Gamla, also Gamala, was an ancient Jewish town on the Golan Heights. Believed to have been founded as a Seleucid fort during the Syrian Wars, it transitioned into a predominantly Jewish settlement that came under Hasmonean rule in 81 BCE. The town's name reflects its location on a high, elongated ridge with steep slopes resembling a camel's hump.
Hamat Gader is a hot springs site in the Yarmuk River valley, located in an area under Israeli control, near the Golan Heights and the border with Jordan.
Tourism in Israel is a major economic sector and a significant source of national income. Israel offers a plethora of historical and religious sites, beach resorts, natural sites, archaeological tourism, heritage tourism, adventure tourism, and ecotourism. For practical reasons, this article also covers tourism in the West Bank and the Golan Heights, since it is closely interconnected with the mass tourism in Israel. In 2019, Israel saw a record 4.55 million tourist arrivals, with tourism contributing NIS 20 billion to the national economy in 2017.
The Golan Heights, or simply the Golan, is a basaltic plateau at the southwest corner of Syria. It is bordered by the Yarmouk River in the south, the Sea of Galilee and Hula Valley in the west, the Anti-Lebanon mountains with Mount Hermon in the north and Wadi Raqqad in the east. Two thirds of the area has been occupied by Israel following the 1967 Six-Day War and then effectively annexed in 1981 – an action unrecognized by the international community, which continues to consider it Israeli-occupied Syrian territory.
Naaran was an ancient Jewish village dating to the 5th and 6th century CE, located in the modern-day West Bank, in the State of Palestine. Remains of the village have been excavated north-west of Jericho. Naaran is archeologically notable for the mosaic floor of a synagogue, featuring a large zodiac design, which was discovered at the site.
Fiq was a Syrian town in the Golan Heights that administratively belonged to Quneitra Governorate. It sat at an altitude of 349 meters (1,145 ft) and had a population of 2,800 in 1967. It was the administrative center of the Fiq District, the southern district of the Golan. Fiq was evacuated during and after the Six-Day War in June 1967. The Israeli settlement of Kibbutz Afik was built close by.
Kursi is an archaeological site in the Golan Heights containing the ruins of a Byzantine monastery and identified by tradition as the site of Jesus' "Miracle of the Swine". Part of the archaeological site is now an Israeli national park. Kursi takes its name from the Talmudic site. A marble slab with Aramaic text discovered in December 2015 seems to indicate that the settlement had, as of c. 500 CE, a Jewish or Judeo-Christian population.
Yatta, also known as Yattah or Yutta, is a Palestinian city located in the Hebron Governorate of the State of Palestine, in the West Bank, approximately 8 km south of the city of Hebron.
Bnei Yehuda is an Israeli settlement organized as a moshav located in the southern Golan Heights, under the administration of Israel. The moshav was built in 1972 and falls under the municipal jurisdiction of the Golan Regional Council. The international community considers Israeli settlements in the Golan Heights illegal under international law, but the Israeli and the U.S government disputes this. In 2022 its population was 1,152.
Umm el-Qanatir, also spelled Umm el-Kanatir, recent Israeli name Ein Keshatot, is a former ancient Jewish synagogue and archaeological site, located on the Golan Heights, in modern-day Syria, whose main phase is dated to the mid-5th–8th centuries. Excavations have revealed a Roman-period Pagan and later Jewish settlement, who left behind the ruins of a synagogue when they abandoned the town after it being destroyed by the catastrophic 749 earthquake. The archaeological site is located 10 km (6.2 mi) east of the Dead Sea Transform, and 1 km (0.62 mi) southwest of Natur.
The Katzrin ancient village and synagogue (Hebrew: קצרין העתיקה; also Qasrin, Kasrin, from is an open-air museum located in the Golan Heights on the outskirts of the Israeli settlement of Katzrin. It features the partially reconstructed remains of a village from the 4th-8th century CE, that is: mainly from the Byzantine period, but starting from the Late Roman and extending into the Early Muslim era, or in Jewish historiography, the Talmudic period.
The Anim Synagogue is an ancient former Jewish synagogue, located approximately 25 km (16 mi) drive northwest of Arad, in the Yatir Forest, immediately south of the Green Line, in the Southern District of Israel. The ancient synagogue was in use during the 4th–7th centuries CE. The site is recognized as a National Heritage Site of Israel.
Saham al-Jawlan or Saham el-Golan is a Syrian village in the Daraa Governorate, in the Hauran region. It had a population of 6,572 in 2004. Most residents work in the cultivation of cereals, olives and vegetables.
Ancient synagogues in Palestine refers to synagogues and their remains in the Land of Israel/Palestine region, built by the Jewish and Samaritan communities from the time of the Hasmonean dynasty during the Late Hellenistic period, to the Late Byzantine period.
El-Ahmediye also known as el-Hamediyeh or Ammudiya, is a former Syrian village in the central Golan Heights, 15 kilometers southeast of Lake Hula. It was populated during the Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights during the 1967 Six-Day War. The village spread over two low-lying hills surrounded by springs. The Israeli settlement of Qatzrin was established two kilometres to the south. Al-Ahmadiyah's previous inhabitants had predominantly been Turkomans.
Katzrin is an Israeli settlement organized as a local council in the Golan Heights. Known as the "capital of the Golan", it is the second-largest locality there after Majdal Shams, and the largest Israeli settlement. In 2022 it had a population of 7,876. It is the seat of Golan Regional Council.
Horvat Maon/Horvat Ma'on, Arabic: Khirbet Ma'in or Tell Máîn, is an archaeological site in the Hebron Hills, West Bank, rising 863 metres (2,831 ft) above sea level, where the remains of the ancient town of Ma'on have been excavated. The town, now a ruin, is mentioned in the Book of Joshua and the Books of Samuel. It still had a Jewish population during the Roman and Byzantine periods, and a synagogue was discovered there. The site was ultimately abandoned around the time of the Muslim conquest.
The Deir Aziz synagogue is an ancient synagogue dating from the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods, located at the archeological site of Deir Aziz, in the southern Golan Heights, Syria.
Kfar Dvora was a Jewish settlement during the Talmudic period in the upper Gilbon River region, and now archaeological site, located in the Golan Heights, in Syria. At the site, remains of a Jewish settlement, ancient synagogue, a Beth midrash, five inscriptions in Aramaic, one in Greek, and one in Hebrew were discovered, which was a novelty in research, as it indicated the existence of a Beth midrash in the place. Many decorated stones were also found, integrated into secondary construction and scattered in the area. On the ruins of Kfar Dvora, the Syrian village of Daburiya was established, which is currently abandoned. Before the Six-Day War, the village was inhabited by Bedouins of the Na'arna tribe, who made secondary use of the stones from the ancient Jewish settlement for construction purposes. The village is currently located northwest of the settlement of kidmat Tzvi.
Assaliyye synagogue is an ancient Jewish village and synagogue located in the western part of the Golan Heights. The ancient village and synagogue are dated to the Rabbinic period, the 6th century. On the ruins of the ancient village in a later period an Arab settlement was built usig the existing debris.
