Odem ( or ) is an

Israeli settlement Israeli settlements, or Israeli colonies, are civilian communities inhabited by Israeli citizens, overwhelmingly of Jewish ethnicity, built on lands occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. The international community considers Israeli se ...

and moshav shitufi in the northern part of the

Golan Heights The Golan Heights ( ar, هَضْبَةُ الْجَوْلَانِ, Haḍbatu l-Jawlān or ; he, רמת הגולן, ), or simply the Golan, is a region in the Levant spanning about . The region defined as the Golan Heights differs between di ...

. Located on Mount Odem, at a height of

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

, it is the second-highest town in Israel and the

Israeli-occupied territories Israeli-occupied territories are the lands that were captured and occupied by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967. While the term is currently applied to the Palestinian territories and the Golan Heights, it has also been used to refer to a ...

. It is surrounded by the

Odem Forest Odem ( or ) is an Israeli settlement and moshav shitufi in the northern part of the Golan Heights. Located on Mount Odem, at a height of above sea level, it is the second-highest town in Israel and the Israeli-occupied territories. It is su ...

and falls under the jurisdiction of

Golan Regional Council Golan Regional Council ( he, מועצה אזורית גולן, ar, مجلس الجولان الإقليمي) is a regional council that supervises regional services to Israeli settlements located on the Golan Heights. It is made up of 18 moshav ...

. In it had a population of . The international community considers Israeli settlements in the Golan Heights illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.

Etymology

''Odem'' means ''

ruby A ruby is a pinkish red to blood-red colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum ( aluminium oxide). Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sa ...

'' and signifies the

red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...

color. In this case it refers to the color of the

rocks In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks form the Earth's ...

of Mount Odem, an extinct

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are ...

History

The Israeli government approved the establishment of the settlement in 1975, and a group of young people occupied an abandoned

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

n military base nearby. Most of these original settlers left, however, because of the frigid temperatures and strong winds. Those that remained were joined in 1981 by a new group, and the current settlement was established. The population was about 150 in 1993, about one-third of them children.

Economy

The chief industries are a factory that manufactures

plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...

for furniture and an

optics Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultraviole ...

factory that manufactures protective lenses and safety goggles. Odem Mountain Winery is also located there.

References

Israeli settlements in the Golan Heights Moshavim Golan Regional Council Populated places in Northern District (Israel) Populated places established in 1975 1975 establishments in the Israeli Military Governorate {{Israel-geo-stub

Etymology

History

Economy

See also

References