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Yokneam Illit (), also Yoqne'am Illit, is a city in the Northern District of Israel. It is located in a hilly region of the Lower Galilee at the base of the Mount Carmel, and overlooks the Jezreel Valley. It is from Haifa and from Tel Aviv. Yokneam Illit, known as Israel's "Startup Village", is home to a high-tech hub surrounded by forests and small communities. In it had a population of .
Yokneam Illit was founded in 1950. It was recognized as a local council in 1967 and achieved city status in 2007. It is located on the route of Israel's major highways – Highway 70 and Highway 6. In 1989, after Simon Alfassi was elected mayor, Yokneam Illit began to attract high-tech companies looking for an alternative to Gush Dan.
Over 100 high-tech companies now operate from Yokneam Illit, generating exports of approximately 5 billion US dollars annually. Although real estate prices are low relative to the Gush Dan area, the high rate of growth has pushed prices up faster than in similar-sized cities.
Yokneam is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as a Levitical city within the territory of the Israelite tribe of Zebulun (). It is located near Tel Megiddo (Armageddon). The Crusaders called Yokneam "Cain Mons", or "Mountain of Cain" in keeping with the tradition that Cain, son of Adam (), was murdered at this site.
Yokneam was populated throughout the Persian, Hellenistic, Roman Empire/Byzantine, Arab, Crusaders, Mameluk, and Ottoman Empire periods. Yokneam was built on the lands of a Palestinian Arab village named Qira, depopulated in the lead up to the 1948 Arab–Israeli war.
In 1964, Yokneam had 4,300 residents. 160 families were living in the moshava. In 1967, Yokneam split into two local councils: Yokneam and Yokneam Illit.
In the 1980s, 90 percent of the residents worked in the two local factories in Yokneam. In September 1990, the Soltam factory shut down creating high unemployment.
In the 1990s, Yokneam absorbed a large wave of immigrants from Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union. During that time, Yokneam's industrial parks began to attract high-tech firms.
Yokneam Illit was formally declared a city in 2006. In 2009, Yokneam Illit was linked to Highway 6 and received recognition as Israel's first "Green City" in the Cleantech competition. In the wake of these developments, Yokneam Illit became a hub for medical, cleantech and product development companies.
In 2011, 16,000 workers entered the industrial parks every day. Of these, only 4,000 were local residents.
The next wave of new immigrants came in the 1960s from North Africa, followed by immigrants from the Soviet Union in the 1970s. In the 1990s, Yokneam Illit absorbed large numbers of immigrants from Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union.
Starting in the 1990s, the growth of high-tech companies in Yokneam Illit also brought an influx of Israeli-born residents along with an increasing number of immigrants from Western Europe, South Africa, North America and South America. During this period, the economic problems of the Kibbutz and Moshav movements led many of the young families in the Megiddo Regional Council to move to nearby Yokneam Illit.
Yokneam Illit's accelerated demand for day care and Kindergartens led to a shortage of space in local day care and Kindergartens at the same time that there was a shortage of children at some of the Kibbutzim. In order to avoid sending their children to other small communities in the area, Kibbutz children's houses and Kindergartens began accepting children from nearby Yokneam Illit, and in some cases the number of children from Yokneam Illit outnumbered the Kibbutz children. This phenomenon later extended to the elementary and secondary schools until the building of new schools in Yokneam Illit was able to catch up with demand.
Many of the children from Yokneam Illit and their families remained in the Megiddo school system, while families who moved from the Megiddo communities to Yokneam Illit were educating their children in the Yokneam Illit school system. The family ties and school friendships led to mixed Yokneam-Megiddo parents groups in both communities and nearly all sports activities and many other after-school activities being fully integrated. Today, it is extremely rare to find a local team representing only Yokneam Illit or only the Megiddo Regional Council.
The Partnership2Gether program, which partnered Yokneam Illit and the Megiddo Regional Council on the Israeli side, with the Jewish communities of Atlanta, GA and St. Louis, MO on the US side, helped institutionalize cooperation between the Yokneam Illit municipality and the Megiddo Regional Council. The impact on joint community leadership not only affected Yokneam-Megiddo, but also created an ongoing relationship between the Jewish communities of Atlanta and St. Louis.
