Qiryat Shemona

▪ Israel

      town, at the northwest of the ʿEmeq ula (Hula Valley (ula Valley)), extreme northern Israel. The name Qiryat Shemona (“Town of the Eight”) commemorates the eight martyrs of nearby Tel ay (Tel Ḥay). The town, the only urban settlement of the valley, was founded in 1950 as an immigrants' transit camp (maʿabara) on the site of the former Arab village of Khalasah. Metulla, the northernmost settlement of Israel per its pre-1967 boundaries, is 6 miles (10 km) north.

      In the 1950s many of the town's settlers were engaged in public-works projects connected with the drainage of the ula swamps. Since then, light industries (diamond cutting and the production of textiles, ceramics, and plastics) have been established. Many residents are engaged in seasonal agricultural labour in the nearby collective settlements.

      Qiryat Shemona is the seat of the Upper Galilee Regional Council, and its development received further impetus when Israeli settlements began to appear in the Golan Heights. Pop. (2006 est.) 22,000.

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