Shaghur

Shaghur or Shagor (Hebrew: שגור‎; Arabic: الشاغور‎, ash-Shaghur) was an Arab city in the North District of Israel located east of the coastal city of Acre (Akka). It was formed in 2003 with the merger of three Arab local councils – Majd al-Krum, Deir al-Asad and Bi'ina. It was declared a city in 2005. The city was dissolved on December 1, 2008 by Knesset decree and the pre-2003 component villages were given independent standing. It is the third largest Arab locality in the North District after Nazareth and Shefa-'Amr. The name Shaghur comes from the name of the nearby valley which borders the al-Araas mountain in which the city is built upon. The city had a population of 29,900 at the end of 2007.

History

Majd al-Kurum, Deir al-Asad and Bi'ina were largely agricultural. The main crops were olives, figs, citrus and pomegranates. The three villages were captured by Haganah forces on October 30, 1948 in Operation Dekel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. In 1956 about 1,275 acres (5.16 km²) of land in the region were designated "closed areas" by the Israeli government, and became the basis for Karmiel.