This cross-pollination has led to an integrated economic ecosystem that help support the high-tech companies in Yokneam Illit. Examples of this cooperation can be seen in the activities of the Southeast chapter of the US-Israel Chamber of Commerce in Atlanta, and the success of companies like Given Imaging . Given Imaging, which began as a small startup in Yokneam Illit, leveraged its special relationship with the Southeast chapter of the US-Israel Chamber of Commerce when it opened its Marketing headquarters in Atlanta, GA.
Under the Law for the Encouragement of Capital Investment, approved enterprises in Yokneam Illit enjoy the highest level of tax benefits and investment grants (currently up to 20% of the investment or 10 year tax exemption). In addition, companies relocating to the region can apply for concessions in local taxes over a three-year period from the Yokneam Illit Local Authority.
Yokneam's industrial parks are home to more than 100 high-tech companies with exports of approximately 5 billion US dollars annually. Companies specialize in a wide range of technologies, including semicondcutors, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and medical devices. These include Intel, Panasonic Avionics Corporation, Medtronic, Given Imaging, Naiot Venture Accelerator, Mellanox, Marvell Technology Group, Biosense Webster and Lumenis. An additional high-tech park, Mevo Carmel Jewish-Arab Industrial Park, is already underway that will be a joint venture of Yokneam Illit, Megiddo Regional Council and the Druze villages of Daliyat al-Karmel and Isfiya.
The growth of the high-tech companies in Yokneam has attracted speakers and members of specialized professions, such as technical writers, to come from other parts of Israel to meet and exchange ideas.
In addition to technology-based industry, Yokneam has a number of production facilities, including Osem, which established a plant in Yokneam in 1974; and a boutique winery, Morad Winery, known for its special wines made from Pomegranates, Passion Fruit, Red Grapefruits, Coffee, Coconuts, Carub and many other fruits. Initially, the plant produced mainly pasta products, but the scope of activities broadened over the years. In 1997, the facility doubled in size and three production lines were installed for baked goods such as crackers, biscuits, cookies and pretzels. Bamba, a popular Israeli snack food, is also produced in Yokneam. Many Yokneam residents are employed at the plant, which won awards from the Council for a Beautiful Israel for its attractive premises.
The bus service in Yokneam is provided by 3 bus companies. Superbus provides the local service in Yokneam and intercity service to Haifa and Afula. Superbus also runs night lines (including Friday nights) to Haifa, Kiryat Tivon and Ramat Yishai. All bus stops are handicapped-accessible. Egged and Nateev Express provide express intercity services to Tel Aviv, Bnei Brak and Jerusalem, as well as service with stops along the way.
There is a taxi stand at the shopping mall at the eastern entrance to Yokneam Illit.
The Yokneam Illit Municipality encourages the use of bicycles in the city. It currently has 13 km of bicycle paths that connect all of it public parks and buildings.
The municipality of Yokneam has developed a special relationship with the Jewish communities of Atlanta, GA and Saint Louis, MO, whereby all three communities work together to create programs for bridging the gaps between communities and cultures, and to provide all students with equal opportunities.
The Environmental Protection Ministry (Israel) awarded a number of Yokneam's kindergartens and elementary schools the “green label” because of the way they integrated study of the environment into the local curriculum. In grades three through six, elementary school students spend a full week during school at the city's Science Museum.
The IDF Head of Manpower Planning recently awarded the city a special excellence prize for achieving an 87% level of enlistment in the IDF and the eighth highest level of recruitment to elite units and officers courses in all of Israel.
Construction of a "breakthrough" educational campus is nearly complete, with an educational infrastructure for study from kindergarten to high school that will eliminate the transitions that affect students’ lives. The campus will have sports halls, day care centers, kindergartens, elementary and high schools, and academic courses prior to IDF enlistment.
In addition to Yokneam's proximity to Technion(23.8 km), University of Haifa(22 km), and Oranim Academic College(7.5 km), Yokneam has a branch of the Open University for bachelor's and master's degrees. The municipality is currently trying to expand on this by working with major universities to open branches in Yokneam.
