With the growth of the population - and the resulting increase in challenges - the Workers’ Council could no longer adequately handle municipal issues, which were peripheral to its mission and not a central priority. In a meeting held in early 1935 at the Agricultural Center, with participation from representatives of the Tel Mond Workers’ Council and representatives from the moshavim (cooperative settlements) in the bloc, it was agreed that the elected Workers’ Council, chosen by all workers in Tel Mond and the surrounding area, would once again focus solely on labor organization issues in the Tel Mond bloc. Responsibility for municipal needs would be transferred to a dedicated committee to be established by the settlements, with the support of the Agricultural Center and the Tel Mond Workers’ Council.
At a gathering of representatives from the moshavim in February 1935, the first Bloc Committee was elected, composed of the secretaries of the three moshavim: Kfar Hess, Herut, and Ein Vered. At first, the committee had no organizational infrastructure or formal action plan, and convened only as needed to address specific problems that arose. The committee’s annual budget reached 1,200 Palestine Pounds (L.E.), half of which was allocated to education.
Regular operations began only in the midst of the Arab Revolt (1936–1939), when four members of Ein Vered were murdered on their way to work in nearby citrus groves. A paid secretary was appointed, and responsibility for security matters was transferred to the Bloc Committee in coordination with the local Haganah command. One of the key areas in which the secretary operated - due to the deteriorating security situation on the roads - was the prompt decision to construct roads between the region’s settlements.
Beginning in January 1930, a committee operated within the workers’ “camp” - the shared residence of all workers employed by the Land of Israel Plantation Company. This committee dealt exclusively with labor-related matters. However, as workers’ families began joining them, new needs arose. By the summer of 1930, the committee expanded its activities to include cultural affairs, a health clinic (Kupat Holim), a library, lectures, the establishment of a cooperative store (merkazit), a kindergarten, and a school.
Education was one of the central concerns for the settlers - many of whom already had school-age children after years of waiting to finally settle. It is no surprise, then, that in their later recollections, they noted:
“In the beginning, the veteran organizations created a joint Education Committee.”
This occurred as early as 1932, while some of the groups were still living in the workers’ camp of the Land of Israel Plantation Company. At that time, most affairs were still managed by the joint labor office and the Workers’ Council, which also took care of public services. The goal of the newly formed Education Committee was to establish a unified education system for the children of the three organizations and the neighborhoods of Tel Mond and Kfar Ziv.
Initially, the taxation for education was based on a proportional key - each organization and settlement contributed according to the number of children they had. Later, the model changed to equal payments from all settlements, regardless of the number of children. The educational center was led alternately by a member of the Bloc Committee who received a monthly salary for this role.
The shared elementary school was opened in 1932 and changed locations several times until it was eventually housed in its own building in Kfar Ziv in 1936.
From this, we learn that by the end of 1931, a Workers’ Council had been established. In addition to its function as a trade union body, it took responsibility for a variety of municipal matters: establishing a unified general fund, forming a joint building committee, creating an education and welfare system, and more.
Between 1932 and 1935, the Tel Mond Workers’ Council was the sole body caring for the needs of the settlers in the area, and it was recognized as such by the official institutions of the Yishuv (the Jewish community in pre-state Israel).
Practical cooperation between the various groups in the bloc began around financial matters. Since the Jewish Agency’s treasury was empty, and the organizations had to finance their settlement activities independently, the “Yizrael” Organization, the most veteran among the groups planning to settle in the bloc, established a Loan and Savings Fund. The fund was registered under cooperative law and approved in the Official Gazette.
In May 1933, when the three organizations settled the land in the Tel Mond bloc, a need was felt to create a Loan and Savings Fund that would serve the entire bloc. It was decided to adapt the existing “Yizrael” Organization’s fund for this purpose.
From a small internal fund with limited capital belonging to “Yizrael,” it grew into a wide-ranging financial institution that contributed significantly to the development of the bloc. The fund provided settlers with loans for building farm structures, purchasing livestock, installing plumbing systems, and more.
A dedicated building for the fund was constructed in Tel Mond - the first building established for the Histadrut institutions in the bloc.
(From: The Tel Mond Documentation Museum Archive, Reena Idan, 1999, “Jewish Settlement in the Central Sharon Region Between 1929–1939”, dissertation submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The Hebrew University.)
