Ram-On

Ram-On is a workers' moshav situated in the Ta'anakh region of the southeastern Jezreel Valley, south of Afula.[2] It falls under the municipal jurisdiction of the Gilboa Regional Council and lies in the Gilboa area, north of Jenin.[1] Access to the moshav is via a southbound turn from road 675 onto road 6724.[7]

Its built environment combines older rural, ground-attached housing with agricultural holdings, cultivated areas, and farms, alongside self-built homes in an expansion neighborhood.[2]

The moshav is named after Ramon Paldy, a Tel Aviv native and Nahal soldier who fell in the south on October 16, 1957.[7] Paldy had been among those who conceived the idea for the settlement, and the Nahal group to which he belonged established the moshav in the Ta'anakh region in 1961, naming it in his memory.[7]

Ram-On was established by four Nahal groups made up of children of moshav residents and graduates of agricultural schools, with people who had left kibbutzim joining at a later stage.[8] A 2015 account places the establishment at the beginning of the 1960s and adds that the founders lived together in a commune modeled on a kibbutz until 1963, an arrangement that may help explain the moshav's enduring cooperative character.[4]

A community expansion in the early 1990s roughly doubled Ram-On's population.[9] The locality recorded 596 inhabitants at the end of 2004.[10] By 2013 it had approximately 936 residents across 225 households, including around 60 households of founding-generation members over the age of 70, younger families, and residents renting dwellings in farmyards.[4]

In July 2023, Ram-On was described as having approximately 230 families and 1,000 residents, some of whom were farmers.[3] These figures are dated population snapshots rather than a current estimate. At the end of 2015, Ram-On was ranked at socioeconomic index 8 and described as above medium in socioeconomic level.[2]

As of a 2021 appraisal, the community was secular in character.[2] In 2015, Ram-On functioned as a cooperative association through which residents participated in setting community priorities.[4] Its cooperative activities included processing field crops and orchards, with each member's share allocated according to the production resources contributed by that member.[4]

In 1986, 58 families from the moshav jointly established the Polyrom factory, which produced raw materials for plastics.[4] Shares were distributed equally among founding households and divided equally between women and men within each household.[4] The founders' eventual decision to sell a majority stake in the factory's operations was connected to the desire to provide an inheritance for children, since farm holdings in the moshav were typically passed to a single child who continued farming.[4]

In 2015, the moshav sold roughly two-thirds of Polyrom to the FIMI investment fund, retaining ownership of the real estate and a share of the business and future profits.[11] The deal was reached by broad agreement among residents, and the factory had previously generated dividends for the community.[11]

A wooden commemorative sign beside the road into Ram-On bears both the place name and the name of Ramon Paldy, for whom the moshav was named.[7] Public facilities listed in a 2021 appraisal included Clalit health services, a grocery store, a youth club, a community hall, a sports field, and a swimming pool.[2]

In 2023, Ram-On became a recurring target of claimed rocket launches from the Jenin area by the al-Ayash Battalion, a Hamas-affiliated terrorist organization.[5][6] The group had first emerged in June of that year.[12] On June 26, the battalion claimed that it had launched two Qassam 1 rockets at Ram-On, releasing a video of the alleged launch and warning that "the next one will be bigger."[5] The IDF reported that a rocket fired from the Jenin area exploded in Palestinian territory and did not endanger nearby communities.[5]

In July 2023, a Ram-On resident walking a dog near the moshav cemetery spotted what appeared to be rocket remnants and alerted the community's security coordinator.[3] The IDF detonated the fragment and sent pieces for laboratory examination; at that time, the military had not determined when it had been fired.[3] On July 9, security personnel found the remains of an improvised rocket in Ram-On; an IDF spokesman stated that inspection confirmed it was an old rocket with no explosive material.[1] Palestinian media, citing Israeli sources, attributed those remains to a rocket launched from Jenin on June 14 that had reportedly caused a fire in Ram-On, though the extent or consequences of that fire were not detailed.[1] On July 27, the al-Ayash Battalion again claimed a Qassam 1 rocket launch at Ram-On, while the IDF reported that rocket remains were found in Palestinian territory, with no damage caused.[1][12] The IDF confirmed finding Qassam-1 rocket remnants near the village of Silat al-Harithiya.[12]

On the morning of September 10, 2023, an improvised rocket was launched from western Jenin toward Ram-On but fell in Palestinian territory, with no casualties or damage reported.[6] IDF forces located the launcher near Silat al-Harithiya.[6] The al-Ayash Battalion separately claimed a successful Qassam 1 launch at the moshav that same day.[6] The incident was identified as the seventh rocket launch targeting the community in the preceding two months.[6]

By May 2024, Ram-On residents had constructed two defensive positions that were also used for observation toward the Jenin area.[13] Local officials and residents voiced concern after reserve personnel were reduced, leaving four reservists in Ram-On and four in each of the nearby communities of Magen Shaul and Gan Ner.[13] The military said the reduction followed an operational assessment and that a longer-term defense plan had been developed.[13]

Sources differ on Ram-On's precise founding date. The Israel Central Bureau of Statistics locality list gives 1960 as its "year of Jewish settlement."[14] The Ministry of Justice appraisal and the Izkor memorial page state that the moshav was founded in 1961.[2][7] A 2007 report gives 1953 and refers to three Nahal groups rather than four.[9] The cited sources do not reconcile these differing accounts.

Official sources generally describe Ram-On as a moshav.[2] Other reporting uses the term "Israeli community," while "settlement" appears in reporting on statements issued by the al-Ayash Battalion.[12][1]