Katzrin
Katzrin
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Katzrin

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Katzrin

Katzrin (Hebrew: קצרין; Arabic: قصرين, romanizedQaṣrīn), also Qatzrin, is an Israeli settlement organized as a local council in the Golan Heights. Known as "the capital of the Golan", it is the second-largest locality there after Majdal Shams, and the largest Israeli settlement. It is the seat of Golan Regional Council. In 2023 it had a population of 8,042.

The international community considers Israeli settlements in the Golan Heights illegal under international law, though the Israeli and United States governments dispute this. Since 2019, the United States has recognized that the Golan Heights are under the sovereignty of Israel.

The site was occupied from the Middle Bronze Age, continuing into the Iron Age, the Hellenistic and Roman periods (during the latter it was once destroyed), while 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 called Katzrin.

Katzrin served as an important trading location in the region but started to decline with the change of trading routes after the Islamic conquest of the Levant by Rashidun Caliphate in 634–638 CE. The village was destroyed in the 749 Galilee earthquake, under the Umayyad Caliphate. As a result of the earthquake the declining Jewish population abandoned the location.

During the Mamluk period (13th–14th centuries), it was a Muslim village, and a mosque was built upon the ruins of the synagogue.

In the 1880s, Kisrin, at the east edge of the modern town, was described as "a small Bedawin winter village, with a group of beautiful oak trees and old ruins". From the late 19th century to 1967, the village was occupied by Bedouin and a settled population. Since 1920 and until the independence of Syria in 1944, the area was under the jurisdiction of the French Mandate. The Syrian farm of Fakhoura was just to the north-east and had about 250 inhabitants before its depopulation in 1967.

Katzrin was established in 1977 as a planned urban center for the Golan Heights based on a decision of the Israeli government in November 1973. Construction began in 1976. In 1981, under the Golan Heights Law, Israel applied Israeli civil law in the Golan Heights (including Katzrin). This law was condemned internationally and by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Katzrin serves as a district town, that provides educational, administrative and cultural services to the surrounding region.

To the south of Katzrin is the Sea of Galilee, to the north Mount Hermon, and to the west are the Upper Galilee hills of Israel.

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