, the city's population stood at 209,600. The population density is approximately...

. The houses and dairy barns built with the funds of the Commonwealth were of concrete and had shingled roofs, thus earning the settlers of Balfouria the sobriquet "the millionaires". Lord Balfour visited the moshav in 1925 and gave the settlers his blessings.

In 1939, the lands of the moshav were transferred to the Jewish National Fund

Jewish National Fund

The Jewish National Fund was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Palestine for Jewish settlement. The JNF is a quasi-governmental, non-profit organisation...

 and leasing agreements were signed with Keren Hayesod

Keren Hayesod

Keren Hayesod – United Israel Appeal is the central fundraising organization for Israel, with operations in 45 countries. The work of Keren Hayesod is carried out in accordance with the Keren Hayesod Law, 5716-1956, passed by the Knesset in January 1956...

. In 1934, the settlers completed the digging of a new well which increased agricultural activity in the area. In 1959, the connection with the Mekorot

Mekorot

Mekorot is the national water company of Israel and the country's top agency for water management.Mekorot was founded in 1937. It supplies 90% of Israel's drinking water and 80% of its water supplies. The company runs 3,000 installations throughout the country for water supply, water quality,...

 water company was sealed.

Balfouria nature reserve

North-east of the moshav are an ancient tell

Tell

A tell or tel, is a type of archaeological mound created by human occupation and abandonment of a geographical site over many centuries. A classic tell looks like a low, truncated cone with a flat top and sloping sides.-Archaeology:A tell is a hill created by different civilizations living and...

 and springs - remnants of the Valley's swamps - that were declared a 45-dunam

Dunam

A dunam or dönüm, dunum, donum, dynym, dulum was a non-SI unit of land area used in the Ottoman Empire and representing the amount of land that can be plowed in a day; its value varied from 900–2500 m²...

 nature reserve, in 1979. Atop of the tell, a monument was erected in honor of the moshav's founders and those who fell in Israel's wars.

Sports

The local football club, Hapoel Balfouria

Hapoel Balfouria F.C.

Hapoel Balfouria was an Israeli football club based in Balfouria. The club spent two seasons in the top division in the mid-1950s, finishing at the bottom on both occasions....

, spent two seasons in the top division in the mid-1950s. However, they later folded.