Savyon
סַבְיוֹן‎
Local council
Hebrew transcription(s)
 • ISO 259Sabyon
 • Also spelledSavion (unofficial)
Savyon is located in Central Israel
Savyon
Savyon
Coordinates: 32°2′48″N 34°52′38″E / 32.04667°N 34.87722°E / 32.04667; 34.87722
Country Israel
DistrictCentral
Founded1951
Government
 • Head of MunicipalityMoti Landau
Area
 • Total3,746 dunams (3.746 km2 or 1.446 sq mi)
Population
 (2021)[1]
 • Total4,051
 • Density1,100/km2 (2,800/sq mi)
Name meaningEastern groundsel

Savyon (Hebrew: סַבְיוֹן) is an affluent local council in the Central District of Israel, bordering the cities of Kiryat Ono and Yehud. Ranked 10/10 on the Israeli socio-economic scale, it is one of the wealthiest municipalities in Israel. In 2021 it had a population of 4,051.[1]

History

During the 18th and 19th centuries, the area of Savyon belonged to the Nahiyeh (sub-district) of Lod that encompassed the area of the present-day city of Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut in the south to the present-day city of El'ad in the north, and from the foothills in the east, through the Lod Valley to the outskirts of Jaffa in the west. This area was home to thousands of inhabitants in about 20 villages, who had at their disposal tens of thousands of hectares of prime agricultural land.[2]

Savyon was founded in 1955 by Africa Israel Investments for elderly South African Jewish immigrants. It was established on land that had formerly been the Palestinian town of Al-Abbasiyya, previously called Al-Yahudiya until the name was officially changed in 1932 because the inhabitants did not want the town to be associated with Jews.[3] In 1948, David Ben-Gurion had requested the destruction of Al-'Abbasiyya, among other Palestinian villages whose inhabitants fled or were expelled.[4][5] Between 1948 and 1954 the Israeli sites of Yehud, Magshimim, Ganne Yehuda, Ganne Tiqwa, and Savyon were established on the land of Al-'Abbasiyya.

A number of South African Jews settled in Israel, forming a South African community in Savyon. Large houses were built in the style that the community was accustomed to from their life in South Africa. It took the Hebrew name of a common wildflower found in the Savyon region, the eastern groundsel. The shape of the wildflower was also used to model the territory of Savyon, thus causing their signature resemblance. Today, the flower is a signature of the town, being used in the logo of its governing council, Savyon Local Council.

In 2003, the moshav Ganei Yehuda (Hebrew: גַּנֵּי יְהוּדָה) was merged into Savyon.

Notable residents

References

  1. 1 2 "Regional Statistics". Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
  2. ↑ Marom, Roy (2022). "Lydda Sub-District: Lydda and its countryside during the Ottoman period". Diospolis - City of God: Journal of the History, Archaeology and Heritage of Lod. 8: 103–136.
  3. ↑ Khalidi, Walid (1992). All that remains: the Palestinian villages occupied and depopulated by Israel in 1948. Washington (D.C.): Institute for Palestine studies. p. 232. ISBN 978-0-88728-224-9.
  4. ↑ Saʻdī, Aḥmad; Abu-Lughod, Lila; Sa'di, Ahmad H., eds. (2007). Nakba: Palestine, 1948, and the claims of memory. Cultures of history. New York, NY: Columbia University Press. p. 37. ISBN 978-0-231-13579-5.
  5. ↑ Moris, Beni (2012). The birth of the Palestinian refugee problem revisited. Cambridge Middle East studies (2. ed., 6. print ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press. p. 354. ISBN 978-0-521-00967-6.
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