Mrar Hills National Park

The Mrar Hills are situated in the Shfela (Judaean foothills), south of the city of Rehovot and north of Gedera. The hills are the fourth and last ridge among the kurkar (calcareous sandstone) ridges on the southern coastal plain. Open kurkar areas in Israel are in decline and their rich world of flora and fauna, some of which are unique to them, are disappearing. Part of the kurkar ridge in the southern part of the Mrar Hills has been declared a national park and is maintained by the Nature and Parks Authority. 

The Mrar hills rise 94 meters above sea level. In the Book of Joshua they are defined as a mountain, "Mount Baalah", on the border of the lands of Dan and Judah. Potsherds from the Chalcolithic period and burial caves from the Middle Bronze Age and the Roman and Byzantine periods, above, have been found in the hills, showing that people have lived in Mrar for many generations. 

Some of the caves may have been turned into dwellings or storerooms during the Ottoman period, when there was a Muslim cave village here. The name Mrar ("caves" in Arabic) shows us the importance of caves to the village.

At the end of the Ottoman period - and to this day - orchards were planted in the fertile soil that collected in the valleys between the kurkar ridges. The inhabitants of Mrar Hills had a few water sources, the most important and dependable of which was the Sorek Stream, which flows from the south. During the Ottoman period the village had a well and a cistern. The village also had a controlling view of its surroundings, which gave it a strategic advantage, an important element in pre-modern times for the development of a settlement. On the west was the ancient international road connecting Egypt and Syria (the "Via Maris" or "Way of the Sea"). Another road linked the settlements that developed to the east. In certain periods an east-west road passed south of the village, connecting the coastal plain with the Judaean lowlands and the Jerusalem Mountains.

At the top of the hill are water storage pools built by the Mekorot company as part of the Yarkon-Negev water line that was established between 1952 and 1955, before construction of the National Water Carrier. Their purpose was to channel water from the Yarkon Springs to agricultural communities in the northern Negev.

A statue of a horseman stands nearby as a reminder of the many battles that have taken place in these hills, before the establishment of the State of Israel. On 13th November 1917, as part of the battles of the First World War in Israel, the Battle of the Mrar Hills took place on the ridge. British forces launched a combined assault, when English cavalry (Yeomanry) and Scottish infantry fought against 3,000 Ottoman troops and defeated them. The British forces on their way to Ramle encountered the Ottoman forces occupying positions in the ridge and nearby villages. At the end of the battle, the British took control of the main railway junction, with railway lines leading to the south of Israel, and opened the way to the Jerusalem-Jaffa road. The retreating Ottoman forces lost hundreds of troops and about a thousand were captured by the British. The British lost about 500 soldiers.

The Yeomanry charge at these hills, known as El Mughar Ridge, is considered one of the last cavalry charges in military history.

The agave shrub can be found in several locations on the hills, above. Agave grows for about 10 years before it blooms, which it only does once in its lifetime. Before the agave blooms, it produces a long, thick trunk from which a cluster of thousands of fragrant yellow flowers emerges, which are pollinated by birds. Arabs customarily plant the agave in cemeteries. Agave was once grown in Israel to produce fibre and medication, but today it is used for ornamental purposes only. Other species of agave elsewhere in the world are cultivated to make sugar and tequila.

On the southeastern fringe of the ridge lay an Arab village called Al-Ma'ar ("The caves"), from which the name of the hills full of kurkar caves was derived. With the construction of RAF Aqir, which served as the main Royal Air Force station in Palestine during the Second World War, the importance of the village increased. At the beginning of the War of Independence, in May 1948, the village was captured by the IDF. After the war, the newly named Tel Nof Airbase became a central base for training the Paratroopers Brigade. A monument to the fallen paratroopers in Israel's wars, which we saw at the start of our visit, is located at Tel Nof, near a site that was once a major paratroopers base.

In 2020, the The Mrar Hills National Park was upgraded. Stairs were built, paths were paved and signs were set up explaining the landscape, the vegetation and the battle of the cavalry that took place there. The metal horseman found his place high up on the ridge.
From the top of the hill there is a spectacular view of the surrounding settlements: to the southwest you can see Gedera, to the southeast is Moshav Beit Elazari, established in 1948 by Jewish immigrants from eastern Europe. You can also see the runway and hangars of the Tel Nof Air Force Base.

Before returning to our car parked at the paratroopers monument, we stopped for a rest on the grass in front of the monument, above. The towering pillar of the monument, with parachute wings, is carved with the words of the poet and Special Operations Executive, Hannah Szenes, "A voice called to me - and I went, I went because the voice called." The monument's long stone wall is inscribed with the biblical verse: "They were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions." (2 Samuel 1:23). On the wall the names of the paratroopers who fell from 1949 onward. The monument was built at the initiative of the paratroopers force and the bereaved families. It was unveiled on 29th October 1960.

* This post has been shared on Little Things Thursday, Floral Passions, Nature Notes, Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday), Tuesday's Treasures and My Corner of the World.

