Reporter's notebook: Life blooms again as visitors return to Israel's northern border

Today, the pathway to the ruins is overgrown with large, dry plants that bloomed earlier in the year and have now mostly withered from the heat. Some of the plants have thorns.

The site consists of a giant ruined building, with part of one wall intact. The partial wall, shaped like a large triangle, is made of giant stones, each around half the size of a person. There is a doorway and several large columns nearby, as if someone forgot to erect them.

Qedesh sits on the border of Lebanon. It is an ancient site that dates to an era when this land was Canaan and then the northern Kingdom of Israel.

The ruins of Qedesh are a reminder of the changes in this landscape. It is also a reminder that this area of the border with Lebanon has deep historical connections with Lebanon.

Today, the border is quiet. But there have been more than 1,000 days of conflict with Hezbollah, which attacked Israel the day after the October 7 massacre in 2023.

We now know that Hezbollah refrained from carrying out an October 7-style attack, declining to join Hamas in a massive human-wave assault. Hezbollah instead girded its loins for a long war.

Hezbollah gambled that Israel would not want to wage a long conflict inside Lebanon. In some ways, it guessed correctly.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said some Christian villages in southern Lebanon preferred Israeli rule. It is not clear which ones he was referring to.

In the 1980s and ’90s, Israel worked with some Christians in Lebanon as part of the South Lebanon Army. Israel left in 2000, and some SLA members came to Israel. Most Christians, however, had to accept a return to Lebanese and Hezbollah rule.

Before the October 7 massacre, if you went to Tel Qedesh or other border areas, you could see Lebanese homes on the other side of the border. In Metula, which is at the tip of the Hula Valley north of Kiryat Shmona, a half-hour drive from Tel Qedesh, one could see Hezbollah flags and posters.

Hezbollah openly operated near the border while the UNIFIL mission watched. Israel was expected to accept this as normal. In fact, Israel was deterred from doing anything about it.

Today, things are different. I went up to Tel Qedesh as part of a trip to the North. From Tel Qedesh, where one can also view the reputed tombs of the biblical Deborah and Barak, daubed in blue by devotees, I went to Ramot Naftali.

This small Israeli community, founded in 1945, is located within view of Lebanon. The Ramot Naftali winery, founded in 2003, is located here.

On Friday, I was enjoying the warm summer day. Several people had come for wine. It did seem quiet here, as if these areas are awaiting the return of tourists. I sampled several of their red and white wines.

There is another winery in Ramot Naftali called Naaman Winery, established in 2004. Together, these wineries make northern Israel and the Upper Galilee unique.

Down the road from Ramot Naftali, Route 886 snakes over hills and through a quiet valley that feels hidden from the world. After traversing the valley, the road reaches another high plateau, where the communities of Rehaniya are about 8 km. north of Safed, and Alma, about 10 km. north of Safed, are located in the Upper Galilee.

Rehaniya is one of two Circassian villages in Israel. The Circassians are a Muslim group that comes from the Caucasus. Fleeing the Russian Empire, they arrived in the area in the mid- and late-19th century.

Circassians have also played an important role in Syria and Jordan. Many of them were displaced by the Six Day War in 1967 from areas in and around the Golan Heights.

Along with the Druze and Christian communities, they make up part of the mosaic of this area in the North.

From Rehaniya, the road turns toward Kerem Ben-Zimra and then Dalton. A little beyond is the Christian town of Jish.

In Dalton, there are also wineries. One is called Dalton Winery. Its website notes that it was “established in 1995 by father and son Mat and Alex Haruni, [who] identified the potential of the Upper Galilee, envisioning it as a premium wine-producing region.”

Driving into Dalton, there are several signs advertising Rimon Winery. This site has a large warehouse and a pretty outdoor area. There is food, including sandwiches and pastries, as well as wine and other goodies for sale. Music was playing, and many people were milling about, eating and enjoying the hours before Shabbat.

What was clear here is that visitors are returning to this area after the long war. Life is blooming again. Even though there may still be limited clashes with Hezbollah several kilometers away, there is a sense of calm and a desire to return to normal life.

Not far from Dalton, passing back toward Tel Qadesh, the heights of land overlook the Hula Valley. Laid out below are not only the Hula and the Golan Heights but also Hermon Mountain in the distance, shrouded in a kind of mist. The far-off mountain evokes the landscape of The Hobbit, suggesting a long journey ahead.

Overlooking the Hula Valley is a stout, large structure, a kind of giant square building. This was a Tegart fort (“Taggart” in Hebrew) in the British Mandate era. It was built to enable the British police and security forces to control this area.

Along with other Tegart forts, such as the one in Latrun, it became a site that both Jews and Arabs coveted in 1947 as civil war broke out in the lead-up to the War of Independence.

In April, the British abandoned the fort, which is known in Hebrew as Metzudat Koach. In late April, Jewish fighters from the Palmah and Golani assaulted the site, and 28 of them were killed. The Yiftach Brigade took the site on May 16.

Today, the important fort still overlooks these lands. Its structure has become the symbol of the Border Police, and the police now use the building.

Across from the large building is another interesting site, Nabi Yusha, a historic Shi’ite tomb. It commemorates the biblical Joshua. Like many sites that Muslims revered in this land in Ottoman and earlier times, it has connections to Jewish history.

For instance, Muslims also commemorate Moses at Nabi Musa near Jericho and the Dead Sea. According to Jewish tradition, the site is not connected to Moses.

There are many such tombs in the country, including Nabi Samwil (Nebi Samuel) near Jerusalem and Nabi Rubin near Palmahim. They are part of the landscape of holiness, which also includes many tombs revered by Jews. In the Galilee, this is especially true.

During the more than 1,000 days of war, the area near Tel Qadesh and Nabi Yusha was largely off-limits. There were large concrete barriers and checkpoints. New roads were even built to shield traffic from Hezbollah anti-tank fire.

The signs of the war are still visible from the increase in cement bunkers and shelters. Some of the large concrete barriers, however, have been removed.

Down in the valley, the roads are busy. The well-known Kavish 90 hamburger restaurant near Mahanayim is full of patrons. Throughout the war, it became a major way station on Route 90, especially popular with young people.

In those days, during the war, this road leading to Kiryat Shmona was often empty of traffic. Soldiers came here to defend the area. Members of security teams left behind some of their symbols on walls, a recollection of the men and women who volunteered to guard evacuated communities in the valley.

After touring the northern border, I went to the settlement of Had Ness in the Golan Heights, overlooking Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee), to stay in one of the small cabins there.

Although some visitors have returned to walk the trails, the area is quiet. Quiet is good for the North. For it to revive, however, visitors will need to return to these roads.