By Ephraim Ben Ephraim, Former Head of the Council
The Bloc Committee did not emerge out of nowhere. It was preceded in municipal activity by the Tel Mond Workers’ Council, which between 1932 and 1935 was the sole body attending to the needs of all residents in the area and was recognized as such by the institutions of the Yishuv. In the field of education, it supported the regional school, and from the time of its establishment, a joint education committee served the three moshavim - Kfar Hess, Herut, and Ein Vered - until control was later transferred to the regional council.
As the population of the moshavim grew and their shared challenges multiplied, the Workers’ Council could no longer manage municipal affairs, which were secondary to its core mission. There was a clear need to establish a special Bloc Committee to handle the increasing municipal needs. Accordingly, in a meeting of the moshavim in February 1935, held in the workers’ kitchen in the Tel Mond camp, the first Bloc Committee was elected. It consisted of the secretaries of the three moshavim. (At that time, Tel Mond was not yet considered a significant settlement entity.)
Initially, the Bloc Committee had no administrative apparatus. Its members would convene only when necessary to resolve specific issues. Only in 1938, when the Arab Revolt intensified and the violence in the region peaked (with the first casualty being Goldenberg, of blessed memory, and soon after four members of Ein Vered were murdered on their way to work), did the Bloc Committee begin regular operations. A paid secretary was appointed with a salary of 3 Palestine Pounds (L.E.) per month, and responsibility for security matters in the region was transferred to the committee.
In the summer of 1938, it was decided, in coordination with the local Haganah command, that every morning at dawnת before the bus departed for Tel Avivת a team would inspect the road connecting the bloc to the main highway. This was necessary because many lives had been lost due to mines planted by Arab terrorists on the unpaved local roads.
This operation required a monthly expenditure of 30–40 L.E.. The Bloc Committee secretary, recognizing the urgency, personally took responsibility for covering the cost, knowing that a discussion among the moshav committees would take weeks. The necessity of his “authoritative” decision was proven on the very first day, when the inspection team discovered two landmines on the road - preventing a terrible tragedy. (It took a full year before funds were found to cover the cost of detecting and disarming the explosives.)
This incident highlighted the urgent need for road construction, and indeed that same year, roads were built connecting the three moshavim to Tel Mond. Road construction also partially addressed local unemployment. As municipal activity expanded and challenges increased, bloc leaders and Histadrut representatives concluded that ongoing municipal work required the establishment of a recognized and official regional council.
Attorney Bernzon, then head of the Histadrut’s Municipal Affairs Committee, took on the matter and began negotiations with the British Mandate authorities, who showed considerable understanding of the issue.
However, the founding of the regional council was delayed due to opposition from private landowners, who feared heavy taxation from an official institution. To overcome this obstacle, it was agreed to seek ways to reduce tax burdens for several years. In the meantime, negotiations continuedת particularly with British Jews who owned large landholdings and held influence with the authorities, especially the well-known Ziv family. These efforts ceased with the outbreak of World War II.
It is worth noting that until the regional council was established, the British landowners, particularly the Land of Israel Plantation Company and the Ziv family, shared in the expenses of the bloc. The Ziv family even contributed 1,000 British pounds toward the construction of the first regional school building.
By 1945, as World War II ended, the settlements had become economically stable and more cohesive, enabling broader municipal activity. The Bloc Committee already operated with a permanent administration. Around this time, the access road from Tel Mond to the main highway was paved using profits from the “Chama” bakery, which had shifted from being managed by the cooperatives to direct management by the Bloc Committee.
After World War II, the cooperative moshav Bnei Dror and the workers’ moshav Mishmeret were founded with the help of the Bloc Committee.
At the outbreak of the War of Independence in late 1947, the Bloc Committee addressed wartime needs and ensured the supply of essential goods. Arab terrorists were highly active in the region, and the bloc suffered losses in both life and property. The committee established a local border guard that prevented many disasters. However, maintaining dozens of guards created financial difficulties for the Bloc Committee and later for the regional council. Promises of assistance - particularly from Netanya Municipality - were not fulfilled. The harsh economic situation placed a heavy burden on the committee.
With the establishment of the State of Israel, it became possible to officially found a regional council, which was approved by the Ministry of the Interior in 1950 and was named the Hadar Sharon Regional Council.
The council’s extensive activities - such as absorbing new immigrants in Tel Mond and Ein Sarid, integrating new moshavim, paving a network of access and internal roads, establishing a local municipal council in Tel Mond, and many other municipal efforts, form an important chapter in their own right and deserve special attention.