Megiddo 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 Jezreel Valley

Jezreel Valley

-Etymology:The Jezreel Valley takes its name from the ancient city of Jezreel which was located on a low hill overlooking the southern edge of the valley, though some scholars think that the name of the city originates from the name of the clan which founded it, and whose existence is mentioned in...

, it falls under the jurisdiction of Megiddo Regional Council

Megiddo Regional Council

The Megiddo Regional Council is a regional council in northern Israel encompassing land on the Menashe Plateau, and partly in the Jezreel Valley...

. In 2006 it had a population of 356.

The kibbutz was founded in 1949 by Holocaust

The Holocaust

The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...

 survivors

Sh'erit ha-Pletah

Sh'erit ha-Pletah is a biblical term used by Jewish survivors of the Nazi Holocaust to refer to themselves and the communities they formed following their liberation in the spring of 1945....

, partisans and fighters from Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 and Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. It is located near the intersection between highways 65 (from Hadera

Hadera

Hadera is a city located in the Haifa District of Israel approximately from the major cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa. The city is located along of the Israeli Mediterranean Coastal Plain...

 to Afula

Afula

Afula is a city in the North District of Israel, often known as the "Capital of the Valley", referring to the Jezreel Valley. The city had a population of 40,500 at the end of 2009.-History:...

) and 66 (going from Haifa

Haifa

Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...

 south to Judea and Samaria

Judea and Samaria

Judea and Samaria Area is the official Israeli term roughly corresponding to the territory usually known outside Israel as the West Bank and to the Israeli settlements there that are not governed as part of Jerusalem.-Terminology:...

), which is called the Megiddo Junction

Megiddo Junction

The Megiddo Junction is an intersection of Highways 65 and 66 in northern Israel, located near kibbutz Megiddo. A major landmark is a large prison . Nearby are the sites of some ancient battles of Megiddo and the ruins of Megiddo .The five kilometre stretch of Highway 65 east towards Afula is...

. The junction is the site of a bus terminal

Bus station

A bus station is a structure where city or intercity buses stop to pick up and drop off passengers. It is larger than a bus stop, which is usually simply a place on the roadside, where buses can stop...

 and once a large military prison

Military prison

A military prison is a prison operated by the military. Military prisons are used variously to house prisoners of war, enemy combatants, those whose freedom is deemed a national security risk by the military or national authorities, and members of the military found guilty of a serious crime...

 for Palestinians.

Located near the site of the several Battles of Megiddo

Battle of Megiddo

Battle of Megiddo refers to one of the major battles fought near the ancient site of Megiddo in the Jezreel Valley of northern Israel. Of these, the first is by far the most common allusion:...

 and Tel Megiddo

Megiddo (place)

Megiddo is a tell in modern Israel near Megiddo Kibbutz, known for its historical, geographical, and theological importance especially under its Greek name Armageddon. In ancient times Megiddo was an important city-state. Excavations have unearthed 26 layers of ruins, indicated a long period of...

, a rich archeological site. In the Israelite time it was a town, part of the tribe of Manasseh (1 Chronicles 7:29). In 2005, Israeli archeologists discovered the remains of an ancient church, perhaps the eldest in the Holy Land

Holy Land

The Holy Land is a term which in Judaism refers to the Kingdom of Israel as defined in the Tanakh. For Jews, the Land's identifiction of being Holy is defined in Judaism by its differentiation from other lands by virtue of the practice of Judaism often possible only in the Land of Israel...

 under the grounds of the military prison. Authorities are speculating about moving the prison so the site can be accessible to tourists.

In apocalyptic literature, Mount Megiddo, the hill overlooking the valley where the current kibbutz is located, is identified as the site of the final battle between the forces of good and evil at the end of time, known as Armageddon

Armageddon

Armageddon is, according to the Bible, the site of a battle during the end times, variously interpreted as either a literal or symbolic location...

(mentioned in the New Testament in Revelation 16:16).

External links

• Megiddo expedition Tel Aviv University