The Forbidden Village opens

It is located partly on Lebanese territory, was formerly a Syrian village and is now under Israeli control - Rajar is the only Alawite settlement in the country closed to Israelis, but is now open for coordinated visits, and has spectacular things to offer.

A (really) small jump abroad

Ziv Reinstein

06/01/2022

Thursday, 06 January 2022, 19:07 Updated: 20:40

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On your way to Banias, on the northern Route 99, you must have noticed a white sign "Ajar" accompanied by a "closed military area" in Betunda.

You never entered it because you thought it might be in Lebanon or something unclear about the border.

Indeed, the entrance to Rajar (a.k.a. in Arabic is also customary) is only possible for the villagers and soldiers from 2000. But no more.

So get to know the only place in Israel where Wise does not work.

It's not clear if it's because the military is disrupting it or if it's intentional, but it's exactly a small reflection of the only Alawite village in Israel (yes, Alawites like Assad in Syria) that is known to almost no one.

Rjar is unlike anywhere else in the country.

In fact, nowhere else in the world.

It is located in Israeli territory on the one hand, borders Lebanon on the other and has been a Syrian village for hundreds of years.

Confused?

So do we, but let's try to make some order.

Watch our special tour of Berger

Special visit to Berger - the only Alevi village in Israel (Photo: Ziv Reinstein, Editing: Nir Chen)

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An enclave without nationality

Following the Sykes-Picot Agreement (1916), which divided the Middle East between the French and British mandates, followed by the Newcomb-Paula Agreement (signed in 1923), the French annexed present-day Syria and Lebanon, while the British annexed Israel. Since Warger is on the border between Syria and Lebanon, an unmarked border before the states were established in the mid-1940s, there have been differing positions over the years as to which state it belongs to, but Syria has actually taken control of it. In 1967, when the IDF occupied the Golan Heights, it also reached

, which became a kind of enclave without nationality. The Israeli flag was hoisted over it, Mekorot connected a water pipe to it and even

, was written in the newspaper "Davar" in December 1967. And here we have a new Israeli village, which was also annexed to Israel under the "Golan Law"In 1981 (together with the Druze villages in Rama).

Until 2000, the IDF was stationed in the Jasmine camp in northern Rajar, but when the army left Lebanon, the UN determined that the border (blue line) between Syria and Lebanon passes through central Rajar, meaning that the northern half of the village is Lebanese.

But since Lebanon has not deployed military forces, due to struggles with Hezbollah in the area, the entire village area is under Israel, although north of it there is no border fence, but there are UN forces with some boutiques guarding. Fattali fenced off the entire north of the village, so there is no free passage to and from Lebanon.

Welcome!

Reception for villagers in three languages ​​(Photo: Walla !, Ziv Reinstein)

Need to coordinate and have someone accompany you.

The checkpoint at the entrance to the village (Photo: Walla !, Ziv Reinstein)

Just want to be a part of Israel

Israelis used to visit Berger when the IDF was in Lebanon, but all this, as stated, was stopped in 2000. Anyone who did continue in from Highway 99, which passes along Kibbutz Maayan Baruch, HaGoshrim, Dan and others and tried to enter the access road to the village - would encounter an IDF position "Lith who told him 'Turn back!'.

But now the village is seeking to bring back the Israelis, and it seems that there is also a willingness from the authorities and the army.

I mean, you can not get to it so freely and have to coordinate entry, leave IDs at the border post and wait for the villager to come and pick you up, but get ready to get excited, because you are about to discover a charming village with nice people who carry blue IDs and just want to be part of Israel.

The village wants to bring back the Israelis.

Observation point towards the Hasbani (Photo: Walla !, Ziv Reinstein)

The gypsy village

2,800 residents now live in Berger, all of them foliage - a stream belonging to Shiite Islam - and their affiliation with Imam Ali bin Abu Taleb, the cousin of the Prophet Muhammad, who was the last of the first four suits (the "Rashidon") and for them also the only legal heir of the Prophet. Ali was assassinated in 661 in Iraq, as was his son Hussein, who is the founder of the Shia (Hebrew faction), unlike the Sunnis. In Syria, the Alawites are considered a minority (about 11 percent in the heart of the population) but a minority that controls key positions in all areas of life, and of course in the military, as Hafez al-Assad appointed at the time, and today continues with the rest of his son.

The foliage reached Rijar from northern Syria, possibly as early as 500 years ago.