Israel's best-known theater groups come to perform at The Yokneam City Theater operates 6 days a week. The subscription series with 8 different performances a year from Israel's best-known theater companies has grown from one day of the week to five in order to accommodate a total audience of over 2,000, or 10% of its population. The theater also runs two subscription series for children with a total of 600 subscribers, one for ages 3–6 and the other for ages 6–10. A separate "Fringe" series has 200 subscribers for one-man or small theater companies and nontraditional theater performances. Low cost and subsidized performances that are outside of the subscription series include performances in Yiddish by the "Yiddish Shpiel" company , events for the Ethiopian community, children's concerts, and animation theater. The Jewish Federation subsidizes children's theater subscriptions for members of the Ethiopian community to bring their cost of a child accompanied by one parent down to 100 ILS (approximately US$30) for the entire series. The local Artists' Guild makes use of the theater to display artwork from local and outside artists.
A second theater house, Tarbuta , seats 200. The Family Empowerment Center also runs a Drama-Therapy group for Ethiopian women that performs in Hebrew and Amharic. During the summer months, musicians from all over Israel perform in the open air Amphitheater.
MixArt is an amateur studio established in 2017 under the patronage of Yokneam's Department of Absorption and performing plays in Russian and Hebrew. To date, this group does not have its own scene.
There are also many dance performances held at Kibbutz Ein HaShofet, just outside Yokneam. One of Israel's largest movie houses, Yes Planet, is only 15 minutes away.
Yokneam Illit does not have any bars or pubs. Young people looking for more than wine or beer at a restaurant or coffee shop go to nearby Ramat Yishai.
The Yokneam-Megiddo Region has two baseball teams that represent their Sister Cities (the Atlanta Braves and the St. Louis Cardinals). These teams have participated in many tournaments: Jr Macabbiah Games, European Tournaments and the Israeli Junior Olympics where they received the bronze medal. One of the local Kibutz' has donated the land necessary to build a new Baseball/Softball Stadium in conjunction with the Israel Softball Association and the Jewish National Fund. The Israel Softball Association is helping to start a Special Education Program for the families in the area. In 2012–2013, Yokneam had a player make the Junior National Team which traveled to Denmark that summer.
Starting in 2012, 12 youngsters from Daliyat al-Karmel began taking part in a weekly co-existence program at the Israel Tennis Center as part of a tennis school financed by the Freddie Krivine Foundation.
The city has its own environmental protection committee responsible for defining and implementing an overall strategy for improving the quality of life and protecting the environment. The strategy emphasizes: planned development, environmental management, educational programs for environmental protection, urban sanitation, cause and effect management, and conservation of energy and water. It actively promotes walking and use of bicycles for transportation, and all bus stops are handicapped-accessible.
Yokneam Illit's 500 dunams of public parks and its 50 m2/person of open urban space is 5 times the minimum recommendation for urban planning. In addition to the annual "Yokneam Walk", which attracts thousands of participants, the works closely with the Israel National Fund (Keren Kayemet) to further promote nature preservation.
Yokneam Illit is one of 31 municipalities that separates garbage at the source, as well as having waste separation centers distributed throughout the city. The drainage systems work well and stockpile water for reuse in city parks and gardens. The city also uses a computerized irrigation system to save water and achieve optimal results. Sewage is treated at the water treatment plants that are located in nearby Kiryat Tivon.
As part of Yokneam's commitment to adopting green energy it will soon be one of the first two cities in northern Israel where electric buses will operate.
The municipality invests both time and money to maintain the natural beauty of its green spaces. Its building codes have become stricter and greener as the demand for housing has increased. A "green" neighborhood is currently under construction which includes environment friendly lighting, irrigation and waste management. At the same time, the municipality has actively worked to make the older neighborhoods more attractive.
The city runs environmental leadership workshops. Jewish immigrants from Ethiopia run a program to teach and preserve traditional farming methods. The education system is defined as “green”, with environmental studies built into the curriculum.
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Summers in Yokneam are hot and dry, with maximum temperatures reaching . Since the introduction of weather station, the hottest recorded temperature was that was measured on August 7, 2010; and the lowest recorded temperature was on December 15, 2013.
Up to 50 cm. of snow fell in Yokneam Illit in 1950, 1992, 1999 and 2000.
Record rainfall in recent years: 2009-2010 552.9 mm (85% of average) 2010-2011 486.9 mm (75% of average) 2011-2012 575.8 mm (82% of average) 2012-2013 668.1 mm (103% of average)
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