Odem ( or ) is an
Israeli settlement and
moshav shitufi
A moshav shitufi ( he, מושב שיתופי, lit. ''collective moshav'', pl. ''moshavim shitufiim'') is a type of cooperative Israeli village, whose organizational principles place it between the kibbutz and the moshav on the scale of cooperation ...
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, 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 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 ...
'' 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 (geology), crust of a Planet#Planetary-mass objects, planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and volcanic gas, gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
On Ear ...
.
History
The Israeli government approved the establishment of the settlement in 1975, and a group of young people occupied an abandoned
Syrian 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, ultrav ...
factory that manufactures protective lenses and safety goggles. Odem Mountain Winery is also located there.
See also
*
Israeli Military Governorate
The Israeli Military Governorate was a military governance system established following the Six-Day War in June 1967, in order to govern the civilian population of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula and the Western part of Golan ...
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