Yehudiya ( ar, يهودية, "

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

") is an abandoned

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

and

archeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology and ...

in the center 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 ...

, about 5 kilometers south of

Katzrin Katzrin ( he, קַצְרִין; also Qatzrin, ar, قصرين, qaṣrīn) is an Israeli settlement organized as a local council in the Golan Heights. Known as the "capital of the Golan", it is the second-largest locality there after Majdal Sh ...

within the

Yehudiya Forest Nature Reserve The Yehudiya Reserve ( he, שמורת יהודיה) is a nature reserve in the central Golan Heights. With the area of 134 sq. km, it is the largest reserve in the Golans. The height differential of its landscape - from 200 meters below the sea le ...

Ancient Jewish settlement

In the houses of the village, artifacts were found which attest to the existence of a settlement from the Roman–Byzantine period. According to multiple testimonies, there was a Jewish presence there after the

Arab conquest The spread of Islam spans about 1,400 years. Muslim conquests following Muhammad's death led to the creation of the caliphates, occupying a vast geographical area; conversion to Islam was boosted by Arab Muslim forces conquering vast territories ...

. The Jewish past of the settlement was known to the Arabs who settled there later, hence its name.

Modern times

In the 19th century Arab peasants settled in the village houses. Near the village there is a large stone house that was used as a farm and employed many local villagers. After the establishment of the

State of Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, the

Syrians Syrians ( ar, سُورِيُّون, ''Sūriyyīn'') are an Eastern Mediterranean ethnic group indigenous to the Levant. They share common Levantine Semitic roots. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indi ...

renamed the village "Arabiya" to blur its Jewish past. The village was depopulated in 1967 with the occupation of the

by the

IDF IDF or idf may refer to: Defence forces * Irish Defence Forces * Israel Defense Forces *Iceland Defense Force, of the US Armed Forces, 1951-2006 * Indian Defence Force, a part-time force, 1917 Organizations * Israeli Diving Federation * Interac ...

during the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 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, S ...

.Murphy & Gannon 2008, p28 + p69 The ruins of the village are now part of the Yehudiya Forest reserve, covering 66 square kilometers.

References

{{Reflist, 30em Golan Heights Former populated places in the Golan Heights Ancient Jewish settlements of the Golan Heights