| Beer Ajam بئر عجم |
|
|---|---|
| — Village — | |
| Satanaya: Statue of knowledge | |
|
Beer Ajam
|
|
| Coordinates: | |
| Country | Syria |
| Governorate | Quneitra |
| District | Quneitra District |
| Region | Golan Heights |
| Settled | 1872 |
| Elevation[1] | 942 m (3,091 ft) |
| Population | |
| • Total | 400 |
| Time zone | EET (UTC+2) |
| • Summer (DST) | EEST (UTC+3) |
| Area code(s) | 14 |
Beer Ajam (Arabic: بئر عجم) is a Circassian village in the province of Quneitra in the Syrian-controlled portion of the Golan Heights. It has been inhabited for about 150 years. Its first houses where built in 1872. Its population is of the Abadzekh and Kebertei tribes.
Contents |
The village was abandoned for almost 10 years after the capture of the Golan Heights by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967. The part of the Golan in which the village is located was retaken by Syria after the Yom Kippur War in 1973, however people did not actually come back until the late 1970s.
The government completed construction of new houses in the northern part of the village in 1986 to encourage the population to return. However, half of those houses are still unoccupied. The reconstruction also included another group of villages in the area.
The permanent residents in the village are around 400 Circassian. They are estimated to be only the quarter of what they should be, the rest preferred to stay in the capitol or the Diaspora. 55% Male, female 45%, 40% have access to a computer. The average monthly income of a family is about 300€ (figures lacked precision).
In summer, tourist activity raises significantly, and as a result the population can double or even triple. Many visitors are relatives that come from other villages in the area, including villages in the Israeli-controlled area of the Golan Heights.
More real estate development has taken place recently, and many new business opportunities have been created.
The climate is moderate in the summer, and cold in the winter. The village is surrounded by forests, where oak, Butm, Azaapop, wild peach, and pear trees abound. Wild animals include the fox and jackal, wild pig, wild Gharbra and others, in addition to several types of birds, including the Album, Hoopoe, local swallow, league, and Arur. Animal diversity has been subject to a steady decline, which threatens to eliminate local wildlife completely. There are no clear reasons for this, but it is believed that the decline in area covered by vegetation in addition to the expansion of human activity and the opening of more roads contribute greatly.
Agriculture focused on olive trees, grapes, almonds and lei, the animal production depends on cows, which constitute the source of income for many families. Poultry, sheep, in addition to widespread beekeeping.
|
||||||||||