Rehovot

Sister cities

• Rochester
• Paraná
• Albuquerque
• Manchester
• Heidelberg
• Grenoble
• Valjevo
• Bistrița

History

Rehovot was established in 1890 by pioneers of the First Aliyah on the coastal plain near a site called Khirbat Deiran, an "abandoned or sparsely populated" estate, which now lies in the center of the built-up area of the city. According to Marom, Deiran offered "a convenient launching pad for early land purchase initiatives which shaped the pattern of Jewish settlement until the beginning of the British Mandate". In March 1892, a dispute over pasture rights erupted between the residents of Rehovot and the neighboring village of Zarnuqa, which took two years to resolve. Another dispute broke out with the Suteriya Bedouin tribe, which had been cultivating some of the land as tenant farmers. According to Moshe Smilansky, one of the early settlers of Rehovot, the Bedouins had received compensation for the land, but refused to vacate it. In 1893, they attacked the moshava. Through the intervention of a respected Arab sheikh, a compromise was reached, with the Bedouins receiving an additional sum of money, which they used to dig a well. In 1890, the region was an uncultivated wasteland with no trees, houses or water. The moshava's houses were initially built along two parallel streets: Yaakov Street and Benjamin Street, before later expanding, and vineyards, almond orchards and citrus groves were planted, but the inhabitants grappled with agricultural failures, plant diseases, and marketing problems. The first citrus grove was planted by Zalman Minkov in 1904. Minkov's grove, surrounded by a wall, included a guard house, stables, a packing plant, and an irrigation system in which groundwater was pumped from a large well in the inner courtyard. The well was 23 meters deep, the height of an eight-story building, and over six meters in diameter. The water was channeled via…

Most-observed species

• Eurasian Collared-Dove

  Streptopelia decaocto (Frivaldszky, 1838) · Aves
  10,591
• Rock Pigeon

  Columba livia J.F.Gmelin, 1789 · Aves
  10,462
• Hooded Crow

  Corvus cornix Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  10,386
• Common Myna

  Acridotheres tristis (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  10,250
• Graceful Prinia

  Prinia gracilis (Lichtenstein, 1823) · Aves
  9,964
• White-spectacled Bulbul

  Pycnonotus xanthopygos (Hemprich & Ehrenberg, 1833) · Aves
  9,691
• Eurasian Kestrel

  Falco tinnunculus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  9,192
• Laughing Dove

  Spilopelia senegalensis (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  8,793

Most recent

• M 4.1 — 2026-01-15
  14 km S of Arad, Israel
• M 4.1 — 2023-02-07
  Dead Sea region
• M 4.5 — 2020-02-06
  26 km W of Atlit, Israel
• M 4.2 — 2015-07-30
  24 km NNE of ‘En Boqeq, Israel
• M 4.1 — 2011-08-07
  40 km WNW of Sdot Yam, Israel
• M 4 — 2007-12-02
  21 km SE of Mi?pé Yeri?o, Israel