Galilee Panhandle

The Galilee Panhandle (Hebrew: אצבע הגליל‎, Etzba HaGalil (lit. "Finger of the Galilee"), is an elongated geopolitical area or "panhandle" in northern Israel comprising the northernmost section of the Upper Galilee held by Israel, and the northern Jordan Rift Valley. The Galilee Panhandle incorporates five municipal authorities. [1] Towns in the Galilee Panhandle include Metula and Kiryat Shmona.

Galilee Panhandle region in Israel

Geography
View from Manara cliff
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 territory of the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon to that of 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. N. Blanford, 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". Archived from the original on 2012-09-11. Retrieved 2012-01-27.
  10. Rocket hits Galilee panhandle
  11. Israel claims rocket attack from Lebanon

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