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The Megiddo Regional Council (Hebrew: מועצה אזורית מגידו) is a regional council in northern Israel. The territory of the regional council is situated mostly on the Menashe Plateau, and partly in the Jezreel Valley. It is bounded by Yokneam Illit in the north, and the Carmel mountain range in the east. About 9600 people live in nine kibbutzim, and four moshavim located in its municipal territory.

The council is named after the ancient city of Megiddo. The remains of this ancient city are located in the proxmimity of kibbutz Megiddo, in the territory of the council.

The Head of the Regional Council is Hanan Erez, a member of kibbutz Hazorea who was elected to office in 2004.

Contents 1 History 2 Culture and Education 3 Ramot Menashe Biosphere Reserve 4 Settlements in the Megiddo Regional Council 5 External links

The Megiddo Regional Council is one of the oldest regional councils in Israel. It was established in 1945, three years before the establishment of the State of Israel. Before 1945, the territory of the council was part of Gush Nahalal, a municipal entity of the British Mandate. The first Head of the Megiddo Regional Council was Avraham Fine from Ein Hashofet.

At the time of its establishment, the council included only 3000 inhabitants from five settlements. It was originally named "Harei Efrayim". The name changed to "Megiddo" in 1952, but this change was officially approved by the State of Israel only in 1954.

The oldest settlement in the council is kibbutz Mishmar Haemek, established in 1926. The youngest settlement is moshav Midrach Oz, established in 1952.

The official emblem of the regional council was designed in 1952 by Leo Platau from Hazorea. It depicts the hills of the region, an ear of wheat, and a lion. The ear of wheat represents the rural and agricultural nature of the council territory. The image of the lion was inspired by a seal, discovered in the ancient city of Megiddo.

There is one high school in the regional council, Megiddo Regional High School, located in kibbutz Ein Hashofet. There are three primary schools: Hatikva in Eliakim, Omarim in Yad Labanim Regional Center, and Plagim in Hazorea. Some students from the settlements in the Megiddo Regional Council attend schools located outside of the council's territory.

The Megiddo Community College (Hebrew: קתדרה עממית מגידו) is an institution for adult education and extracurricular activities, sponsored by the Israeli Ministry of Education. The college offers a variety of classes for both children and adults, including languages, computer skills, art, dance, music, history, Judaism, world religions, and martial arts. The college also organizes educational field trips for adults.

The Megiddo Dance School (Hebrew: אולפנה למחול מגידו) works to nurture the art of dance in the settlements of the Megiddo Regional Council. The school offers dance classes in the schools of the area, and works to involve dance in the lives of disabled students.

The Megiddo Music School (Hebrew: אולפנה למוזיקה מגידו) offers practical and theoretical music classes to students in the schools of the regional council, including classical music, modern music, theory of music, and voice lessons.

84 million square meters of the 170 million of the Megiddo Regional Council constitute a nature reserve, including forested areas, various water sources, volcanic hills and archaeological sites. The park is currently in the process of becoming recongized by UNESCO as a biosphere reserve.

Kibbutzim

• Dalia
• Ein Hashofet
• Galed
• Givat Oz
• Hazorea
• Megiddo (kibbutz)
• Mishmar Haemek
• Ramat Hashofet
• Ramot Menashe

Moshavim

• Ein Haemek
• Eliakim
• Midrach Oz
• Yokneam Moshava

• Official website (Hebrew only)

Regional councils of Israel

Abu Basma | Al-Batuf | Beer Tuvia | Bet Shean Valley | Bnei Shimon | Brenner | Bustan al-Marj | Central Arava | Drom HaSharon | Ef'al | Eshkol | Lower Galilee | Upper Galilee | Gan Rave | Gederot | Gezer | Gilboa | Golan | Gush Etzion | Har Hebron | Hefer Valley | Hevel Eilot | Hevel Modi'in | Hevel Yavne | Hof Ashkelon | Hof HaCarmel | Hof HaSharon | Jezreel Valley | Northern Jordan Valley (Emek Hayarden) | Southern Jordan Valley (Biq'at Hayarden) | Lachish | Lev HaSharon | Lod Valley | Ma'ale Yosef | Mateh Asher | Matte Binyamin | Mateh Yehudah | Megiddo | Megilot Dead Sea | Menashe | Merchavim | Merom HaGalil | Mevo'ot HaHermon | Misgav | Nachal Soreq | Ramat Negev | Sha'ar HaNegev | Sdot Negev (Azata) | Shafir | Shomron | Tamar | Yoav | Zevulun

North District
Cities	Afula | Acre (Akko) | Bet She'an | Karmiel | Kiryat Shmona | Ma'alot-Tarshiha | Migdal HaEmek | Nahariya | Nazareth | Nazareth Illit | Safed | Sakhnin | Shagor | Shefa-'Amr (Shfar'am) | Tamra | Tiberias
Local councils	Abu Sinan | Ajar | Arrabe | Basmat Tiv'on | Beit Jann | Bir al-Maksur | Bu'eine Nujeidat | Buq'ata | Deir Hanna | Dvorya | Eilabun | Ein Knaya | Ein Mahal | Fassuta | Ghajar | Hurfeish | Hazor HaGelilit | I'billin | Iksal | Ilut | Judeide-Makr | Julis | Ka'abiyye-Tabbash-Hajajre | Kabul | Kafar Kanna | Kaokab Abu al-Hija | Katzrin | Kfar Kama | Kfar Manga | Kfar Tavor | Kfar Vradim | Kfar Yasif | Kineret | Kisra-Sumei | Maghar | Ma'ilya | Majdal Shams | Mas'ada | Mashhad | Mazra'a | Metula | Mevo Hama | Migdal | Nahf | Peki'in | Ra'ama | Reineh | Ramat Yeshi | Rosh Pinna | Sajur | Sha'ab | Shelomi | Shibli-Umm al-Janam | Tuba-Zangariyye | Tur'an | Yafi'a | Yanuh-Jat | Yavne'el | Yesod HaMa'ala | Yirka | Zarzir
Regional councils	Al-Batuf | Bet Shean Valley | Bustan al-Marj | Northern Jordan Valley (Emek Hayarden) | Gilboa | Golan | Jezreel Valley | Lower Galilee | Upper Galilee | Ma'ale Yosef | Mateh Asher | Megiddo | Merom HaGalil | Mevo'ot HaHermon | Misgav