Sasa or Sassa () is a

kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

in the

Upper Galilee The Upper Galilee (, ''HaGalil Ha'Elyon''; , ''Al Jaleel Al A'alaa'') is a geographical region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon. Part of the larger Galilee region, it is characterized by its higher elevations and mountainous terra ...

area of northern

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 ...

. Located one mile from the

border Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...

with

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

, it falls under the jurisdiction of

Upper Galilee Regional Council The Upper Galilee Regional Council (, Romanization of Hebrew, translit. ''Mo'atza Azorit HaGalil HaElyon'') is a regional council (Israel), regional council in Israel's Upper Galilee region, bordered by the Mevo'ot HaHermon Regional Council and the ...

. In it had a population of .

History

Pre-1948

Architectural fragments of a

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 ...

from the Late Roman and/or Byzantine period were excavated at the site and are visible inside the kibbutz. In 1992, the

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

historian Walid Khalidi described the remains of Sa'sa' village: "Some of the old olive trees remain, and a number of walls and houses still stand. Some of the houses are presently used by the kibbutz; one of them has an arched entrance and arched windows. A large portion of the surrounding land is forested, the rest is cultivated by Israeli farmers."Khalidi, 1992, p. 497 The village

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

has been converted into the kibbutz museum.

The kibbutz

The modern kibbutz was founded in January 1949 by a gar'in of North American

Hashomer Hatzair Hashomer Hatzair (, , 'The Young Guard') is a Labor Zionism, Labor Zionist, secular Jewish youth movement founded in 1913 in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austria-Hungary. It was also the name of the Hashomer Hatzair Workers Party, the ...

members on the land of the depopulated

village of Sa'sa'. Sa'sa' was demolished by the Israeli Seventh Brigade and Oded Brigade on October 30, 1948. Many of the villagers from Sa'sa live in Nahr al-Bared, a Palestinian refugee camp in

, although some resettled in nearby Jish. On the grounds of the kibbutz is the alleged tomb of

Levi ben Sisi Levi ben Sisi or Levi bar Sisi (Sisyi, Susyi, Hebrew: לוי בר סיסי) was a Jewish scholar, one of the semi-tannaim of the late 2nd century and early 3rd century. Biography He was a student of the patriarch Judah haNasi, and studied togethe ...

, who is usually believed to have died in far-away

Babylonia Babylonia (; , ) was an Ancient history, ancient Akkadian language, Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Kuwait, Syria and Iran). It emerged as a ...

during the first half of the third century. In 1950, the American correspondent Kenneth W. Bilby started his book "New Star in The Near East" - depicting the 1948 war and its aftermath - with an eyewitness account of Sassa: "Face Lifting". The

Mukhtar A mukhtar (; ) is a village chief in the Levant: "an old institution that goes back to the time of the Ottoman rule". According to Amir S. Cheshin, Bill Hutman and Avi Melamed, the mukhtar "for centuries were the central figures". They "were ...

of Sassa had fled, and his 2000 Arab villagers with him. By November 1949, 120 young American-born Jews had supplanted them, and the old village roosting on a Galilean hilltop had begun to acquire a Western flavor. The Mukhtar's home was being plastered and cemented into a communal shower. Power-driven lathes, imported from the United States, were turning out furniture for the new Jewish settlements which mushroomed in the Galilee. Prefabricated barracks with beaverboard interiors, fresh-painted American tractors, and an experimental windmill which resembled a radar antenna provided more accouterments of progress. Sassa, which had existed unchanged for over a thousand years, was on the altar - an offering, like the lambs of

Abraham Abraham (originally Abram) is the common Hebrews, Hebrew Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father who began the Covenant (biblical), covenanta ...

, for the betterment of the people of Israel".

Economy

Sasa operates Plasan, a plastics factory that manufactures vehicle armour. The company, which is shared between some 100 families, is now a world leader in armor protection technology for vehicles. The kibbutz has signed contracts worth billions of dollars with major clients, including the U.S. military. Other branches of the economy include a dairy, in cooperation with kibbutz Tuval; a beef herd; fruit trees (kiwi, apple, avocado and grapefruit); Bereshit, a fruit marketing company in cooperation with three other kibbutzim; and Sasa Tech, a manufacturer of technical and home care products. Buza, a chain of ice cream shops founded by a Sasa resident, runs a branch on the kibbutz and offers ice cream workshops.the Sea of Galilee for the Galilee by the sea
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Gallery

File:Kibbutz Sa'Sa.jpg, Members of kibbutz Sasa in 1948 File:Sasa.jpg, Kibbutz Sasa in 1949 File:Visit to Plasan No.090 (6790567451).jpg, U.S. Ambassador Dan Shapiro visiting Plasan, 2012

References