The workers’ settlement enterprise in the Tel Mond bloc - including the moshavim Kfar Hess, Ein Vered, and Herut - was one of the first attempts by the Agricultural Federation at “intensive settlement” in the Sharon region, based on concentrated private resources and temporary reliance on wage labor. Even before the founding of Tel Mond - a large orchard enterprise initiated by a private company - the Agricultural Center had begun purchasing large tracts of land in the area. This effort intensified after the establishment of Tel Mond in the summer of 1929, which created stable employment for a significant number of workers.
The workers’ moshavim established in the Tel Mond bloc in the early 1930s belong to the second wave of the workers’ moshav movement. The first wave, in the 1920s, included the establishment of workers’ moshavim in the Yizre‘el Valley. Those settlements were based on a mixed-farming model, built on national land, and fully financed by the Zionist Organization.
The characteristic of the second wave in the 1930s was the establishment of workers’ moshavim in the orchard-rich coastal plain, based on diverse intensive farming. Although these settlements were also built on JNF (Jewish National Fund) land, they were funded initially by the settlers themselves - mainly immigrants of the Fourth and Fifth Aliyah waves - or with the support of public companies.
In the summer of 1929, planting began in the Tel Mond orchards. The Agricultural Center implemented its plan and, after negotiations with the company’s management, guaranteed employment in the orchards for members of three workers’ groups preparing to settle nearby.
The “Yizrael” organization, founded in 1924, established Kfar Hess after a long, disappointing wait to settle in the Jezreel Valley. This marked a 180-degree shift, requiring a fundamental change in the members’ orientation, who had grown weary of waiting for help from the national settlement funds.
The Tel Aviv Agricultural Organization originally intended to establish a workers’ neighborhood near Tel Aviv. After various delays, its members withdrew from the urban plan and, following advice from the Agricultural Center, chose to settle in the Tel Mond area.
The “Herut Yehuda” organization, founded in 1927, was among the first to intend from the outset to settle in the orchard regions.
The “Hapoel HaMizrachi” movement had agricultural settlement as a central tenet from its inception. As part of a persistent struggle with the settlement institutions for its members’ right to settle, in 1932 it established the moshav Kfar Yabetz in the Tel Mond bloc.
As the population grew, so did the complexity of its challenges, and the local workers’ council could no longer handle municipal issues - which were marginal to its role and not a primary objective. In a discussion held in early 1935 at the Agricultural Center, with participation from representatives of the Tel Mond Workers’ Council and the bloc’s moshavim, it was agreed that the council - elected by all workers in Tel Mond and the surrounding area - would refocus solely on organizing labor. Municipal needs would be handled by a dedicated committee established by the settlements, with support from the Agricultural Center and the Workers’ Council.
In February 1935, at a meeting of the moshavim’s representatives, the bloc’s first committee was elected, composed of the secretaries of the three moshavim: Kfar Hess, Herut, and Ein Vered. Initially, the committee had no administrative apparatus or structured work plan. It convened only to resolve specific issues as they arose. Its annual budget was 1,200 Palestine pounds, half of which was designated for education.
In 1938, in line with its policy, the Histadrut’s municipal department initiated a meeting in Tel Mond with representatives of local settlements and neighborhoods to explore the idea of establishing a local council. A positive decision was made. Unfortunately, the establishment of the Tel Mond Regional Council dragged on for 11 years (1938–1949), due to opposition from the Melchett and Ziv families, who owned property in the area and held significant influence with the British administration. They opposed the council’s formation for fear of taxation by the new municipal authority.
In a joint meeting of all relevant parties - representatives of the bloc committee, the orchard company, Lord Ziv, and the Ministry of the Interior - a decision was made in the summer of 1949 to establish a regional council for the Tel Mond bloc settlements, in accordance with the Interior Ministry’s framework for regional councils. Initially, the council’s jurisdiction did not include two privately owned tracts, but these were incorporated into the council’s area two years after the ordinance was issued.
On December 11, 1949 (20 Kislev 5710), the ordinance establishing the Tel Mond Regional Council was officially declared. It included the following settlements: Bnei Dror, Herut, Mishmeret, Kfar Yabetz, Kfar Hess, Ein Vered, and the neighborhoods of Kfar Ziv, Shkhunat Yaakov, and Tel Mond.
On November 25, 1951, the council’s name was changed to the Hadar HaSharon Regional Council.
(From: The Museum Archive for the Documentation of Tel Mond; Rina Idan, 1999, “Jewish Settlement in the Central Sharon 1929–1939,” PhD dissertation, Hebrew University)