District: Northern
Situation and characteristics
The town of Afula, founded in 1925 on the site of the Arab village of Afule, to the west of Mount Hamore (Givat Hamore, 515m/1,690ft), is situated at an important road intersection in the Jezreel plain. The inhabitants live by farming, trade and
various crafts.
History
The place is not mentioned in the Bible. The Crusaders built the castle of La Fève (later destroyed by Sultan Baibars) to protect the old roads which met here. In the later Turkish period the Arab village was a station on the railroad line from Haifa via Bet Shean and through the Yarmouk valley to Damascus. During the First World War the Turks and Germans built the branch line from Afula via Jenin to the south.
The town
Afula is a modern and not particularly attractive little town, the principal market center for the Jezreel plain. There are only scanty remains of the older Arab settlement. 2km/1.25mi east of the town center, in the kibbutz of Merhavya (founded 1911), are the ruins of the Crusader castle of La Fève. Surroundings of Afula
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