Ein Ayala Colony

Ein Ayala is a moshav located approximately 20 kilometers south of Haifa, on the lands of the depopulated village of Kafr Lam in the Haifa district. In 2019, the population of the settlement was 1,150 settlers. Ein Ayala was established in 1949 by European Jewish immigrants, most of whom originated from the Carpathian Ruthenia region, formerly part of Czechoslovakia and now part of Ukraine, with a minority from the Bukovina region. The founders spoke Hungarian. They initially settled in a refugee camp near Khirbat Beit Lid before moving to the site and living in tents. The moshav was built adjacent to Ein Ghazal, a Palestinian village whose residents were displaced during Operation Shoter in July 1948. According to Walid Khalidi, Ein Ayala is not located on the lands of Ein Ghazal but was established on lands belonging to Kafr Lam and the cultivated lands adjacent to Khirbat al-Sawamir in April 1951. Sources: Due to the scarcity of Arabic sources, Israeli sources were used: the settlement’s website (in Hebrew) and the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics. Information about the village of Kafr Lam was obtained from the Palestine Remembered website.