"From the Valley of Achor to a door of hope" - The Bahai Region in Israel, 1868-1921 [Hebrew]

In 2008, UNESCO inscribed the Baha'i Holy Places in Haifa and Western Galilee as world heritage sites. The list of sites served by the Baha'i World Center to UNESCO included 26 different sites among which one can find Shrines, buildings, monuments and gardens. UNESCO's ·arguments for acknowledging these sites included the fact that these sites "are inscribed for the testimony they provide to the Baha'i's strong tradition of pilgrimage and for their profound meaning for the faith". 2 The evolution of these sites and their development is related to the settlement story of the Baha'i people in Brez-Israel. The beginning of this settlement starts with the deportation of Baha'u'llah, the founder of the Baha'i faith, by the Ottoman authorities to Acre in late 1868, and it evolved under the leadership of Baha'u'llah and his successor, 'Abdu'l-Baha (in the years 1892-1921). The goal of this research is to examine, from an historical point of view, the evolution process of the Baha'i region in Brez-Israel due to the different events the Baha'i community went through and to the local, regional and worldwide developments. The main research domain, in which this research was conducted, is an historical research which examines events and processes along the time-track. However, the definition of the subject, in and of itself, combines other fields like geographic 1 Based on Hoshea, 2:15: "And I will give her vineyards from thence, mid the valley of Achor for a door of hope". 2 UNESCO declaration, 8 July 2008. In: h11p:f/whc.unesco.org/en/news/452. research (which deals with spatial distribution of the data) and socio-religion research (which examines social processes within a religion community) and makes them a part of the main research. Theses 3 research domains enable us to conduct an sociohistoric- geographic analysis of the evolution process of the Baha'i in Erez-Israel. During this research 3 major Baha'i settlement centers were located in Erez-Israel. These areas included the coastal plain of the Western Galilee and the city of Acre as its center; the intermediate of the Jordan Valley and Mount Carmel and Haifa as its center. The Baha'i settlements in these areas can be divided into two historic periods: "the random settlement" period, 1868-1892, under the leadership of Baha'u'llah and "the planned settlement", 1892-1921, during which the community was led by 'Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'u'llah older son. The first asset the Baha'i People bought in Erez-Israel, was the house of Alias Abud, which was purchased in 1873 and was followed by the purchase of other assets in the Acre area like Mazra'ih estate, Bahji estate, Ridvan Gardens and others. The acquiring of these assets, was done without any planning, and its major goal was to provide comfortable living provisions for the Baha'u'llah. However, one exception was the purchase of land in the Nahariya area (Junayn Gardens) by a private pilgrimage for his private needs, apparently for agriculture as a source of livelihood. While buying those assets in the Acre area, the Baha'is bought big areas ofland in the the intermediate of the Jordan Valley such as: Umm-Jiina, AI-Samra and Nuqeib. The purchase of the these lands was possible thank to improvement of the security state of affairs followed the coming to power of The Sultan Abdiilhamid II in 1876. The Baha'i settlement in these areas was made in the form of small estates. those were owned by Baha'u'llah family members 0£ The land was cultivated with the help of local land leasers without any significant Baha'i presence. The period of "the planned settlement" started in 1892, after the death of Baha'u'llah, under the leadership of Abdu'l-Baha (his eldest son). 'Abdu'l-Bahit's leadership period began with a struggle inside the Baha'i Community concerning the question of the leadership after Baha'u 'llith. During these succession struggles, Muhammad-Ali, Abdu'l-Bahit half-brother, and his supporters took over the Bahji estate, the most important site to the Baha'i community in Brez-Israel. in its center one can find the sacred tomb of Baha'u'llith. 'Abdu'l-Baha who understood his position as the leader of the Baha'i community is in question, took a series of actions to promise his position. These actions included the foundation of a religious and administrative center in the city of Haifa, which included the tomb of the Ba'b, a neighborhood which later recive the name the "Parisian Quarter", and buildings which served as hostels for the pilgrimages. One can also detect planned aspects in the Baha'i region in the intermediate of the Jordan Valley. While the supporters of Muhammad-Ali, who sat in Umm-Jiina and probably in Al-Samra, started to sell their lands during this period (probably due to financial needs), 'Abdu'l-Baha did the opposite and started buying more lands in the area, while settling them with settlers which he brought from Iran. The study shows that the evolution process of the Baha'i region in Erez-Israel was characterized in very few settlers and very limited settlement scope that were designed to serve specific goals, that were defined by the head of the Baha'i Community. These goals included religion and ritual goals, providing living dorms, storage services for the pilgrimages and a source of food. The settlement character, their limited number, the charismatic personality of Baha'u'llith and 'Abdu'l-Baha and the diplomatic abilities of'Abdu'l-Baha enabled the Baha'i Settlement in Erez-Israel to be accepted without any significant protest from the local population. Does the evolution of the Baha'i region can serve as a model based on which other religious group can settle in Brez-Israel or an)'Where else? As the way models are, the total numbers of the variables that build the model is more than a few, and include variables from in and outside the community. Apparently, it seems that by putting all the variables together, the religious group which will succeed will be the one who will follow or will adopt the Baha'i example as a model. However, assuming that this combination of variables is not possible, historically and culturally one must see in the evolution of the Baha'i region as unique and a one-time event.