One of the oldest historical cities of Palestine, founded in 20 AD, was named after the Roman Emperor Tiberius Caesar (I), and it is one of the four holy cities of Israel (Jerusalem, Hebron, Tiberias, Safed).
Tiberias website
Tiberias is located in northeastern Palestine in the Eastern Galilee region, about 198 kilometers northeast of Jerusalem, and extends on the southwestern coast of Lake Tiberias.
The city is located on the commercial road extending from Damascus, passing through the villages of Lajun, Qalansuwa, Lod, Ashdod, Gaza, and Rafah, all the way to Sinai in Egypt, which made it a commercial, military, and tourist center since its founding.
Climate of Tiberias
The region’s climate is affected by its location more than 200 meters below sea level. The average daily highest temperature in summer reaches 38 degrees Celsius, and maximum temperatures have been recorded that reached 50 degrees Celsius.
While winter temperatures drop to 18 degrees Celsius, due to the effect of the lake’s heat, the Tiberias spring is distinguished by its shortness.
Temperatures increase with the easterly winds blowing from the Golan Heights, which contributes to the formation of heat waves that reach the western shore of the lake.
As for rain, the amounts falling on Tiberias are equivalent to those falling on the western mountainous edge, and their annual average is about 500 mm.
The rainy season in the region is characterized by thunderstorms, and sudden short-term showers occur at the end of the winter season, accompanied by high temperatures. These rains sometimes result in dangerous floods and rapid water flows, causing destruction in some areas of the city.
The average rainy days in Tiberias is about 23 days a year, and the humidity in the city rises to 65%.
Economy of Tiberias
The city has witnessed a diversification of economic activities, including trade, handicrafts, fishing, tourism, construction, service industry, and agriculture.
Although the city was mixed (Arabs and Jews lived in it), the economic relations between the two communities were not separate, and they worked in the same fields. However, the situation changed with the escalation of political tensions in the period between (1936 and 1939), as the announcement of the strike and the Palestinian uprisings negatively affected relations. economic between the two categories.
The Jews controlled a larger share of the economy thanks to their good economic organization and support from Zionist institutions, which made them constitute the majority in most industries, while the proportion of Arabs who were businessmen and merchants was small, and their economy was largely limited to agriculture and fishing.
The residents of Tiberias relied mainly on agriculture, in addition to practicing the craft of fishing, but over time tourism became the main occupation of the residents, due to the city’s distinguished geographical location on the shore of the lake and its proximity to mineral springs.
Tiberias is also an important commercial center in the northern valley, as it was connected by railways and paved roads to major areas such as Safed and Jerusalem.
History of the city of Tiberias
The Roman Emperor Herod Antipas founded the city of Tiberias in 20 AD, close to the remains of the Canaanite city of Raqqa, and gave it this name after the Roman Emperor Tiberius Caesar (I).
The city witnessed prosperity during the reign of Emperor Herod as a result of his interest in it. He considered it the only defensive site surrounding the lake, which prompted him to build a castle near its shore. The Roman baths played a role in the prosperity of the city, as they added splendor to it, and it became a place visited by many due to the fertility of its land and its hot springs.
The Muslims conquered it under the leadership of Sharhabeel bin Hasna in the year 13 AH/634 AD, and Khalid bin Al-Walid minted Islamic dirhams to replace the Tabrani dirhams, and in the year 30 AH, Caliph Othman bin Affan sent to Tiberias a copy of the Qur’an copied from his own.
The city remained under Muslim rule until it fell during the Crusades, and it became the center of the Crusader emirate in the region.
Saladin al-Ayyubi was able to recover Tiberias from the Crusaders in 1187 AD, before defeating them in the Battle of Hattin, but al-Salih Ismail al-Ayyubi handed it over to them in 1240 AD, in addition to Jerusalem and Ashkelon, and after 7 years, al-Salih Ayyub regained it under the leadership of Prince Fakhr al-Din ibn al-Sheikh.
Due to successive wars, the city fell into ruin and lost much of its architecture and importance, especially after the Tatar attacks that almost destroyed the city, replacing it in importance with the city of Beit Shean.
In 1517 AD, it came under the rule of the Ottomans, and it became the center of the Tiberias District, one of the four districts that make up the Akko District.
In 1562 AD, Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent granted permission to the Jews to reside in Tiberias and practice their religious teachings. In the early eighteenth century, the Zayadna tribe settled in the city, and its members invested part of its lands in agriculture.
Then Zahir al-Omar al-Zaydani ruled it by order of the governor of the city of Sidon in 1730. He fortified it, increased its population, restored its castle, used it as offices for government departments, and it was known as the Old Palace.
In 1749, Al-Zaydani added sections to the wall of Tiberias, and built a large mosque in the northern neighborhood known as the Al-Zaydani Mosque.
Tiberias became the seat of Al-Zaydani’s rule, but after he took control of Acre, he moved the headquarters from Tiberias to it, and later the importance of the city of Tiberias declined again in the eighteenth century.
In 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte seized the city of Tiberias, then it came under Egyptian rule, and during that era it witnessed remarkable prosperity. Its baths were repaired and it began to receive tourists with the intention of healing with its waters, but it was subjected to massive destruction due to an earthquake that struck the region in 1837.
