Galilee Panhandle

The Galilee Panhandle (Hebrew: אצבע הגליל‎, Etzba HaGalil (lit. "Finger of the Galilee") is a panhandle along the Hula Valley in northern Israel that incorporates five municipal authorities. [1] Towns in the Galilee panhandle include Metula and Kiryat Shmona.

Geography

View of Kiryat Shmona from Mitzpe Liran

The Galilee Panhandle is a narrow strip of land running from the Israel-Lebanon border in the far north to an imaginary line above the Hula Valley in the south.[2]

History

In 1920, the Sykes-Picot Treaty was amended to transfer areas of Jewish settlement from the French Mandate of Lebanon to the British Mandate for Palestine.[3]From April 1924, the area came under British control. [4]An agreement was reached which enabled cultivation on both sides of the border with taxes being distributed between the British and French mandate authorities.[5]The boundary was problematic, strategically and politically, but harnessing water sources in this region was vital for the development of the country. [6]

During Operation Yiftah in April and May 1948, the Arabs living in the Galilee panhandle were expelled by Palmach forces under the command of Yigal Allon.[7][8]

Cross-border raiding [9] and rocket attacks from Lebanon have been an ongoing problem for communities in the Galilee Panhandle.[10]In November 2011, rockets were fired into Israel, landing near the border. The incident was called "a dangerous reminder" of the 34-day war in 2006 against Iranian and Syrian-backed Hezbollah forces in Lebanon.[11]

See also

References

  1. ↑ The Sources of the Jordan River, Humans and Nature
  2. ↑ This is Galilee
  3. ↑ The Seven Villages: Origins and Implications
  4. ↑ An Empire in the Holy Land: Historical Geography of the British Administration in Palestine, 1917-1929, Gideon Biger, St. Martin's Press, New York, 1994, p.181
  5. ↑ An Empire in the Holy Land: Historical Geography of the British Administration in Palestine, 1917-1929, Gideon Biger, St. Martin's Press, New York, 1994, p.58
  6. ↑ An Empire in the Holy Land: Historical Geography of the British Administration in Palestine, 1917-1929, Gideon Biger, St. Martin's Press, New York, 1994, p.274
  7. ↑ Benny Morris, 1948. A History of the First Arab-Israeli War, Yale University Press, 2008, p.161.
  8. ↑ Benny Morris, The Birth Of The Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited, Cambridge University Press, 2004, pp.249-252.
  9. ↑ Peace Building Academy: Lebanon conflict briefing
  10. ↑ Rocket hits Galilee panhandle
  11. ↑ Israel claims rocket attack from Lebanon

Coordinates: 33°12′N 35°36′E / 33.2°N 35.6°E