Jamal Khatib's family, for example, has been a tour guide in the village since 1988 and perhaps the man who knows the most about him, came from the Homs area.

"They settled here because they were looking for a water source and there was a commercial road between Acre and Damascus that passed here," he says.

According to one explanation, the name of the village means "gypsies" or "nomads", which comes from the same merchants who passed through the place, but Jamal explains that Roger is actually a distortion of the word "tranger" (a kind of triangular angle, probably due to the shape of the village ).

Indeed, there has been a lot of traffic over the years in the valley where Rjar is located next to water sources, between present-day Syria, Israel and Lebanon.

The man who knows everything about the village.

Jamal Khatib near Elias Square (Photo: Walla !, Ziv Reinstein)

Religious symbols are immortalized on the village streets.

Ali Abu bin Taleb Berger Square (Photo: Walla !, Ziv Reinstein)

Ali will sit on a lion with the sword of the "Cheap Picard" (the two blades) (Photo: Walla !, Ziv Reinstein)

The nomadic cheese

Arriving at the village leads the hiker on a long road next to a long system fence that stretches at the foot of Mount Dov.

Behind it are plantations of deciduous fruit trees standing in the reddish wintery fall.

Even before we enter the village, Muhammad Fattali is waiting for us at his farm, which provides a feeling as if you are in a small village in the Balkans.

On the farm he keeps some formidable guard dogs guarding a herd of 120 sheep and goats, which he purchased seven years ago.

"It was my dream and no one supported me, neither my wife nor my mother," he says.

So he saved and bought 17 sheep heads and started his own house.

But in order to make a living, Muhammad works in the caviar factory of Kibbutz Dan, and the one who in the meantime utilizes the much milk given by the sheep is his wife, Muna.

Muna learned from the women of the Circassian village of Kama in the Galilee, how to make cheese and began to make the Shanklish cheese, which was used by the nomads and shepherds who migrated in this area in the past. The uniqueness of this cheese is that it does not need cooling - and is therefore suitable for nomads. Shanklish is basically a leafy dish in the shape of a tennis ball wrapped entirely in fresh hyssop and salt. "No one makes it in the Golan or in Horen," says Muna, "and even the Druze who come here (from the Golan - ZR) are amazed at how this cheese can last for five days out of the fridge." Muna explains that the drying of the liquids in the sun and the salt protects it.

But you can not eat the cheese alone - it is too sour and salty, so crumble and sprinkle it on a salad or on an omelet and more. But Muna also makes cheeses with pesto, or dumplings stuffed with cheese and olives, including breakfasts (NIS 60 per meal) and cheese platters (NIS 70 for a family tray). And what's more important - its place is outside of Rjar, so there is no need to coordinate entry,But only to coordinate with her:

.

Such are you in a village in the Balkans.

The Fattali family's home at the foot of Mount Dov (Photo: Walla !, Ziv Reinstein)

The rustic cheese artist she learned from the Circassians.

Muna Fattali (Photo: Walla !, Ziv Reinstein)

The Shanklish.

The cheese used by the nomads and shepherds who roamed the area (Photo: Walla !, Ziv Reinstein)

A quarry to Nahal Snir

The entrance to Roger is surprising. Arranged sidewalks painted red and white, a square with a water fountain and an entrance sign in Arabic, Hebrew and English: "Welcome to the village of Ajar". Right next door is the Border Police checkpoint, where they will ask if you have arranged a visit and you will be required to leave a certificate at the entrance, with one of the villagers having to wait and accompany you during the visit. But there is no particular reason for this, the locals explain, and everyone is allowed to build as they please

. There it meets the Vazani springs (named after the Lebanese village) and becomes Nahal Eitan, which you also know as Nahal Snir and one of the sources of the Jordan.

The lookout is great and accompanies the meanders of the stream flowing as a security fence, guarded by UN forces in white positions and commanders of the 1970s, the style of Givat Halfon. 70. Today, the residents grind their wheat with Hussein Fattali (yes, he is also from the family) known as "Braq Tahan" (the flour grinder). For a small tithe of the flour. "This is part of the tradition that the woman prepares in Bethlehem and keeps in the refrigerator for two weeks, and we want to pass on the tradition to the next generation," Jamal and Hashem explain.

Palms and a big heart.

The entrance to the village (Photo: Walla !, Ziv Reinstein)

A square at the entrance to the village (Photo: Walla !, Ziv Reinstein)

"We want to continue with the tradition."

