Upper Galilee Introduction

The Upper Galilee is a small region which is its size is around 180 square miles (460 Square KM). The summits of the mountains in the Upper Galilee reached to 1060 meters above sea level. It snows every year for 1-2 days.

The Upper Galilee was settled by the Hebrews since they entered the promised land. In the Judges period (1200-1000 BC) it was the land of the Naphtali tribe and the Asher tribe. In the First Temple time (1000- 586 BC) , the Dan tribe joined them, probably he couldn't handle the strong Philistines on the coastal plain (Around Jaffa).

These Hebrews settlements were destroyed by the Assyrians in 722BC (King Seragon The Second) and the 10 tribes were exiled from the North Side of the country by the Assyrians.

After that the Upper Galilee region was captured by Samaritans (Came from Perth area- Turkey today) and Amon tribe (came from Jordan today) for around 200 years. It was resettled by Jews, which came back to the Promised Land from Babylon (536 BC- Second Temple time). In that time, they turned the Samaritans and the Amons to enemies.

 

In the second Temple time (516 BC - 70 AD), the Jewish Settlement in the Upper Galilee Increased.

After the destruction of the Second Temple (70 Ad), the number of the Jews which lived in the Upper Galilee had shrunk. In 749 AD there was a very severe earthquake that destroyed the last Jews villages.

In the 12 century, the Crusaders built, on the Upper Galilee, farms and fortresses in order to use the water sources and the fertilized soil, for growing Olive trees and Sugar.

 

In the 16th Century, Jews came to the Upper Galilee, mainly to a small Town named Safed, and established there the KABALA movement. Safed is considered today as the world center of KABALA learning and Art.

In the end of the 19th century the Jews came back to settle in farms and Villages in the Upper galilee. It was a pretty rough time for them, due to international conflict between two colonialist countries - France and England, which divided the Middle East between them (Sykes Picot agreement). The Arabs supported the French, and were against the British (Jew's patrons in this area). The Upper galilee was the border between the influence of the French and the British. Therefore, the Jews suffered a lot from Arab attacks till the end of our The War of Independence (1949).