Poriyyah

PORIYYAH (Heb. פּוֹרִיָּה), two urban quarters and a village in northern Israel, on the Poriyyah Ridge, just S. of *Tiberias. Poriyyah was founded in 1912 as a fruit farm, mainly based on almond plantations, by a group of American Zionists. A few of these Zionists went to settle on the site which was worked by Jewish laborers. The place was abandoned in World War I. In 1940 kibbutz *Alummot temporarily settled on the site. In 1949 a work village (kefar avodah) was established there by immigrants from Yemen. In 1952 it became an affiliate of Tenu'at ha-Moshavim but later left the association and remained unaffiliated. A government regional hospital was built further north in 1949, as well as housing projects of Upper Tiberias. A youth hostel, named after the veteran Tiberias inhabitant, Y. Taiber, was opened at Poriyyah. In 1968 the village had 180 inhabitants, the Poriyyah Illit quarter had 790, and the Neveh Oved quarter, 750. In 2002 the village population was 288, the Poriyyah Illit population 529, and Neveh Oved had 888 inhabitants.