The electric flour grinder (Photo: Walla !, Ziv Reinstein)

Bennett, Herzog and the Israeli flag

I arrive at the office of Ahmad Fattali, head of the Rajar local council. Hashem Fattali, who holds the tourism portfolio in the village, is also waiting for me there. Yes, the Fattali family is one of the key families in the village. Pictures of Prime Minister Bennett, President Herzog, the Israeli flag and the state emblem hang on the wall behind the village chief's chair. There is no doubt that the Rajars want to be and feel Israelis. It is a pity that in Israel, they are still sometimes considered the periphery of the periphery.

Ahmed has been the head of the council since 2003 and seems to care about his village no less than any other local council or small village in the Galilee.

For example, in 2012, with the encouragement of Mifal Hapayis, he established the "Peace Garden", which is a magical corner of a flower garden with benches, facilities for children and fountains for residents who could not get out of the village due to security tensions.

"It's called 'Peace Garden' because we strive for peace between peoples," Hashem explains, "and we educate the children to keep the place and not to get dirty."

Next to the garden there is a beautiful public shelter designed in the style of a manger that blends in great with the garden, and there is no doubt that the residents here need shelter - the law of Kiryat Shmona as the law of Rjar.

When residents are dangerous to leave the village, they have a lovely corner in the village.

Gan Hashalom (Photo: Walla !, Ziv Reinstein)

A magical corner of a flower garden with benches (Photo: Walla !, Ziv Reinstein)

A colorful mosaic in Gan Hashalom (Photo: Walla !, Ziv Reinstein)

The sword that came from Syria

One of the most impressive buildings in the village is the "Madafa" - the gathering place and social hospitality - where the important decisions of the veteran sheikhs regarding the village are made.

The place is clean and tidy, and Jamal explains that every resident comes and cleans the place in his free time.

Inside the assembly hall are two pictures, of the father and grandfather of the head of the village.

Beneath them, an impressive sword that doctors who studied in Syria brought as a souvenir.

"Here you will always find a pot of hot coffee on the fire, and the host will always drink the first glass. Why? To show that there is no poison in it," Jamal explains of the custom of the place.

The "Madafa".

The gathering place and hospitality of the village (Photo: Walla !, Ziv Reinstein)

Every resident arrives in his free time and cleans the place (Photo: Walla !, Ziv Reinstein)

The new water attraction of the north?

The head of the village also plans a promenade along Rjar and the springs in the area, but encounters bureaucracy and barriers on the part of the kibbutzim and moshavim in the area, which the promenade passes through. "I would like everyone to come and get to know Rjar, because not everyone knows and we are in an enclave," he says. "I invite everyone to the village, to see how we live here, sometimes in uncertainty sometimes yes for sure, and we care that everyone will come and get to know this village." Also in its planning, to turn "Ein al-Ward", which is better known by the residents as Ein Dib (outside the village and accessible to all) into a recreation site where Israelis can spend time. The spring receives water and snow that seeps into Mount Dov and comes out of a spring at its foot. Guy Mellal, a tourism consultant who took Rjar and his promotion under his wing, shows me how a large pool is being built in a place that will store the water and from it they will continue to flow naturally in the direction of Horbat Nohayla and the Tel Dan Reserve. In the meantime, we will wait for the new water attraction that will be built in the north, and we will not forget to update you when it opens.

"Invites everyone to the village, to see how we live here."

Village leader Ahmad Fattali (Photo: Walla !, Ziv Reinstein)

The large pool will become a tourist attraction.

Inshallah.

"Ein El Ward" (Photo: Walla !, Ziv Reinstein)

Decorated on the outside in an Arabesque style.

The public shelter (Photo: Walla !, Ziv Reinstein)

Who wants "Kosa Mahshi"?

An interesting map hangs on the wall in Ahmed's office. According to him, the map of Syria is from 1965, probably loot found in the area when the IDF occupied the area in 1967. "We are part of Israel, and do not belong to Lebanon," he says. "Even then the village was in Syrian territory."

But the UN is not interested in that. He determined that the blue line passes right in the middle of the village, even though there are no signs of separation in the area and the whole village is united. In the Lebanese area of ​​the village, not far from the fence built by the villagers against pigs and animals and encircling the Rajar to the north (this is not a border fence, because Israel is not allowed to build a fence over Lebanese territory), five years ago, Hodar al-Ahmad opened the Blue Line restaurant. , Which as its name implies does not miss the special situation of Rjar.

