Ein Hod

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Studio of Marcel Janco in Ein Hod

Ein Hod is a village south of Mount Carmel and southeast of Haifa in northern Israel. It is situated on a hillside amidst olive groves, with a view of the Mediterranean Sea and a twelfth-century Crusader fortress.

Before the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Ein Hod was the site of the Arab village of Ein Hawd. Most of the Arab inhabitants were displaced as a result of the war but some remained in the area and settled nearby. In 1953, Ein Hod became an artists' colony that has remained active until today.

1 Early history
2 After 1948
3 Moshav Settlement
4 Artists' colony
5 References
6 Bibliography
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] Early history

Excavations in the Carmel region indicate that human settlement in the area dates back over 150,000 years.

The village was one of the "Al-Hija" villages named after Emir Hussam al-Din Abu al-Hija.^[1]Abu al-Hija ("the Daring") was an Iraqi-born commander of the Kurdish forces that took part in Sultan Saladin´s conquest (1187-93) of the Crusader Kingdom. He was renowned for his bravery, and commanded the garrison of Acre at the time of the Siege of Acre (1189-1192).^[1]

Abu al-Hija returned to Iraq, but several members of his family remained in the country on orders from Saladin and settled in the Carmel region, in the Lower, Eastern and Western Galilee, and the Hebron Highlands.^[1] One of the villages they established was Ein Hawd. Other al-Hija villages were Hadatha and Sirin in the Lower Galilee, Ruweis and Kawkab in the Western Galilee. The residents today claim to be blood relations of al-Hija but this is solely based on tradition.^[1]

[edit] After 1948

The 700-900 Arab residents of Ein Hawd fled the village before the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, many of them settling in the Jenin refugee camp. After being released from an Israeli prisoner of war camp a group of 35, members of the Abu al-Hija family, refused to leave the area and settled on the village lands.^[1] They established a new village, also called Ein Hawd, a little way up the hill. Attempts to dislodge them did not succeed, and they were eventually granted Israeli citizenship.^[1]^[2] Initially, the new village was not recognized, but in 1988 it joined the Association of Unrecognized Arab Villages in Israel and was recognized by the state in 1992.^[3] In 2005, Ein Hawd achieved full recognition, including connection to the Israeli electric grid.^[2]

Mohammed Abu El Haija, the mayor of Ein Hawd, is a member of the "Association of Forty," an organization whose goals are peaceful co-existence between Jews and Arabs, equality for all sectors of Israeli society, and official recognition of Arab villages. Since Ein Hawd was recognized by the Israeli government, the village has joined the Hof HaCarmel Regional Council and urban planning is under way. In an interview, Abu el Haija was hopeful that these changes would be for the better: "It is true that many years have gone by, but this is a great achievement for everyone, a big step forward. The State of Israel has finally applied a policy of equality to us and I am hopeful that this will prove to be the case for other villages that are in similar situations as well...It helps to convince me that equality is attainable, no matter how difficult it may seem."^[4]

[edit] Moshav Settlement

In July 1949 the moshav movement settled immigrants from Tunisia and Algeria in the abandoned village renaming the village Ein Hod. The moshav movement allocated instructors to the new settlers as the agricultural endeavour. The short lived re-use of the village as an agricultural concern was abandoned and the village remained deserted for a further year and a half.^[1]

[edit] Artists' colony

Marcel Janco

Ein Hod became an artists' colony in 1953. The driving spirit behind the project was Marcel Janco, an acclaimed Dada artist, who kept the village from being demolished by the security forces and convinced the government to let him build an artists' colony there. ^[5] Janco, born in Bucharest, Romania, was one of the founders of the Dada movement, established in 1916 at Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich, Switzerland, by a group of exiled poets, painters and philosophers who were opposed to war, aggression and the changing world culture. In 1922, Janco returned to Romania, where he gained fame as a painter and architect. In 1941, fleeing the Nazis, he moved to Palestine, and was one of the founders of the New Horizons Group (1948). He was awarded the Israel Prize in 1967. The Janco-Dada Museum, which opened in 1983, features Janco's work and explores the history of the Dada movement.

Ein Hod is now a communal settlement of 150 residents run by an elected administrative committee. ^[5] Many Israeli painters, sculptors and musicians live there, and maintain studios and galleries that are open to the public. Efforts have been made to preserve some of the old houses. The village mosque was converted into a restaurant-bar modeled after Cafe Voltaire in Zurich.^[6]

[edit] Cultural life

The Janco-Dada Museum

Apart from art galleries, museums and studios, the Gertrud Kraus House sponsors biweekly chamber music concerts and guest lectures. During the summer months, performances of popular music and light entertainment take place in an outdoor amphitheatre. Throughout the year, free outdoor jazz concerts are held on Saturdays near the village's central square.

The Nisco Museum of Mechanical Music in Ein Hod is the first museum in Israel dedicated to antique mechanical instruments.^[7] The collection, accumulated over 40 years by Nisan Cohen, contains music boxes, hurdy gurdies, an automatic organ, a reproducing player piano, a collection of 100 year-old manivelles, gramophones, hand-operated automatic pianos and other instruments.^[8]

[edit] Israel Prize winners

Ten Ein Hod residents have won the Israel Prize, awarded annually on Israel Independence Day. According to Robert Nechin, who lives in the village, the artists working there today "are fully aware of the illustrious example of these great artists and scholars, who lived and are still living among them.^[9] Ein Hod residents who have won the prize are:

Zahara Schatz, painting and sculpture (1955)
Marcel Janco, for painting (1967)
Gertrud Kraus for dance (1968)
Simon Halkin, for literature (1975)
Haim Hefer, for Hebrew songwriting (1983)
Natan Zach, for poetry (1995)
Aryeh Navon, for theater scenery and art (1996)
Michael Gross, for painting and sculpture (2000)
Gavri Banai, for his special contribution to Israeli culture as a member of the HaGashash HaHiver comedy trio (2000)
Gila Almagor, for acting (2004)

[edit] Cultural exchange programs

The Dusseldorf-Ein Hod exchange program has brought Dusseldorf artists to Ein Hod and vice versa over the past two decades. A similar program has been inaugurated for artists from New Hampshire. ^[10]