The Harod Valley (Hebrew: עמק חרוד, romanized: Emek Harod) is a valley in the Northern District of Israel. It is the eastern part of the Jezreel Valley,a transitional zone that extends to the Beit She'an Valley. From south it locked by Mount Gilboa and by the Issachar Plateau from north. It is named after the Ma'ayan Harod ("Spring of Harod", i.e., "Spring of Goliath") at the edge of the valley.
It is naturally separated from the western part of the Jezreel valley by a watershed. While the Jezreel Valley is drained via the Kishon River to the Mediterranean Sea, the Harod Valley is drained through the Harod Stream ("Nahal Harod", "Wadi Jalud" in Arabic), which flows from Givat HaMoreh via Beit She'an Valley into the Jordan River.[1][2] Ma'ayan Harod is the largest of the springs emerging on the northern slopes of Mount Gilboa.[2] The source of the spring as well as other springs in the Beit She'an Valley to the east, comes from fresh rainwater that percolate into the limestone hills of Samaria and collect in an underground water reservoir beneath the areas of the Palestinian cities of Nablus and Jenin. The water emerges from the hills as they incline north towards the valleys. At this valley the waters emerge from a natural cave known as "Gideon's Cave".[3][4]
The valley covers about 40 sq.km. and is intensely cultivated.[5] It is a corridor 18 km. long and 5 km. max wide. The exact border between the Harod Valley and the Beit She'an Valley depends on the conventions. For example, according to soil and precipitation parameters the border is the Sde Nahum - Beit Alfa line, while according to the climate, the border is defined by Kfar Yehezkel. The climate of the valley transitions from the Mediterranean climate of the western part of the Jezreel Valley to the arid dry-steppe climate of the Jordan Valley.[6] There is a fault line between Mount Gilboa and the floor of the valley, with many spring along the line.
Until the mid-20th century the valley was swamped, similarly to the Jordan Valley. Now the swamps are drained.[1]
^ abEfraim Orni, Elisha Efrat, Geography of Israel, 1971 (transcript at encyclopedia.com)
^ ab"Maʽayan Harod". The Archaeological Survey of Israel.
^Baretz (2015), p. 37
^"Meet Ma'ayan Harod National Park: Geography and Geology". Israel Nature and Parks Authority.
^"The Harod Valley Case Study"
^Karen Covello-Paran, "The Jezreel Valley during the Intermediate Bronze Age: Social and Cultural Landscapes", Ph.D., 2015
HarodValley (Hebrew: עמק חרוד, romanized: Emek Harod) is a valley in the Northern District of Israel. It is the eastern part of the Jezreel Valley,a...
in Israel. It overlooks the HarodValley (the eastern part of the larger Jezreel Valley) to the north, and the Jordan Valley and Hills to the southeast...
Ein Harod (Hebrew: עֵין חֲרוֹד) was a kibbutz in northern Israel near Mount Gilboa. Founded in 1921, it became the center of Mandatory Palestine's kibbutz...
flows west to east, from the Givat HaMoreh area via the HarodValley and Beit She'an Valley into the Jordan River, about two kilometres (1.2 mi) north...
Jezreel Valley, including in its eastern part, the HarodValley, which stretches between Afula and the Beit She'an Valley The Beit She'an Valley at the...
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To the southeast it descends into the HarodValley, where the 'Ain Jalut flows eastwards into the Jordan Valley. For the Hebrew name several possible...
Montana State Prison, Montana, United States 3 1958, July 31 Shita prison, HarodValley, Israel 13 (2 jailors and 11 inmates) The most deadly prison riot in...
Mongols out of the city and again defeated them at Ain Jalut in the HarodValley near Baysan in 1260. He was proclaimed sultan of Egypt on his way back...
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Mount Gilboa, on the eastern edge of the HarodValley, between the Jezreel Valley and the Beit She'an Valley in the Lower Galilee. The Gilboa mountain...
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the west Nahal Yavne'el Nahal Tavor (Tabor Stream) Nahal Yissakhar Nahal Harod Nahal Bezeq, on the border between Israel and the West Bank, between Mount...
the Tabor Stream in the north and the HarodValley in the south and Givat HaMoreh in the west and the Jordan Valley in the east. Its area is about 115 km2...
Tavor (English: Tabor Stream, Tavor Stream) Nahal Yissakhar [he] Harod Stream ("Nahal Harod", "Wadi Jalud" in Arabic) The West Bank tributaries are not listed...
Burton's account of his travels in "The Land of Midian" Spring of Harod – Ma'ayan Harod Midianite Pottery: The designer import of the ancient world جبال...
two HarodValley kibbutzim, Tel Yosef and Lavi's Ein Harod, was not to Lavi's liking, but it was nothing compared to the breakup of Kibbutz Ein Harod itself...
the historic station's location. Ein Harod Station Ein Harod was the first kibbutz founded in the Jezreel Valley (1921), and with it the small railway...
1 Samuel 17, Saul and the Israelites are facing the Philistines in the Valley of Elah. Twice a day for 40 days, morning and evening, Goliath, the champion...
established Kibbutz Beit HaShita in the HarodValley at the southeastern edge of the eastern part of the Jezreel Valley. Since then, it has established 41...
toward the spring called Ain Jalut, also known as Harod's spring in Hebrew, in the Jezreel Valley. The first to advance were the Mongols, whose force...
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