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22-644: Kibbutz Ein Gev, named after the nearby Arab village Al-Nuqayb , came into being on 6 July 1937 during the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine as a " tower and stockade " settlement, a common debut for many kibbutzim during that era, and quickly established itself as a viable community. The original settlers were immigrants from Czechoslovakia , Germany, Austria, and the Baltic countries . Using intensive cultivation methods, they developed banana plantations. They also fished

44-607: A 2,500-seat concert hall to accommodate the Ein Gev Music Festival, held annually during Passover . Al-Nuqayb Al-Nuqayb was a Palestinian Arab village in the Tiberias Subdistrict . It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War on May 15, 1948. It was located 10 km east across the lake from Tiberias . bordering the Wadi al-Muzaffar and Wadi Samakh. al-Nuqayb was named after

66-408: A small fishing pond. The deserted mosque still stands, and its minaret and marble columns are intact. Five buildings east of the village site are built of black basalt . The railroad station still exist and the name of the village is inscribed on its entrance. There are three more deserted buildings next to the station, as well as the remains of destroyed houses. The area of al-Hamma is mentionned in

88-469: A total of 1,105 dunums of land. The villagers were mostly Muslim and Al-Hamma had a large mosque with a fountain in the front courtyard. During the early part of the 1948 Palestine war , some Palestinian inhabitants of Tiberias fled to Al-Hamma during the unrest in March and April that year. A local leader from Tiberias, Sidqi al Tabari, made "desperate efforts" (according to Israeli sources) to bring

110-607: The 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities , Nuqhaib had a population of 103 Muslims, increasing in the 1931 census to 287 Muslims, in 60 houses. The Kibbutz of Ein Gev was established in 1937, 1,5 km south of the village site. In 1944/1945 , the village had a population of 320 Muslims, with a total of 967 dunams of land. Of this, 131 dunams were irrigated or used for plantations, 797 were used for cereals , while 30 dunams were classified as built-up (urban) land. After

132-523: The 1948 Palestine war , according to the armistice agreements of 1949 Between Israel and Syria , it was determined that a string of villages, including Nuqeib, Al-Hamma , Al-Samra in the Tiberias Subdistrict and Kirad al-Baqqara and Kirad al-Ghannama further north in the Safad Subdistrict , would be included the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between Israel and Syria . The villagers and their property were formally protected by Article V of

154-634: The 749 Golan earthquake , but was rebuilt and used until finally abandoned after the earthquake of 1033 . Al-Hamma appeared in Ottoman tax registers compiled in 1596 under the name of Hammat Jur , in the Nahiyas of Gawr, of the Liwa of Ajloun . It was indicated as empty ( hali ), though taxes were paid on a watermill , in addition to a fixed sum. In 1875, the French explorer Victor Guérin visited

176-550: The Bedouin tribe of 'Arab al-Nuqayb. The village was located on the eastern shore of Lake Tiberias , with the fortress Qal'at al-Hisn located just to the east. In the 1880s most of the village land was purchased by the Bahá'u'lláh , while the villagers continued to farm as tenant farmers . In the 1920s, the land the Bahá'u'lláh had purchased was sold to the JNF . At the time of

198-586: The French Mandate of Syria . Near the present-day village an important archaeological site from the Mesolithic Kebaran culture has been excavated. The Greco-Roman Decapolis city of Sussita /Hippos stood on the hill overlooking the kibbutz. The archaeological site is currently being excavated. The kibbutz operates a holiday resort and a fish restaurant. Agricultural branches include banana plantations and dairy farming. The kibbutz built

220-658: The Tiberias Subdistrict , 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) southeast of Tiberias . It was situated on a narrow salient in the Yarmouk Valley bounded by Syria to the north and Transjordan to the south and east. Al-Hamma was one of the stations on the Jezreel Valley railway , linking the Hejaz Railway to Haifa . It was depopulated twice, once in July 1949, and again between 1949 and 1956. The name indicates

242-454: The 1967 Six-Day War . Due to the fact it was situated in the Israel–Syria demilitarised zone under the 1949 Armistice Agreements , Ein Gev was claimed by Syria as its territory during negotiations for a peace agreement in the 1990s. The Israeli government rejected the claims, as it would have led to Syria having territory west of the 1923 border agreement between Mandatory Palestine and

