PARDESIYYAH

PARDESIYYAH (Heb. פַּרְדֵסִיָּה), Jewish village with municipal council status, in central Israel, about 4 mi. (6 km.) southeast of Netanyah. Founded in 1940, it initially housed a few families of Jewish laborers originating from Yemen who were employed in the citrus groves in the vicinity. The village expanded greatly in the 1950s, as it was in the neighborhood of large ma'barot (immigrant camps), part of whose area was included in Pardesiyyah's municipal boundary. The village had 332 inhabitants in 1955, 1,587 in 1961, and 800 in 1970. In the mid-1990s the population was approximately 1,820, and at the end of 2002 it was 5,920 residents, occupying an area of half a square mile (1.3 sq. km.). Income was much higher than the national average. The Lev Hasharon Mental Health Center is located there. (Efraim Orni / Shaked Gilboa (2nd ed.)