Page 83 - A Walk to Caesarea / Joseph Patrich

A Walk to Caesarea: A Historical-Archaeological Perspective 69

the land acquired by Sir Edmond Benjamin James de Rothschild, the “Renowned
Benefactor”. In 1921 the Rothschild family transferred it to ICA (in English: the
Jewish Colonization Association) with a lease agreement of one hundred years. In
1924, PICA (in English: Palestine Jewish Colonization Association), which had
been founded a year earlier, resumed the administration of the land. At the same
time the Bosnian settlement dwindled and part of its inhabitants moved to Haifa
and Tulkarem. Initially, the PICA land was leased to Arabs who moved to Caesarea
to live in houses rented from the Bosnians. Later on, on 2 May 1940, kibbutz Sdot
Yam was founded south of the Roman theater (which at that time had not yet
been excavated), on land received from PICA, with the aim of working in fishing
and agriculture. In 1948, with the establishment of the State of Israel, most of the
PICA land was transferred to the state. Until then, the Bosnians and the Arabs
lived in the Crusader city. Afterwards, part of them moved to Baqa al-Gharbiyya,
while others went to various settlements in Judea and Samaria and in Jordan as
well as to H. adera.