Ma’alot

Ma’alot-Tarshiha is a mixed city located in the northern region of the occupied Palestinian territories. It lies just a few kilometers from the northern border between occupied Palestine and Lebanon, 20 kilometers east of the Nahariya colony, 20 kilometers west of Safad, and 15 kilometers north of Karmiel. The city is situated in the Upper Galilee.

Ma’alot-Tarshiha was established in 1963 through a municipal merger between the Arab town of Tarshiha and the Zionist settlement of Ma’alot. The current mayor, since 2018, is Arkady Pomerantz. As of 2015, the city had a population of approximately 21,200 residents, the majority of whom are Zionist settlers. By 2021, the population had reached 22,315 according to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics. The city’s total area is approximately 9.22 square kilometers, with an average elevation of 521 meters above sea level.

The settlement of Ma’alot was originally founded in 1957 adjacent to the Arab town of Tarshiha and about ten kilometers east of al-Kabri. It was established to absorb Zionist immigrants from Romania, Iran, Lebanon, and Morocco. On May 16, 1963, it was administratively merged with Tarshiha under a single local council named Ma’alot-Tarshiha. On November 21, 1995, it was officially designated a city.

One of the city’s notable landmarks is Montfort Lake, an artificial lake located to the east of the city, which serves as a local tourist attraction. Formerly known as Hosen Reservoir, the lake is featured in the city’s emblem.

Sources:
Due to the scarcity of Arabic sources, Hebrew sources were used:

• The settlement’s website (in Hebrew)
• The “Israeli” Central Bureau of Statistics
• Information on the village of al-Kabri from the Palestine Remembered website