Bitan Aharon

Bitan Aharon בִּיתַן אַהֲרֹן‎
Bitan Aharon secretariat building
Bitan Aharon
Coordinates: 32°21′55.79″N 34°52′10.55″E / 32.3654972°N 34.8695972°ECoordinates: 32°21′55.79″N 34°52′10.55″E / 32.3654972°N 34.8695972°E
District	Central
Council	Hefer Valley
Affiliation	Agricultural Union
Founded	1936
Population (2015)[1]	361

Bitan Aharon (Hebrew: בִּיתַן אַהֲרֹן‎, lit. Aharon's Pavilion) is a moshav in central Israel. Located in the Sharon plain between Hadera and Netanya, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hefer Valley Regional Council. In 2015 it had a population of 361.

History

The moshav was founded in 1936. During its first years the members of the moshav hired workers to plant orange groves while its members lived in the cities. A decade later the village became more developed with new settlers joining. In 1947 it had a population of 100.^[2] The village was named after Aharon Freeman, a Canadian Zionist activist.

Bitan Aharon nature reserve

Avenue of ficus trees

A 46-dunam nature reserve was declared in 1968,^[3] just east of the moshav. The reserve covers part of the second (middle) Kurkar ridge that runs on a north-south axis in this part of the Israeli coastal plain, and therefore includes a number of ancient rock-hewn tombs and burial caves. Flora includes Ziziphus spina-christi and Pancratium parviflorum.^[4]

References

1. "List of localities, in Alphabetical order" (PDF). Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
2. Jewish National Fund (1949). Jewish Villages in Israel. Jerusalem: Hamadpis Liphshitz Press. p. 191.
3. "List of National Parks and Nature Reserves" (PDF) (in Hebrew). Israel Nature and Parks Authority. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-10-07. Retrieved 2010-09-27.
4. "Bitan Aharon Nature Reserve" (in Hebrew). iNature.info. Retrieved 2010-09-27.