The city was rebuilt and its growth and prosperity increased, especially after the beginning of Jewish agricultural settlement in 1882.
In 1908, the Jews established the settlement “Moshavat Kinneret”, and the following year “Degania” was established, which is considered the first Jewish kibbutz, and by 1922 the city became a Jewish majority.
Tiberias before 1948
After World War I, Tiberias was divided into 3 main sections from north to south as follows:
Coastal strip: It separated the main parts of the city. To its north, the boat station was located on the shore of the lake, next to the Al-Zaydani Mosque. It also included the Jewish residential neighborhood and the slaughterhouse, and to its south were the mineral baths.
Middle section: It is located along the coastal strip, and begins in the north with the main hospital and some foreign mission hospitals, in addition to the old government building. In the south, the Jisr Mosque was located.
The main commercial markets are concentrated in this section, surrounded by a central residential area. In the past, the markets and residential area were part of the walled city.
Western section: It includes the land of the sections used to extract the black basalt stones that the city’s residents used in building their homes. This section also includes the land of Al-Arida, which was designated for agriculture, and the city’s cemeteries.
The Jews who immigrated to the city maintained friendly relations with the Arab population until the period of the British Mandate over Palestine in 1920 and the beginning of the conflicts between Arabs and Jews, which culminated in the events of the Great Palestinian Revolt (1936-1939).
Battles also broke out in 1947 between Arabs and Jewish immigrants in objection to the decision to partition Palestine.
Tiberias after 1948
Early in 1948, before the establishment of Israel was declared, the residents of Tiberias cut off the main road connecting the Jewish settlements in the Upper Galilee with those in the Jordan Valley, and besieged the old Jewish quarter on the shore of the lake.
On the other hand, the Haganah gang launched an attack on the Palestinians, and battles erupted between the two parties that ended in April 1948 with the Jews seizing the property of the Arab residents and imposing control over the city with the help of the British forces stationed in Tiberias.
Tiberias became the first mixed (Arab-Jewish) city to be completely captured by the Haganah. In the following years, the city received a number of Jewish immigrants coming to Israel.
The features of the city, especially the northern area, changed after 1948. Zionist organizations demolished the Arab neighborhoods, established gardens, public parks, and tourist hotels, and established a new residential neighborhood on the western highlands overlooking the Tiberias Mineral Baths.
It also established a local museum in the Southern Mosque (Al-Jisr Mosque), and surrounded the city with Israeli settlements.
Lake Kinneret
One of the lowest freshwater lakes, and the second lowest body of water after the Dead Sea. It is located in northern Palestine between the Galilee region and the occupied Golan Heights, on the northern part of the course of the Jordan River. It was mentioned in the Greek and Latin versions of the “New Testament” as the “Sea of Galilee.”
Its depth is 213 meters below sea level, and its area is 166 square kilometers.
In 1920, the lake was divided between France and Britain following the Boulet-Newcombe demarcation agreement.
During the negotiations to divide the borders, the Zionist movement pressured both parties to the agreement to allocate the largest possible amount of water resources to Mandatory Palestine, which prompted the High Commissioner of Palestine, Herbert Samuel, to seek full control of Lake Tiberias.
In 1923, the final borders were adopted, which included a 10-meter-wide beach along the northeastern shore of the lake, separating Syria from the Lake of Galilee.
The British-French agreement stipulated that the Syrians were granted the right to establish a pier on Lake Tiberias, and the right to fish and navigate in Lakes Hula and Tiberias, while the government of Palestine bore the responsibility of monitoring these waters.
In 1948, Syrian forces took control of the areas adjacent to Lake Tiberias, and the Syrian presence continued on the northeastern coast of the lake until the Setback War of June 1967, which ended with the Israeli occupation taking complete control of the lake.
It is considered a water source suitable for drinking, human consumption, and irrigation of its agricultural lands. In 1964, the Israeli government established a water line that connects the lake’s water to all the places and cities that are subject to and affiliated with Israel.
As a result of the occupation policies controlling the lake, the waters of Tiberias began to face a drought, which led to a decrease in its level and the emergence of a small island in its middle.
Wall of Tiberias
In the first third of the nineteenth century, Tiberias was surrounded by a thick, solidly built wall on the landward side.
The rest of the wall extended to 100 meters in length and about 40 meters in width, and included about 25 towers 6 meters high, equipped with a rampart and a high barrier, in addition to small arms firing positions.
The wall surrounded the town on three sides, with both ends touching the water, but a large part of it collapsed as a result of the earthquake that struck Palestine.
The city buildings at that time were confined within the wall, and remained so until 1904, when residents were allowed to build outside it, but the number of buildings did not exceed 15 houses.
Tiberias landmarks
The city includes a number of historical monuments that show the ancient history of Tiberias, as it contains traces of mosques, churches, and temples, in addition to architectural monuments, including palaces, domes, springs, and others.
Its most prominent features are:
- Grand Mosque: It is located in the northern neighborhood of Tiberias. It was built by Zahir al-Omar in the eighteenth century AD, and is known as the Zaydani Mosque or the Fawqani Mosque.
- Al-Jisr Mosque: It is located in the western neighborhood on the coast of Lake Kinneret.
- Warm baths: One of the most prominent landmarks of the city that many tourists visit to heal with its mineral waters.