Antiquity

Yavne was one of the major ancient cities in the southern coastal plain, situated 20 km (12.43 mi) south of Jaffa, 15 km (9.32 mi) north of Ashdod, and 7 km (4.35 mi) east of the Mediterranean.^[6]

From excavations of the ancient tell (mound created by accumulation of archaeological remains) known as Tel Yavne (Hebrew), which developed on a natural kurkar hill, the area seems to have been inhabited, possibly continuously, from either the Bronze or Iron Age until the British Mandate. During some periods, especially the Byzantine period, the settlement expanded to cover part of the plain and hills surrounding the tell.^[6][7][8] Yavne is mentioned in the Bible and other ancient texts.^[7][8]

In Roman times, the city was known as Iamnia or Jamnia. It was bequeathed by King Herod upon his death to his sister Salome. Upon her death it passed to Emperor Augustus, who ran it as a private imperial estate, a status retained for at least a century.^[9] After Salome's death, Iamnia came into the property of Livia, the future Roman empress, and then to her son Tiberius.^[10]

During the First Jewish–Roman War, when the Roman army quelled the insurrection in Galilee, the army marched upon Iamnia and Azotus, taking both towns and stationing garrisons within them.^[11] According to rabbinic tradition, Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai and his disciples were permitted to settle in Iamnia during the outbreak of the war, after Zakkai, realizing that Jerusalem was about to fall, departed the city and sought the permission of Vespasian, commander of the Roman forces, to settle in Yavne and teach his disciples.^[12][13] Upon the fall of Jerusalem, his school functioned as a Sanhedrin.^[14] It is also rumored to have been the site of the Council of Jamnia that established the rabbinic Jewish biblical canon.

According to the Jerusalem Talmud (Berakhot 1:4), when the rabbis argued over some fine point of Jewish law, a Divine voice (Hebrew: bat ḳol) was heard in Yavne, ruling in favor of the School of Hillel. To counter a perceived threat to rabbinical authority, the Talmud states that Shmuel ha-Katan of Yavne enacted the "twelfth benediction" in the daily prayer, i.e., the benediction against apostates and heretics (Hebrew: minim).^[15]

Crusader period

The Crusaders renamed the city Ibelin and built its castle there in 1141. An excavation led by Professor Dan Bahat in 2005^[16] revealed the main gate.^[17] Its namesake noble family, the House of Ibelin, was important in the Kingdom of Jerusalem and later in the Kingdom of Cyprus. Salvage excavations at the west of the tell unearthed a stash of 53 Crusader coins of the 12th and 13th centuries.^[18]

Muslim Yibna, Early Islamic to Mamluk period

The Islamic historian al-Baladhuri (died 892 CE) describes Yibna as one of ten towns in Jund Filastin conquered by the Rashidun army led by 'Amr ibn al-'As in the early 7th century.^[19] Ibelin was first sacked by Saladin before his army was routed at the Battle of Montgisard in late 1177. In August 1187, it was retaken and burnt to the ground, and ceased for some time to form part of the Crusaders' kingdom.^[20]

Mosque

Ibelin's parish church was converted into a mosque, to which a minaret was added during the Mamluk period in 1337. The minaret is still standing, although the mosque itself (the former Crusader church) was blown up by the IDF in 1950.^[7][21]

Tomb of Abu Huraira/Gamaliel

The Mausoleum of Abu Huraira , known in Arabic as Maqam Abu Hurayra, described as "one of the finest domed mausoleums in Palestine", dates back to the 12th century. It was said to be the tomb of Abu Hurairah, a companion (sahaba) of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.^[22][23] Abu Hurairah however is buried in Medina, Saudi Arabia, but he was also venerated in various places in Palestine, namely in Ramle and Yavne.^[24] After 1948 the shrine was adopted by Mizrahi Jews who believe the tomb is the burial place of Rabbi Gamaliel of Yavne.^[22][23] Jewish worshippers say that it was a Jewish burial site that was Islamized later, although there is no record of Jewish pilgrimage there before 1948.^[25]

British Mandate

The "Kerem B'Yavneh" yeshiva, 1945

In mid-March 1948, a contingent of Iraqi soldiers moved into the village. In a Haganah reprisal on 30 March, two dozen villagers were killed. On April 21, the Iraqi village commander was arrested in Jaffa for drunkenly shooting two Arabs.^[26]

During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, residents of Zarnuqa sought refuge in Yibna, but left after the villagers accused them of being traitors.^[27]

On 27 May, following the fall of Al-Qubayba and Zarnuqa, most of the population of Yibna fled to Isdud, but armed males were refused entry. On 5 June, when Israeli troops arrived, they found the village almost deserted apart from a few old people who were ordered to leave.^[27]

In the 1930s, a plan was proposed to rebuild the ancient Talmudic academy founded by Yochanan Ben Zakkai. In 1941, an agreement was reached between the Jewish National Fund and the Mizrachi/Hapoel Mizrachi movements, allocating five hundred dunams in Yavne area for a yeshiva. In 1948, the building was used as a forward post by Yigal Alon, commander of the southern front, because of its commanding view of the coastal plain.^[28]

State of Israel

Yavne in 1958. The site of Yibna shown in ruins. The Ma'bara (development town) lies north of the ruins

Yavne water park

Yavne was established in October 1948 as a transit camp for Jews from Arab countries, Iran and Europe. The first neighbourhood was established in early 1949. In the early years, the inhabitants were shopkeepers, farmers and construction workers. In 1953, the population was 1,600. In the 1960s, several enterprises moved from Tel Aviv to Yavne, establishing leather, textile, and metallurgy industries. By 1970, the population had grown to 10,100.^[29] Other Israeli villages were founded on Yibna land were Kfar HaNagid and Beit Gamliel in 1949, Ben Zakai in 1950, Kfar Aviv (originally: "Kfar HaYeor") in 1951, Tzofiyya in 1955.^[30] According to Walid Khalidi, a railroad crosses the village. The old mosque and minaret, together with a shrine can still be seen, and some of the old houses are inhabited by Jewish and Arab families.

The 1980 edition of a guidebook published in Jerusalem describes Yavne as home to Israel's first atomic reactor, an image of which appeared on a 0.50 Shekel stamp.^[31]

When Mayor Meir Sheetrit assumed office in 1974, the city became a low-density suburban satellite of Tel Aviv with new construction targeting middle-class families. Yavne achieved city status in 1986. By the mid-1990s, the population had risen to 25,600.^[29]