Shouting Hill is a hill in the

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 ...

. The hill is located near the

Druze The Druze ( ; , ' or ', , '), who Endonym and exonym, call themselves al-Muwaḥḥidūn (), are an Arabs, Arab Eastern esotericism, esoteric Religious denomination, religious group from West Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic ...

village of

Majdal Shams Majdal Shams (; ) is a predominantly Druze town in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, located in the southern foothills of Mount Hermon. It is known as the informal "capital" of the region. Majdal Shams played a significant role in the Great ...

, in the area of the Golan that is occupied by Israel. During the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...

, Israel captured most of the Golan Heights. Shouting Hill is located close to the Purple Line, a ceasefire line that separates Syrian and Israeli controlled territory. Following the war, the Druze community in the Golan Heights was separated by the ceasefire line. Very few visits are allowed between families on either side of the ceasefire line, as Israel and Syria are still in an official state of war and no telecommunications or mail are allowed across the border. This is what led some families to come to this hill to see and communicate with their relatives on the other side. Because of the distance, the families had to shout their messages through megaphones. MajdalShams ShoutingHill2

With the advent of mobile phones, this practice has declined, except on special occasions like weddings when families particularly feel the need to physically see each other. The hill is located at the foot of

Mount Hermon Mount Hermon ( / ALA-LC: ('Mountain of the Sheikh', ), , ) is a mountain, mountain cluster constituting the southern end of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range. Its summit straddles the Lebanon–Syria border, border between Syria and Lebanon a ...

and is separated from the village of

by a valley. On the Israeli-occupied side, there is a security zone that stretches over the valley next to the village. On the Syrian controlled side, there is a UN observation post which at 1100 meters altitude. The shouting point is 3 km away from the nearest homes of Majdal Shams and 2.5 km away from the border line.

References

External links

Place Mark of the Shouting Hill on Google Earth

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{{Commons category Golan Heights Hills of Asia Landforms of the Golan Heights he:מג'דל שמס#גבעת הצעקות