Arbel

Mount Nitai (Hebrew: הר נתאי, Har Nitai), sometimes spelled Nitay, is a mountain in Israel situated west of the Sea of Galilee and north of the city of Tiberias. Har Nitai is named after Nittai of Arbela. The cliffs of Nitai and Arbel are visible when looking southwest from Capernaum on the shore of the Sea of Galillee.In 2018, Severino Caruso, a young French man accompanying groups of pilgrims in Israel, identified Mount Nittai of Arbela as the plausible place where Christ spent a week in retreat with his apostles, far from the tumult of the world, in order to introduce them to specific teaching with a view to their future mission in the Church. His research is based on the descriptions of a Mystic work entitled: “The Gospel as it was revealed to me” by Maria Valtorta, a Catholic mystic, who, through vision and supernatural immersion, would have witnessed all the biblical events in the public life of Jesus of Nazareth, from 1943 to 1947. The descriptions of the work allowed the engineer and researcher Jean-François Lavère to authenticate many of the original places that saw Jesus pass during his public life. Severino Caruso then perceived the historical significance of this discovery, which he made in the Arbel Valley, which confirms that the visions of Maria Valtorta seem to be authentic. He published a testimonial french book on the subject in 2021 entitled: “The Arbel Valley and the election of the twelve apostles” Centro Valtortiano edition.

Hamaam (Arabic: حمام; Hebrew: חַמָּם), or Wadi Hamam, is an Arab village in northern Israel, located near the Sea of Galilee, at the foot of Mount Nitai and across the Wadi Hamam valley from Mount Arbel. It is the easternmost part of the al-Batuf Regional Council. In 2022 its population was 1,561.

Kfar Zeitim (Hebrew: כְּפַר זֵיתִים, lit. Village of Olives) is a moshav in northern Israel. Located adjacent to Tiberias, it falls under the jurisdiction of Lower Galilee Regional Council. In 2022 it had a population of 819.

Ahuzat Naftali (Hebrew: אֲחֻזַּת נַפְתָּלִי, lit. Estate Naftali) is a site in the Galilee region not far from Tiberias, near kibbutz Lavi and south of Karnei Hittin. Ahuzat Naftali was established as a moshav under the jurisdiction of the Lower Galilee Regional Council in 1949.

On November 2, 1948, two squads of Israeli Defense Forces soldiers captured an encampment of Bedouins at Khirbat al-Wa'ra al-Sawda' in the eastern Galilee. While some soldiers guarded the Arabs, others went to a nearby hilltop where the headless bodies of two Israeli soldiers were found. In retaliation, the Arabs' dwellings were destroyed and 15 or 16 adult males were shot, 14 of whom died. The victims' bodies were buried in a cave adjacent to the place where they were killed. In the 1950s, the Israeli National Water Project was dug through the cave, and the Mawassi people took the bones to another cave. During the 1980s the bones were moved to a common grave in the Muslim cemetery in Eilabun.

The sieges of Tiberias occurred in late 1742 and the summer of 1743 when the Ottoman governor of Damascus, Sulayman Pasha al-Azm, twice attempted and failed to eliminate the increasingly powerful, Tiberias-based multazim (tax farmer), Zahir al-Umar, and destroy his fortifications. Sulayman Pasha operated under orders from the imperial government to execute Zahir, and was militarily backed by the governors of Sidon and Tripoli, as well as the district governors of Nablus, Jerusalem, Gaza, and Bedouin levies. Zahir and his family, the Banu Zaydan, controlled and fortified several places in the Galilee, with Zahir based in Tiberias, and his brother, Sa'd al-Umar, in nearby Deir Hanna. In 1737 and 1738, Zahir had intensified his raids, incursions, and operations to areas under the jurisdiction of Damascus, prompting the imperial orders to eliminate him and his local allies. The first siege of Tiberias lasted for nearly three months, with Sulayman Pasha unable to breach the fortifications and forced to withdraw to lead the Hajj caravan to Mecca. Zahir strengthened Tiberias, while unsuccessfully lobbying the imperial government through the French merchants of Acre and the Jewish community in Tiberias, who attempted to leverage their contacts in the imperial capital, Constantinople. Shortly after his return to Damascus, Sulayman Pasha renewed the campaign in July 1743, with more troops and weapons. He attempted to reduce Deir Hanna, which supplied Tiberias with arms and provisions, but died suddenly in his camp. Zahir soon after reached a détente with Sulayman Pasha's successor, As'ad Pasha al-Azm. The next fourteen years were generally free of hostilities with Damascus, which enabled Zahir to focus on occupying the port of Acre in the 1740s.

Mount Arbel (Hebrew: הר ארבל, Har Arbel) is a mountain in The Lower Galilee near Tiberias in Israel, with high cliffs, views of Mount Hermon and the Golan Heights, a cave-fortress, and ruins of an ancient synagogue. Mount Arbel sits across from Mount Nitai; their cliffs were created as a result of the geological processes leading to the creation of the Jordan Rift Valley. There are four villages on the mountain: Kfar Zeitim, Arbel, Kfar Hittim, and Mitzpa. The peak, at 181 metres above sea level (380 metres above the surrounding area), dominates the surroundings (much of the area is below sea level), and from the lookout atop the mountain, almost all of the Galilee is visible including Safed, as well as Tiberias and most of the Sea of Galilee, and the slopes of the Golan Heights on the other side of the Sea.

Khirbat al-Wa'ra al-Sawda' (Arabic: خربة الوعرة السوداء) was a Palestinian Arab village in the Tiberias Subdistrict. In 1945, the village had a population of 1,870 Arabs. It was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on April 18, 1948. It was located 7.5 km northeast of Tiberias. Some of the villagers fled to Syria while others migrated to the central Galilee.

Kfar Hittim (Hebrew: כְּפַר חִטִּים) is a moshav shitufi in northern Israel. Located on a hill 3 km west of Tiberias, it falls under the jurisdiction of Lower Galilee Regional Council. It was Israel's first moshav shitufi, and can also be considered the first Tower and Stockade settlement. In 2022 it had a population of 600.

Ziyara (Arabic: زِيَارَة, romanized: Ziyāra) is the Druze pilgrimage observed annually between 25 and 28 April at the Shrine of Shu'ayb, the shrine which Druzians believe contains the purported tomb of prophet Shu'ayb. It is officially recognized as a public holiday in Israel.

Hittin (Arabic: حطّين, transliterated Ḥiṭṭīn (Arabic: حِـطِّـيْـن) or Ḥaṭṭīn (Arabic: حَـطِّـيْـن)) was a Palestinian village located 8 kilometers (5 mi) west of Tiberias before it was occupied by Israel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war when most of its original residents became refugees. As the site of the Battle of Hattin in 1187, in which Saladin reconquered most of Palestine from the Crusaders, it has become an Arab nationalist symbol. The shrine of Nabi Shu'ayb, venerated by the Druze and Sunni Muslims as the tomb of Jethro, is on the village land. The village was ruled by the Ottoman Empire from the 16th century until the end of World War I, when Palestine became part of the British Mandate for Palestine. On July 17 1948, the village was occupied by Israel, after its residents fled out of their homes because of Nazareth's occupation. in later years, the Moshavs Arbel and Kfar Zeitim were erected where Hittin used to be.

Migdal (Hebrew: מִגְדָּל, lit. Tower) is a town in the Northern District of Israel. It was founded in 1948, and granted local council status in 1949. In 2022 it had a population of 2,031. Migdal is located near Ginosar, and about 8 km north of Tiberias. It has a shoreline on the Sea of Galilee, including the Tamar, Ilanot and Arbel beaches.