moshava

thumb|Gedera, before 1899 thumb|Yokneam Moshava|Yokneam (moshava) thumb|Yavne'el (moshava) A moshava (, plural: moshavot , colony) was a form of agricultural Jewish settlement in the region of Palestine (now Israel), established by the members of the Old Yishuv beginning in the late 1870s and during the first two waves of Jewish Zionist immigration – the First and Second Aliyah.

==History== In a moshava, as opposed to later communal settlements like the kibbutz and the moshav (plural moshavim), all the land and property are privately owned. The first moshavot were established by the members of the Jewish community already living in, and by pioneers of the arriving to, Ottoman Syria. The economy of the early moshavot was based on agriculture and resembled the grain-growing villages of eastern Europe in layout. Farms were established along both sides of a broad main street. thumb|Map of old moshavot Petah Tikva, nicknamed the "Mother of Moshavot" (Em HaMoshavot), was founded in 1878 by members of the Old Yishuv, as well as Gai Oni, which later became Rosh Pinna with the arrival of the First Aliyah. The first four moshavot of the First Aliyah period were Rishon LeZion, Rosh Pinna, Zikhron Ya'akov and Yesud HaMa'ala.