[1] An ancient burial cave near Ilaniya displays a red-painted menorah on one wall, with above it, indistinct letters in Jewish script that remain unexamined.

[2] The agricultural colony of Sejera, later Ilaniya, was established in 1900-1902 on land purchased by Baron Edmond James de Rothschild which was transferred to the management of the Jewish Colonization Association (JCA/ICA) in 1899.

[3] The small settlement founded by JCA had two sections, a sharecroppers' colony for more experienced farmers, and a training farm for unskilled workers.

Unwilling to run their project as a charity organisation in the style of Baron de Rothschild, the JCA leaders in Paris expected the training farm to be self-sufficient and to generate profit.

In 1907-1908, a socialist commune led by Manya Wilbushewitch and Israel Shochat was contracted to run the farm autonomously for one year, without administrative interference.

The eighteen commune members, young men and women from Sejera and elsewhere in Palestine, aided by a number of sympathisers, managed for the first time to generate a profit and ensure constant employment for all workers of Sejera (with the side effect that outside Arab workers were no longer needed), while also pioneering full equality for women.