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264-516: The 2,200 Palestinian inhabitants moved to Syria. The Israeli military thought that the inhabitants of the DMZ remained loyal to Syria and they suspected them of helping Syrian intelligence. Local Jewish settlers and law enforcement suspected the villagers of petty crimes. Morris also notes that Israeli settlers and settlement agencies coveted the land of the local Palestinian Arabs. Until 1951, Israel had never patrolled or occupied al-Hamma. However, in

286-618: The Israeli-Syrian agreement of 20 July that year. However, The people on the Kibbutz were subjected to continual attacks, making farming difficult and forcing the villagers to turn to fishing as their primary form of livelihood. In 1948, the Syrians attacked the kibbutz. Palestinian inhabitants, a total of 2,200 villagers, moved to Syria. Most of the villagers eventually moved to Syria, while some relocated to Sha'ab . In 1992

308-463: The Syrians. The following day, four Israeli planes bombed the police station at Al-Hamma and a Syrian position at Al-Hadid. Two women were killed, and six people reported injured. According to Walid Khalidi , Israel then decided to "drive the villagers out", and proceeded to do so during 1949–1956. He described the village site in 1992: The site has been converted into an Israeli tourist park ( Hamat Gader ), with parking facilities, swimming pools, and

330-418: The citizens back. The people who had fled to al-Hamma from Tiberias were "ordered back and, in fact, returned". According to Morris , many villagers in the area had fled or been expelled to Syria during April and early May 1948. However, on 16 May, the villages came under Syrian control and many inhabitants returned. After the war, according to the armistice agreements of 1949 between Israel and Syria , it

352-521: The nearby Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee). By 1947 it had a population of 450. Situated along a border shared with Syria, Ein Gev was shelled during the Battles of the Kinarot Valley and in other engagements during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War . Shooting incidents remained common for the next nineteen years. These dangers were only eliminated when Israel occupied the neighbouring Golan Heights in

374-462: The presence of hot water springs, as hammah is Arabic for "hot spring". During the Roman Empire it was known as Emmatha. During this period, Al-Hamma belonged to the district of Gadara . Recent excavations have revealed a large Umayyad public building comprising several rooms with mosaic floors, set with red, black and white tesserae . The building seems to have been destroyed by

396-621: The spring of that year, Israel decided to assert its claimed sovereignty over the village. On 4 April that year, the IDF General Staff (ignoring protests from the Northern Command ) sent two patrol vehicles towards the village. Since Israel was not allowed to have soldiers in the DMZ, the patrol was disguised as policemen. In what became known as the Al-Hamma Incident , seven Israeli soldiers were killed by

418-400: The time of the 1931 census , the village had 46 occupied houses and a population of 170 Muslims, 1 Jew and 1 Christian. In 1936, a Lebanese businessman, Sulayman Nasif, was given a concession to develop the local springs, which became a popular place to visit, both for local Palestinians and other Arabs. In the 1945 statistics , the village had a population of 290 Muslims, who cultivated

440-422: The village site was described: "The site is fenced in and covered with thorny grass and various kinds of trees, such as Christ's-thorn trees. Piles of stones and the remains of walls can be seen. Part of the surrounding land is cultivated by the nearby settlement, and the remainder is used as a grazing area by Israelis." Al-Hamma, Tiberias Al-Hamma ( Arabic : الحمّة ) was a Palestinian Arab village in

462-596: The village. In 1905, the Jezreel Valley railway opened, linking Haifa via Samakh and Al-Hamma to the Hejaz Railway at Daraa . In the 1922 census of Palestine , conducted by the British Mandate authorities , Samakh and Al-Hamma were counted together, reaching a total population of 976. Of these, 922 were Muslims , 28 Jews , 1 Baháʼí and 25 Christians ; where the Christians were 6 Orthodox, 1 Roman Catholic, 2 Melkite, 11 Armenian and 5 Anglican. At

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484-435: Was determined that a string of villages, including Al-Hamma, Nuqeib , Al-Samra in the Tiberias Subdistrict , as well as Kirad al-Baqqara and Kirad al-Ghannama further north in the Safad Subdistrict , would be included the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between Israel and Syria . The villagers and their property were formally protected by Article V of the Israeli-Syrian agreement of 20 July that year. However, Israel wanted

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