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The Shebaa Farms, also spelled Sheba'a Farms, is a small strip of land at the intersection of the Lebanese–Syrian border and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The territory is named for the farms within it which were historically tended by the inhabitants of the Lebanese town of Shebaa. It is about 11 kilometres (7 mi) long and 2.5 kilometres (2 mi) wide.
The Battle of the Yarmuk was a major battle between the army of the Byzantine Empire and the Arab Muslim forces of the Rashidun Caliphate. The battle consisted of a series of engagements that lasted for six days in August 636, near the Yarmouk River, along what are now the borders of Syria–Jordan and Syria-Israel, southeast of the Sea of Galilee. The result of the battle was a crushing Muslim victory that ended Roman rule in Syria for about seven centuries. The Battle of the Yarmuk is regarded as one of the most decisive battles in military history, and it marked the first great wave of early Muslim conquests after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, heralding the rapid advance of Islam into the then-Christian/Roman Levant.
Golan is the name of a biblical town later known from the works of Josephus and Eusebius. Archaeologists localize the biblical city of Golan at Sahm el-Jaulān, a Syrian village east of Wadi ar-Ruqqad in the Daraa Governorate, where early Byzantine ruins were found. Israeli historical geographer, Zev Vilnay, tentatively identified the town Golan with the Goblana (Gaulan) of the Talmud which he thought to be the ruin ej-Jelêbîne on the Wâdy Dabûra, near the Lake of Huleh, by way of a corruption of the site's original name.
The Northern District is one of Israel's six administrative districts. The Northern District has a land area of 4,478 km2, which increases to 4,638 km2 when both land and water are included. The district capital is Nof HaGalil and the largest city is Nazareth.
The Yarmuk River is the largest tributary of the Jordan River. It runs in Jordan, Syria and Israel, and drains much of the Hauran plateau. Its main tributaries are the wadis of 'Allan and Ruqqad from the north, Ehreir and Zeizun from the east. Although it is narrow and shallow throughout its course, at its mouth it is nearly as wide as the Jordan, measuring thirty feet in breadth and five in depth. The once celebrated Matthew Bridge used to cross the Yarmuk at its confluence with the Jordan.
Geshur was a territory in the ancient Levant mentioned in the early books of the Hebrew Bible and possibly in several other ancient sources, located in the region of the modern-day Golan Heights. Some scholars suggest it was established as an independent city-state from the middle of the tenth century BCE, maintaining its autonomy for about a century until it was annexed in the third quarter of the ninth century by Hazael, the king of Aram-Damascus.
The United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) is a United Nations peacekeeping mission tasked with maintaining the ceasefire between Israel and Syria in the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The mission was established by United Nations Security Council Resolution 350 on 31 May 1974, to implement Resolution 338 (1973) which called for an immediate ceasefire and implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 242.
The Golan Heights, or simply the Golan, is a region in the Levant spanning about 1,800 km2 (690 sq mi). The region defined as the Golan Heights differs between disciplines: as a geological and biogeographical region, the term refers to a basaltic plateau bordered by the Yarmouk River in the south, the Sea of Galilee and Hula Valley in the west, the Anti-Lebanon with Mount Hermon in the north and Wadi Raqqad in the east. As a geopolitical region, it refers to the border region captured from Syria by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967; the territory has been occupied by the latter since then and was subject to a de facto Israeli annexation in 1981. This region includes the western two-thirds of the geological Golan Heights and the Israeli-occupied part of Mount Hermon.
The Quneitra Crossing is a border crossing through the purple ceasefire line into the UNDOF controlled area between the Syrian controlled and the Israeli-occupied portion of the Golan Heights. It is on the southwestern outskirts of Quneitra, and not far from the Israeli settlement of Ein Zivan in the Golan Heights. Syrian Druze from the Golan Heights are permitted to cross through the passage to study, work and live in Syria proper. The crossing is also used for the transfer of apples grown by Druze farmers under the auspices of the Red Cross. The only concrete guard post along the ceasefire line is at the Quneitra crossing.
The Paulet–Newcombe Agreement or Paulet-Newcombe Line, was a 1923 agreement between the British and French governments regarding the position and nature of the boundary between the Mandates of Palestine and Iraq, attributed to Great Britain, and the Mandate of Syria and Lebanon, attributed to France. The 1923 line defined the border of Mandatory Palestine from the Mediterranean up to Al-Hamma, Tiberias. The 1920 line defined, in less detail, the border of the French Mandate for Syria and Lebanon from the Mediterranean up to Jeziret-ibn-Omar.