After eight years working in reputable restaurants in the area, such as Fukacha and others, and starting out as a dishwasher, he has progressed up the cooking ladder.

"I decided that I would bring my experience to the village," he says.

Today he and his wife prepare various dishes related to traditional Italian and Syrian-Alawite cuisine.

For example, "Kusa Mahashi" (stuffed with small zucchini with rice cooked with samana), "Kuba Mushvaya" (Cuban on the grill with dough stuffed with burgul, onion and potato), "Makdos" salad (bloody eggplant with cherry tomatoes) And "Shishbarak" (dumplings with kishk). In short, from all good and at popular prices. Hoder also makes deliveries to the entrance to the village, for those who just want leafy food and have not arranged entry (

). Zimmers, FYI.

The Syrian map from 1965.

Rjar as an enclave on the left.

Above it is the caption "Lebanon" in Arabic (Photo: Walla !, Ziv Reinstein)

He studied with the Jews and opened a restaurant in his hometown.

Penetrates Ahmad on "Blue Line" (Photo: Walla !, Ziv Reinstein)

A selection of the wonderful foliage dishes at Blue Line (Photo: Walla !, Ziv Reinstein)

Baby of a guy

For dessert I jumped at Ahmad Khatib, the sweetest man in the village, not only because he is shy and pleasant-tempered, but because he is a wonderful confectioner who does sweet things for Allah. Khatib entered the field at the age of 16, and after school was a dishwasher. The boy was apparently discovered as a talent and at the age of 18 he already ran the "Cheese" restaurant in Moshav Beit Hillel, but it did not satisfy the parents. "I studied architecture for them, I got a certificate but I went my own way," he says. Indeed, Ahmed enrolled in bread and chocolate baking studies at Estella in Tel Aviv, and even traveled to Turkey to learn from them the authentic Arabian cooking "because I could not go to Syria," he explains. And if it looks familiar to you, it's because it's reached the semifinals of the "Perfect Dessert" program. Talented, have we already said ?!

After gaining a great deal of knowledge, Khatib returned to Israel and began making sweets that are a combination of East and West.

For example, take the baklava and break it down, and instead of sugar water combine salted caramel, vanilla cream and pesto.

"I also put sour strawberry cream in the knapsack and in 'Beirut Nights' I put chewing gum, cosbra cream and citrus," he adds.

In "Sweets to Khatib", the cool little shop under his house, he and his sister prepare desserts for the residents of Rjar and also for the travelers, who, just like a penetrator, he brings in a delivery to the entrance checkpoint to the village.

And you might be surprised, but the Alawite shoemaker goes barefoot in his patisserie: Ahmed does not eat sweet (!) Because he keeps sugar due to heredity from his parents.

Not bad, we will have more

.

Baby of a guy.

Ahmad Khatib with his handiwork to boast (Photo: Walla !, Ziv Reinstein)

A sweet little confectionery under the house.

Al Khatib Sweets (Photo: Walla !, Ziv Reinstein)

Many of the village houses are colorful, but there is no special reason for this (Photo: Walla !, Ziv Reinstein)

Through the arch is Ali Ibn Abu Taleb Square (Photo: Walla !, Ziv Reinstein)

Friends of the Prophet

Evening time lands on Rjar.

The Hula Valley is painted in the sky as patches on its green fields.

My feeling is that I want to stay there, just like the feeling you have when you are on a good vacation abroad. That you want more.

Jamal takes me to see the core of the old village, square basalt houses, not beyond that, but behind them is a beautiful white cap. . It's not really important either. It's a tradition and you can go inside when you take off your shoes and inside you see a grave behind a bar. Beyond that, there are no special details. But tradition is tradition.

There is a grave but it is not clear whose.

Still a beautiful place.

Makam al-Arba'in (Photo: Walla !, Ziv Reinstein)

"So overall life is good here?"

I ask, and Hashem replies: "Yes! There is brotherhood here between the villagers, there is peace and everyone says peace to each other. Very safe here, because we are surrounded by guards from the army and the UN, so women and girls can walk the streets after 22:00 at night.

No crime, theft or ATV driving without a license.

I feel safe and not afraid and it is unlike any village in the country, certainly not like an Arab village, where there is crime or shooting. "

True Hashem, you are not like anything in the country, and it's good that way.

Want to visit Berger?

Talk to Hashem Fattali Tourism Coordinator: hashmf@gmail.com, 050-4507088.

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