DĀLIYAT AL-KARMIL

DĀLIYAT AL-KARMIL, Druze village in Israel, on Mt. Carmel, 8 mi. (13 km.) south of Haifa. The village has existed at least since the early Middle Ages, but most of the present inhabitants' ancestors, hailing from the Lebanon, seem to have settled there under the rule of the Druze governor Fakhr al-Dīn in the 17th century. From 1882 to 1887, Lawrence oliphant lived there together with his secretary, Naphtali Herz imber . After 1948 Dāliyat al-Karmil progressed rapidly, receiving municipal council status in 1951 and attaining a population of 5,200 in 1968. Its economy was based on hill agriculture and local handicrafts, with many of the inhabitants employed as skilled laborers in Haifa or elsewhere. At the end of 2002 the population of Dāliyat al-Karmil was 13,300, with the village's jurisdiction extending over an area of 3.5 sq. mi. (9 sq. km.). In 2003 it was united with usafiyya as the city of Karmil. (Efraim Orni / Shaked Gilboa (2nd ed.)