The modern borders of Israel exist as the result both of past wars and of diplomatic agreements between the State of Israel and its neighbours, as well as an effect of the agreements among colonial powers ruling in the region before Israel's creation. Only two of Israel's five total potential land borders are internationally recognized and uncontested, while the other three remain disputed; the majority of its border disputes are rooted in territorial changes that came about as a result of the 1967 Arab–Israeli War, which saw Israel occupy large swathes of territory from its rivals. Israel's two formally recognized and confirmed borders exist with Egypt and Jordan since the 1979 Egypt–Israel peace treaty and the 1994 Israel–Jordan peace treaty, while its borders with Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories remain internationally defined as contested.
Highway 98 is the primary north-south highway on the Israeli side of the Golan Heights. It is shaped like an archer's bow, and it runs parallel to the ceasefire line with Syria. The route runs from Tzemah junction south of the Kinneret, first through the Yarmuk valley, then it rises up a steep slope into the Golan Heights and crosses it until it reaches the lowest cable-car station on Mount Hermon. There it meets Route 999. Highway 98 is steep compared to the other highways in Israel, rising from 210 meters below sea level at the Kinneret to 1600 meters above sea level on the Hermon.
The Yarmukian culture was a Pottery Neolithic A (PNA) culture of the ancient Levant. It was the first culture in prehistoric Syria and one of the oldest in the Levant to make use of pottery. The Yarmukian derives its name from the Yarmuk River, which flows near its type site of Sha'ar HaGolan, near Kibbutz Sha'ar HaGolan at the foot of the Golan Heights. This culture existed alongside the Lodian, or Jericho IX culture and the Nizzanim culture to the south.
Water politics in the Jordan River basin refers to political issues of water within the Jordan River drainage basin, including competing claims and water usage, and issues of riparian rights of surface water along transnational rivers, as well as the availability and usage of ground water. Water resources in the region are scarce, and these issues directly affect the five political subdivisions located within and bordering the basin, which were created since the collapse, during World War I, of the former single controlling entity, the Ottoman Empire. Because of the scarcity of water and a unique political context, issues of both supply and usage outside the physical limits of the basin have been included historically.
Israel–Syria relations refer to the bilateral ties between the State of Israel and the Syrian Arab Republic. The two countries have been locked in a perpetual war since the establishment of Israel in 1948, with their most significant and direct armed engagements being in the First Arab–Israeli War in 1948–1949, the Third Arab–Israeli War in 1967, and the Fourth Arab–Israeli War in 1973. Additionally, Israeli and Syrian forces also saw relatively extensive combat against each other during the Lebanese Civil War, the 1982 Lebanon War, as well as the War of Attrition. Both states have at times signed and held armistice agreements, although all efforts to achieve complete peace have been without success. Syria has never recognized Israel as a legitimate state and does not accept Israeli passports as legally valid for entry into Syrian territory; Israel likewise regards Syria as a hostile state and generally prohibits its citizens from travelling there, with some exceptions and special accommodations being made by both countries for Druze people residing in Syria and the Golan Heights. Israel and Syria have never established formal diplomatic relations since the inception of both countries in the mid-20th century.
Château Golan is an Israeli winery established in 1999, and is one of Israel's most extravagant. It is located in the southern Golan Heights, near the point where the Yarmuk River and wadi Ruqqad meet.
The Lebanon–Syria border is 394 km in length and runs from the Mediterranean coast in the north to the tripoint with Israel in the south.
The Jordan–Syria border is 362 km in length and runs from the tripoint with Israel in the west to the tripoint with Iraq in the east.
The Yehudiya Reserve is a nature reserve in the central Golan Heights. With the area of 134 sq. km, it is the largest reserve in the Golans. The height differential of its landscape - from 200 meters below the sea level to 600 meters above - provides for high waterfalls. It is named after the ancient village of Yehudiya, one of many archaeological sites located within the reserve. Due to the varied scenery of streams, gorges with waterfalls, woodlands, rich wildlife, and volcanic basalt landscape it is a popular tourist destination in Israel.
References
- ↑ Toponymy, monuments, historical geography and frontier studies, Volume 21. Dumbarton Oaks. 2002. p. 88. ISBN 0-88402-284-6.
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