Kadita

Kadita sits on Mount Koter in the Upper Galilee, about two kilometers east of Or HaGanuz.[1] The settlement and nearby cemetery field lie north of Route 89, the Meron–Safed road, near the Ein Zeitim parking area.[4]

The community is close to Safed and Meron.[2] Its landscape consists of a terraced ridge planted with olive trees and overlooking a wadi, with Mount Hermon visible on clear days.[3]

Kadita has been described as "a small ecological village." Rebecca Steiner, who lived there for a year, called it "such a beautiful natural place filled with musicians."[2]

An older village named Kadita once stood on the basalt hills of the Dalton plateau, where residents used spring water and cultivated fruit orchards.[4] A 2005 Ynet travel article reported that 250 residents left after the capture of Safed during the War of Independence, with some going to Akbara and others elsewhere. Its politically charged account is not independently corroborated by the other sources used here, and it only suggested that the village's houses later collapsed.[4] Separately, Ynetnews reported that Arab residents fleeing fighting and traveling toward Jauni, identified as present-day Rosh Pina, settled in abandoned houses in Akbara after signing statements that they would not return to Kadita.[5]

Sources differ on the beginning of the modern settlement. A 2006 Globes account placed its start in the early 1980s, when one family settled on Mount Koter.[1] A 2012 Globes feature described a founding nucleus of four families, followed by nineteen more families in the early 1990s.[3] A Ynet opinion article instead described the settlement as having begun on Israel Lands Administration property in the 1990s.[6] That article cited a June 1991 letter from then-Housing Minister Ariel Sharon, supporting a settlement at the site as part of the "Judaization of the Galilee," as the basis invoked for Kadita's establishment.[6]

An archival guide lists "The establishment of Kadita" as record group JK212, dated 1996–1998, under organizations, institutions, and localities associated with the Jewish community in Palestine and Israel. The collection is marked as not scanned.[7]

Published household figures vary by year and source. In 2005, the Israel Lands Administration was reported to have evicted 80 families, with 35 families remaining.[8] About 40 families and 100 children were reported in 2012, rising to roughly 50 families and 100 children in 2013.[3][9] A state plan discussed in 2012 was intended for 150 families, but that figure represented proposed capacity rather than the existing population.[3]

Reports from 2003 onward portrayed Kadita's built environment as ecological but also improvised. In 2003, its structures included huts, wooden and stone houses, caravans, and tents. Some homes used generators for electricity, sewage was not handled systematically, and the Marom HaGalil council had connected the community to the water system in response to the needs of children living there.[10]

By 2012, residents lived in self-built homes and transported their rubbish to a collection point outside the settlement. Community projects included a cooperative center, composting stations, vegetable growing, and local-produce initiatives.[3] One resident summarized the reuse-oriented outlook: "Other people's garbage is our gold; we use what there is."[3]

Steiner's account of her year in a Kadita cabin described making olive oil, writing poetry, and meditating.[2] The village also hosted the Galilee Earth Dance Festival from September 19 to 21, 2014, in a setting described as the pastoral Galilean hills.[11]

Early life in the community could be difficult. Moshe Elbaz and his pregnant wife, Leni, spent two winters living in a tent with their young children while building their home.[3] Kadita's natural surroundings and proximity to a site locally identified as the tomb of Rabbi Tarfon also attracted some residents.[8]

For decades, Kadita's development was shaped by tension between residents and state authorities over land rights and planning approval. Four families held Israel Lands Administration authorizations to lease land, while approximately 35 additional families were reported to have built without authorization. The homes were dispersed across hundreds of dunams.[1][6]

Government bodies began promoting an organized settlement at the site in 1997. A government decision to establish a new settlement followed in 1999, and the Interior Ministry's director general decided in 2000 to advance a master plan. In 2006, the National Council for Planning and Building approved for deposit a district-plan change covering approximately 150 housing units.[1]

Planning proposals changed over time. A 2003 proposal envisaged an ecological development of 200–240 homes and was intended to formalize a community that had developed without advance planning. Its architect, Anat Gonen, was asked to minimize environmental harm.[10] The Israel Lands Administration later maintained that residents without permits had no right to state land and were living there illegally. By 2012, nearly all families apart from a few had received eviction orders.[3]

In 2013, the Israel Lands Authority's director visited Kadita for four hours, and a follow-up meeting was scheduled to examine whether the existing plan matched the government's settlement decision.[9] Residents argued that the plan did not reflect either their ecological lifestyle or the original government decision and feared that a conventional development model would damage the site.[9]

Near the cemetery field north of Route 89, close to the Ein Zeitim parking area, a site is locally identified as the tomb of Rabbi Tarfon.[4] Some residents cited its proximity as one reason for choosing to live in Kadita.[8]

The identification has been questioned because Rabbi Tarfon is historically associated with Lod and Kadita did not exist during his lifetime.[4] The Ynet article presenting this criticism did not provide historical, archaeological, or rabbinic evidence establishing the tomb's identity.[4]