The Aircraft Trail Around Eitanim

A few weeks ago Mister Handmade in Israel and I went for a short hike along the Nahal Yitla trail in the Har Haruach ('The Mountain of Wind') National Park. The park is situated on the slopes of the Judaean Hills and we realised that, even in the height of summer, the weather was, well, bearable up there. So, every week since then, until the current lockdown, I have been searching for hiking routes in the Jerusalem Hills*. The views have been spectacular!

My first pick, the Aircraft Trail around Mount Eitanim, encircles the summit of Dayr 'Amr and the site of the Eitanim Mental Health Centre. Dayr 'Amr was a tiny Arab village where a handful of people lived until Israel's War of Independence. It was named after a local sage known as Amr the Messenger, al-Sa'i 'Amr, the messenger of Umar Ibn al-Khattab, who conquered Jerusalem in the 7th century CE. Local tradition links the village to Sheikh Hussein, who was also known as Abu al-Armala ("father of the widow") as he was a renowned patron of widows and orphans. In 1940 the Arab Higher Committee initiated the establishment, at the top of Mount Eitanim, of an educational institution where students - most of whom were orphans whose fathers had been killed in the Arab Revolt of 1936-1939 - could combine study with farming. Slightly later on work was also begun on a school for girls. In 1950 the buildings of the boys' farm were transformed into a hospital for people with tuberculosis, becoming a Mental Health Centre in 1952. The Bezeq telephone and television company has also established a large facility, with radar equipment, near to the summit of the hill.

Mount Eitanim towers 776 metres above sea level and, after just a couple of minutes walking the trail, the magnificent landscape of the Jerusalem Hills came into view. Terraced slopes, cisterns and the remains of small buildings from the village of Dayr 'Amr were all visible below the trail. Large cypress and carob trees grow among the houses.

We turned left on to a stepped trail that climbs slightly, passing an assortment of native woodland trees including Israeli oak (Quercus calliprinos), Palestine pistachio (Pistacia palaestina, also known as Terebinth) and a large numbers of Greek strawberry trees (Arbutus andrachne). We stopped for breakfast at a large terrace which looked different to the other terraces we had already passed along the way. It is thought to have been built in the 1950s by new immigrants employed in work on national projects. 

Opposite us were the southern slopes of Givat Yearim ("Forest Hill") - a good point to understand the reason behind the naming of the trail as the "Aircraft Trail". In early May 1948, just a few days before the State of Israel was declared, Jewish forces attempted to force a way through to Jerusalem, which had been under Arab siege for months. To step up the pressure, a decision was taken to bomb Arab positions in the area of Bayt Mahsir (today Beit Meir), which was situated on a cliff overlooking the highway. On 10th May, a Norseman aircraft was dispatched to carry out the bombing raid. Its captain was a former British Royal Air Force pilot and the co-pilot was commander of Sde Dov Airport at the time. When the plane reached the area of Bayt Mahsir the co-pilot announced over the radio: "We've identified the target, we're going down to bomb." After that all contact with him was lost and the plane disappeared with all its crew.

Amid the turmoil of battle there was no time to look for the remains of the plane. The principal of the orphanage at Dayr 'Amr, Ahmad Sameh Al-Khalidi, had been too ill to flee together with the other residents of the village and farm. He led an intelligence officer of the Harel Brigade's 6th Battalion to the spot where the plane had crashed but the bodies were not found until some time later. Following instructions from members of a Khirbat al-Jab'a family (Moshav Givat Yearim now occupies the site of this vanished village), the officer arrived at a cave where the remains of the plane's crew had been placed. They were removed and taken for burial at Kibbutz Kiryat Anavim. Today the cave no longer exists. Part of the plane's engine was found and laid at the main Air Force memorial site on Har HaTayyasim ("Pilots' Hill"), our next port of call. Another section of it was placed in the garden at Moshav Givat Yearim.

Har HaTayyasim is also located in the Jerusalem hills and at its summit rises to 796 metres above sea level. Towards the top of the mountain is the official memorial site of the Israel Air Force. The site originally honoured the air force pilots whose plane crashed on the slopes of Mount Eitanim. A monument is built of Jerusalem stone and the upper part of it is the plane engine from the crash with a curved propeller. 

Nearby several columns have been erected on which the names of all fallen Air Force personnel are inscribed on glass, arranged chronologically according to the year of death. An additional column displays a single word "Yizkor", "Remember". The plaza with the engine symbol dates back to the early 1950s, while this memorial was erected later. The Israel Air Force's annual memorial ceremony is held here. 

Har HaTayyasim is carefully maintained and is a lovely area to explore. From a gorgeous lookout point the panoramic views of the surrounding countryside and mountain ranges were spectacular. (See photos below) The top of this mountain is actually part of a 450 dunam nature reserve. In the spring 10 different species of orchid can be spotted. A hiking trail passing ancient agricultural terraces leads from the monument to Ein Tayyasim (Pilots' Spring) but it includes a steep climb and Mister Handmade in Israel and I were done for the day. It's always good to have a reason to go back!

* The northern section of the Judaean Hills is referred to as the Jerusalem Hills, and the southern one as the Hebron Hills.

**This post has been shared on The Good. The Random. The Fun., Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday), Sharon's Souvenirs, Tuesday's Treasures, Our World Tuesday, Pictorial Tuesday, My Corner of the World and All Seasons.