Beit HaEmek is a kibbutz

Kibbutz

A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...

 in northern Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

. Located in the western Galilee

Galilee

Galilee , is a large region in northern Israel which overlaps with much of the administrative North District of the country. Traditionally divided into Upper Galilee , Lower Galilee , and Western Galilee , extending from Dan to the north, at the base of Mount Hermon, along Mount Lebanon to the...

, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Asher Regional Council

Mateh Asher Regional Council

The Mateh Asher Regional Council is a regional council in the western Galilee of northern Israel. It is named after the Tribe of Asher which had been allotted the region in antiquity according to the Book of Joshua . It was founded in 1982 as a merger of three regional councils: Ga'aton, Na'aman...

. In 2006 it had a population of 439.

The kibbutz was established in 1949. Its name is derived from that of the nearby depopulated Palestinian Arab village of Amqa

Amqa

Amka or Amqa is a moshav in the Matte Asher Regional Council of Israel's North District, near Acre. The name Amka is thought to preserve that of Beth Ha-Emek, a city mentioned in . The location of the Jewish village roughly corresponds the former Palestinian Arab village, depopulated during the...

 and the Biblical city of Beth-emek mentioned in the Book of Joshua

Book of Joshua

The Book of Joshua is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and of the Old Testament. Its 24 chapters tell of the entry of the Israelites into Canaan, their conquest and division of the land under the leadership of Joshua, and of serving God in the land....

 19:27, which was located 5 kilometres north-east of the kibbutz. The Kibbutz was built on the village of Kuwaykat

Kuwaykat

Kuwaykat was a Druze Palestinian village 9 km northeast of Acre in the British mandate of Palestine District of Acre, depopulated in 1948.-History:...

.