Galilee
Galilee (
hagalil,
al-jaleel), meaning "circuit", is a large area overlapping with much of the
North District of
Israel. It is traditionally divided into three regions:
* The Upper Galilee,
* The Lower Galilee
* The Western Galilee
Galilee embraces more than one-third of present-day
Israel, extending "from Dan on the north, at the base of
Mount Hermon, to the ridges of Carmel and Gilboa on the south, and from the Jordan valley on the east away across the splendid plains of Jezreel and
Akko to the shores of the
Mediterranean on the west."
The Western Galilee, also called the "Northern Coastal Plain" strays from north of Haifa up to
Rosh Hanikra in the border between
Israel and
Lebanon.
The Lower Galilee strays from
Mount Carmel and
Gilboa ridge in the south to the
Beit HaKerem Valley in the north. Its eastern border is the
Jordan River.
The Upper Galilee strays from
Beit HaKerem Valley in the south to the Lebanese border in the north. Its eastern border is the
Sea of Galilee and the mountains of the
Golan Heights. The "Finger of the Galilee" (
Etzba ha-Galil) is a region of the upper Galilee and contains the towns
Metula and
Qiriyat Shemona and the rivers of
Dan and
Banias.
Most of the Galilee consists of mountainous terrain, at heights of about 500-700 meters. There are several high mountain such as
Mount Tabor and
Mount Meiron. The relatively low tempartures and the large amounts of rain pouring every year made the Galilee a center of
blossom and wildlife. The streams and waterfalls (mainly in the upper Galilee), along with vast fields of green and colorful flowers make it a popular tourist attraction in
Israel.
According to legend,
Solomon rewarded
Hiram for certain services rendered him by the gift of an upland plain among the mountains of
Naphtali. Hiram was dissatisfied with the gift, and called it "the land of Cabul". The Jews called it
Galil. During the
Hasmonaean period, in the midst of the decline of the
Seleucid Empire, the region was taken over by the Jews.
In Roman times, the region was divided into
Judea,
Samaria, and Galilee, which comprised the whole northern section of the country, and was the largest of the three.
Herod Antipas, son of
Herod the Great, ruled Galilee as
tetrarch during
Jesus' ministry.
Galilee has been the scene of some of the most memorable events of Jewish history. Galilee also was the home of
Jesus during at least thirty years of his life. The first three Gospels of the
New Testament are chiefly taken up with Jesus' public ministry in this province, namely in the villages of
Nazareth and
Capernaum.
In
135, following the failed
Bar Kokhba revolt, the Romans renamed the province of
Judaea as
Palaestina, in an attempt to remove all memory of the Jews' connection to the area.
After the
Arab caliphate took control of the region in
638, it became part of the
jund of
Urdunn (Jordan). The
Shia Fatimids took the region in the 900s; a breakaway sect, venerating the Fatimid caliph
al-Hakim, formed the
Druze religion, centered in and north of the Galilee.
During the
Crusades, Galilee was organized into the
Principality of Galilee, one of the most important Crusader seigneuries.
In the early
20th century, the Galilee was inhabited by
Arabs,
Druzes and minorities such as
Circassians and
Jews. The Jewish population was increased significantly by
Zionist immigration.
After the
1948 Arab-Israeli war the entire Galilee came under Israel's control. A large portion of the population fled, leaving entire villages empty; however, more
Palestinians remained than in most areas, due especially to a successful rapprochement with the
Druze. The
kibbutzim around the
Sea of Galilee were sometimes shelled by the
Syrian army's
artillery. The shelling stopped after
Israel conquered the
Golan Heights in
1967.
During the
1970's and the early
1980's, the
PLO sometimes launched attacks on towns of the Upper and Western Galilee from
Lebanon. Israel initiated
Operation Litani (
1979) and
Operation Peace For Galilee (
1982) with the stated objectives of destroying the PLO infrastructure in
Lebanon and protects the citizens of the Galilee. Israel remained in occupation of most of Southern Lebanon until
1985; in
1985 Israel withdrew to a narrow security "buffer zone" (in Hebrew,
רצועת ×"בטחון , "Retzuat ha-Bitachon", literally "security strip").
Until the year
2000,
Hezbollah (and earlier
Amal) continued to fight the
Israeli Defence Forces, sometimes shelling Upper Galilee communities and towns with
Katyusha rockets). In May
2000,
Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak unilaterally withdrew IDF troops from southern Lebanon, maintaining a security force on the Israeli side of the international border recognized by the
UN. However, clashes between Hezbollah and Israel continued along the border, and UN observers condemned both for their attacks. Hezbollah claims that the
Shebaa Farms, located on the border of the Golan Heights and Lebanon, is Israeli-occupied Lebanon, while Israel and the UN claim that the Shebaa Farms are part of the Syrian
Golan Heights.
Despite the call for disarming Lebanese militias per the 2004
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1559, the armed wing of Hezbollah continued to build its strength and become entrenched throughout southern Lebanon. In mid-July 2006, its incursion into Israel to attack an IDF patrol, during which two soldiers were abducted and taken into Lebanon, provoked an Israeli response that rapidly developed into
ongoing warfare, characterized by round-the-clock Katyusha rocket attacks (with a greatly extended range) by Hezbollah on the entire Galilee, with long-range ground-launched missiles purportedly supplied by
Iran via
Syria, hitting as far south as the
Sharon plain,
Jezreel Valley, and
Jordan Valley below the
Sea of Galilee, prompting Israeli air and offshore naval strikes on Hezbollah supply lines throughout Lebanon,with tragic loss of life and extensive damage to buildings and infrastructure on both sides. As Hezbollah fighters and rocket launchers were positioned throughout the civilian population of southern Lebanon and the cities of
Beirut and
Tyre, IDF ground troops entered Lebanon in a move to neutralize the threat on Israel's northern border. The UN Security Council's attempt to broker a ceasefire has as yet to yield results.
Modern Galilee is one of the few areas of Israel to have retained a large
Arab population after
1948, and has a particularly large number of
Druze. The "heart of the Galilee" - the districts of Carmel, Upper Nazareth, Ma'alot, Migdal Ha'emek and Afula - has an Arab majority of 78%[
1], despite
Jewish Agency efforts to change the demographic balance.
Its main cities are
Akko (Acre),
Nahariya,
Nazareth,
Safed (Tzfat),
Karmiel,
Afula,
Qiryat Shemona and
Tiberias. The city of
Haifa, although outside the Galilee serves as an administrational and commercial center for the Galilee.
Because of its mountainous terrain most of the settlements in the Galilee are small villages. The main industries of those villages are
agriculture and
tourism. Many families run a "
Zimmer" (a popular name for a Bed & Breakfast in Israel) for rent.
*
North District, Israel*
Sea of Galilee (also known as
Yam Kinneret,
Sea of Tiberias)
*
Golan Heights*
Mount Hermon*
Golan Heights Law* Initial text from Easton's Bible Dictionary, 1897. Please update as needed
