Katzrin
Hebrew transcription(s)
• Hebrew	קַצְרִין
• ISO 259	Qaçrin
• Also spelled	Katzrin (unofficial)
Logo
Katzrin
Coordinates: 32°59′31″N 35°41′28″E / 32.992°N 35.691°E / 32.992; 35.691Coordinates: 32°59′31″N 35°41′28″E / 32.992°N 35.691°E / 32.992; 35.691
District	North
Government
• Type	Local council
• Head of Municipality	Sammy Bar-Lev[1]
Area
• Total	12,214 dunams (12.214 km2 or 4.716 sq mi)
Population (2010)
• Total	6,700

Katzrin (Hebrew: קַצְרִין‎‎; also Qatzrin) is an Israeli settlement and local council in the Golan Heights.^[2] Known as the "capital of the Golan,"^[3] it is the second-largest locality there after Majdal Shams, and the largest Jewish locality.^[2][4] At the end of 2010, Katzrin had a population of 6,700.^[4] The international community considers Israeli settlements in the Golan Heights illegal under international law, though the Israeli government disputes this.^[5] Despite not being part of its jurisdiction, the seat of the Golan Regional Council is located in Katzrin.

Geography[link]

To the south of Katzrin is the Sea of Galilee, to the north Mount Hermon, and to the west the hills of the Upper Galilee.^[6]

History[link]

Antiquity[link]

The site was occupied from the Middle Bronze Age, continuing into the Iron, Hellenistic and Roman periods.^[7] The most substantial structural remains date from the Late Roman, Byzantine and Early Islamic periods (3rd–4th to mid-8th centuries), when the site was a Jewish village with a synagogue.^[7]

Arab and Mamluk periods[link]

The Jewish settlement served as an important trading location in the region, but started to decline with the change of trading routs after the Islamic conquest. The village was destroyed in an earthquake in 746–749.^[8][9] As a result of the earthquake the location was most probably abandoned by the declining Jewish community.

During the Mamluk period (13th–14th centuries), it was a Muslim village and a mosque was built on the ruins of the synagogue.^[7][8]

Ottoman, French and Syrian rule[link]

In the 1880s, Kisrin, as it was known then, was described as "a small Bedawin winter village, with a group of beautiful oak trees and old ruins".^[10] From the late 19th century to 1967, the village was occupied by Bedouin and a settled population.^[7] Since 1920 and until the independence of Syria in 1944, the area was under the jurdisdiction of the French Mandate.

Israeli rule[link]

Entrance to Katzrin shopping mall

The area was conquered by the Israelis, following the Six Day War in 1967. Modern Katzrin was established in 1977 as a planned urban center for the Golan. In 1981, under the Golan Heights Law, Israel applied Israeli civil law in the Golan Heights (including Katzrin) but this law was internationally condemned and determined null and void by the UN security council.^[11][12][13] Katzrin serves as a district town,^[14] that provides educational, administrative and cultural services to the surrounding region.^[15]

Demography[link]

At the end of the 1980s, a large number of Jews from the former Soviet Union settled in Katzrin. Today, a third of the city’s residents are Jews from Soviet Union and their descendants. Religious educators also moved to Katzrin, establishing a religious day school and a premilitary academy.^[16] Katzrin is divided into five neighborhoods: Gamla, Naveh, Kedma, Afek and Batra.^[15]

Economy[link]

Golan Heights Winery, Katzrin

The Golan Heights Winery is located in Katzrin. In 2008, the large Chinese solar company Suntech Power and Israeli company Solarit Doral built Israel's largest solar power station, a 50 kW rooftop project near the town, and connected it to the electric grid.^[17][18]/The Mey Eden mineral water bottling plant and the Golan Olive Oil Mill are in Katzrin. Golan Olive Oil produces some 50 tons of olive oil which is sold locally and exported. During the olive harvest season, which begins in October, visitors can watch the processing procedure, from crushing to bottling.^[3]

A tourist attraction in Katzrin is the Magic of the Golan, a special effects movie screened at the local mall that depicts the spectacular scenery of the region.^[19]

Education and culture[link]

Ohalo College, a teacher training college, moved to Katzrin in 1988.^[20] In 2010, the college opened a department devoted to sustainable development and renewable energy. Students explore the interrelationship of different renewable energy sources and their impact on the sustainability of development in the Golan and Galilee.^[21] Katzrin has twelve preschools (including three for special needs children); two elementary schools (one religious and one secular) and a comprehensive regional high school Nofey Golan with over 1,000 students.^[15]

Archaeology[link]

Entrance to Talmudic-era synagogue, Katzrin archaeological park

Prior to 1967, the antiquities site on the outskirts of Katzrin was a closed military zone and off limits to archaeological research.^[7] Investigation by Israeli archaeologists commence in 1972.^[7] Katzrin ancient village and synagogue was reconstructed and opened to the public as a "Talmudic village" set in a national park.^[7] The Golan Antiquities Museum in Katzrin houses archeological findings from the region and screens an audiovisual presentation about Gamla, a Jewish town in the Golan Heights that fought the Romans in the 1st century.^[22]

See also[link]

• Oldest synagogues in the world

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Katzrin

• Katzrin town website
• A Renewable Energy Peace Park in the Golan as a Framework to an Israeli-Syrian Agreement

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