'שומר החומות האחרון של הכפר העיברי הראשון': יצחק בן-צבי ויהודי פקיעין

According to its traditions, the Jewish community in the Galilee village of Peqi'in lived there without interruption since the Second Temple period. After Druze, Muslims, and Christians settled there from the eleventh century onwards, the Jews dwindled into minority status. Ben-Zvi first visited Peqi'in in 1922 and forged a firm bond with its Jewish farmers. He saw them as a symbol of Jewish continuity in the Land of Israel and the Zionist settlement as the direct continuation of the ancient Jewish presence. The Peqi'in Jewish community must not be allowed to disappear precisely when the Jews were returning to their land. To protect and cultivate the community, he established a public committee, raised funds, devised plans, and worked energetically. For various reasons, however, nothing came of his efforts. After 1938, one Jewish family remained in Peqi'in. In 1955 Ben-Zvi, by then President of Israel, spearheaded the establishment of the adjacent moshav New Peqi'in. The article reviews the annals of the last community of Arabized Jews in the country and highlights the limited cooperation that Ben-Zvi enjoyed from various agencies in the Zionist establishment, which did not attach nearly as much importance to the community's survival as did Ben-Zvi.