Eilon is a 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...

 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...

. Located a mile south of Lebanese border

Blue Line (Lebanon)

The Blue Line is a border demarcation between Lebanon and Israel published by the United Nations on 7 June 2000 for the purposes of determining whether Israel had fully withdrawn from Lebanon...

 and six miles east of the Mediterranean

Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...

 coast, the kibbutz sits on a ridge between two streams, Nahal Betzet

Nahal Betzet

Nahal Betzet is a once-perennial and now intermittent stream in the Upper Galilee, Israel.-Geography:The stream crosses the border from Lebanon into Israel between Shtula and Zar'it, and flows westward, emptying into the Mediterranean Sea south of Rosh HaNikra...

 and Nahal Kziv

Nahal Kziv

Nahal Kziv is a 20-kilometer long perennial stream in the Upper Galilee, Israel. During the winter, rainfall fills the channel, and springs along the riverbed add to the flow...

 and falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Asher Regional Council

Mateh Asher Regional Council

The Mateh Asher Regional Council is a regional council in the western Galilee of northern Israel. It is named after the Tribe of Asher which had been allotted the region in antiquity according to the Book of Joshua . It was founded in 1982 as a merger of three regional councils: Ga'aton, Na'aman...

. In 2006 it had a population of around 802.

Etymology

The name Eilon is derived from Elah (terebinth) and Alon (oak), two tree species abundant in this heavily forested area of northern Israel, though specifically referred to the "remnants of ancient trees in the vicinity."

History

The kibbutz was established on 400 dunams of land in Khirbet Samak, purchased in 1938 by 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...

. It was settled that year by a group of Polish immigrants

Aliyah

Aliyah is the immigration of Jews to the Land of Israel . It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology. The opposite action, emigration from Israel, is referred to as yerida . The return to the Holy Land has been a Jewish aspiration since the Babylonian exile...

 and Palestinian Jew

Palestinian Jew

A Palestinian Jew is a Jewish inhabitant of Palestine at various points in the region's history . Jews in Palestine prior to the establishment of the State of Israel are more commonly referred to as "Yishuv"...

s. The inhabitants found themselves under constant fire in the wake of the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine. Eilon was one of the early tower and stockade

Tower and stockade

Tower and stockade was a settlement method used by Zionist settlers in the British Mandate of Palestine during the 1936–39 Arab revolt, when the establishment of new Jewish settlements was restricted by the Mandatory authorities...

 settlements. Calm was achieved after the Galilee

Galilee

Galilee , is a large region in northern Israel which overlaps with much of the administrative North District of the country. Traditionally divided into Upper Galilee , Lower Galilee , and Western Galilee , extending from Dan to the north, at the base of Mount Hermon, along Mount Lebanon to the...

 was cleared of Lebanese troops and Kaukji's bands in November 1948.

In 1947, the kibbutz had a population of 350, successfully reclaiming rocky land that had been designated by the British Mandatory government

British Mandate

British Mandate may refer to:*British Mandate for Palestine*British Mandate of Mesopotamia...

 as uncultivable. The kibbutz was initially affiliated with Hashomer Hatzair

Hashomer Hatzair

Hashomer Hatzair is a Socialist–Zionist youth movement founded in 1913 in Galicia, Austria-Hungary, and was also the name of the group's political party in the Yishuv in the pre-1948 British Mandate of Palestine...

.

Economy

Eilon derives its income from agriculture (bananas, avocado, exotic fruit, cotton); industry (Eshet Eilon manufactures agri-industrial systems to sort vegetables and fruit; Eilon Mosaic manufactures decorative mosaic); and tourism (Keshet Eilon Country Lodging is a guesthouse). A world-renowned violin master course called Keshet Eilon takes place annually in Eilon. Under the patronage of Maestro Shlomo Mintz and the musical directorship of Itzhak Rashkovsky, fifty young violinists from around the world spend each summer receiving extensive violin instruction and performing concerts.

Volunteers

Eilon accepts a number of International Volunteers that in return for lodgings, meals and laundry, work in a variety of locations on the kibbutz. One of the highlights of being a volunteer is the Vollies (Volunteers) Bar, which is situated close to the volunteers quarters.