Kanaf () is an

Israeli settlement Israeli settlements, also called Israeli colonies, are the civilian communities built by Israel throughout the Israeli-occupied territories. They are populated by Israeli citizens, almost exclusively of Israeli Jews, Jewish identity or ethni ...

in the southern

Golan Heights The Golan Heights, or simply the Golan, is a basaltic plateau at the southwest corner of Syria. It is bordered by the Yarmouk River in the south, the Sea of Galilee and Hula Valley in the west, the Anti-Lebanon mountains with Mount Hermon in t ...

, organized as

moshav shitufi A moshav shitufi (, lit. ''collective moshav'', pl. ''moshavim shitufiim'') is a type of cooperative State of Israel, Israeli village, whose organizational principles place it between the kibbutz and the moshav on the scale of cooperation. Ideolo ...

, under the administration of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. One of four Golan settlements that overlook the

Sea of Galilee The Sea of Galilee (, Judeo-Aramaic languages, Judeo-Aramaic: יַמּא דטבריא, גִּנֵּיסַר, ), also called Lake Tiberias, Genezareth Lake or Kinneret, is a freshwater lake in Israel. It is the lowest freshwater lake on Earth ...

, it falls under the jurisdiction of

Golan Regional Council Golan Regional Council (, ) is a regional council that supervises regional services to Israeli settlements located on the Golan Heights. It is made up of 18 moshavim, 10 kibbutzim, and 4 community settlements. The council headquarters is in the ...

. The settlement began to be populated in 1991, and had a population of in . The international community considers Israeli settlements in the Golan Heights illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.

History

The establishment of Kanaf was approved by the government in the summer of 1984. In April 1985, members of the settlement group moved to a temporary site at Moshav Eliad for six years. In 1991, they moved to a permanent location near Mazra'at Kanaf (the site of a farm that had about 160 inhabitants when depopulated in 1967). Some of the residents were veterans of the

Israeli Navy The Israeli Navy (, ''Ḥeil HaYam HaYisraeli'', ; ) is the Israel Defense Forces#Arms, naval warfare service arm of the Israel Defense Forces, operating primarily in the Mediterranean Sea theater as well as the Gulf of Eilat and the Red Sea th ...

Ancient synagogue

Near Kanaf, on the west bank of the Kanaf River, are the remains of a Byzantine-era

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

. Called the Dir Aziz synagogue, it was first described by Laurence Oliphant in 1885. In his report were details of an extant three-meter-high wall, but it is believed to have collapsed in a 1920 earthquake. Features of the synagogue that have survived include a basalt stone floor, remains of eight pillars, and three benches. Archeologists recovered hundreds of Byzantine coins from beneath the floor of the synagogue. Olive presses, s cemetery and what may be a pottery workshop were documented in surveys of the site. In 1998–2004, excavation of the synagogue uncovered a unique basilica structure, an apse and a magnificent bimah. The synagogue is unlike other Golan Heights synagogues in that when the worshipers faced south they were facing the structure's long wall rather than its wide one. In that regard, the synagogue shares a feature common to synagogues in the southern

Hebron Hills The Hebron Hills, also known as Mount Hebron (, ), are a mountain ridge, geographic region, and geologic formation, constituting the southern part of the Judaean Mountains, Judean Mountains. The Hebron Hills are located in the southern West Ban ...

References

{{Authority control Israeli settlements in the Golan Heights Golan Regional Council Moshavim Populated places in Northern District (Israel) Populated places established in 1985 1985 establishments in the Israeli Civil Administration area Sea of Galilee

History

Ancient synagogue

See also

References