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Golan Heights

Hilly area in the Middle East (internationally recognised as part of Syria), occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed in 1981. Viticulture is also practised here; see under Israel.

The democratic state of Israel (Hebrew ישראל Yisra'el; Arabic إِسْرَائِيل ʾIsrāʾīl) is located in the Middle East on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The heartland covers 22,380 km², the occupied territories 6,831 km². Israel borders Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt as well as the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The capital of Israel is Jerusalem; however, the United Nations and the majority of its member states do not recognise Jerusalem as the Israeli capital.

Israel - Landkarte, Flagge und Wappen

The Israeli-occupied territories today comprise the West Bank (West Bank) including East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights. The Sinai Peninsula, which Israel also conquered in the 1967 Six-Day War, was returned to Egypt in the 1982 Camp David peace treaty. The Gaza Strip was cleared of Israeli settlements and military bases in 2005, but is still considered by the UN to be Palestinian territory occupied by Israel. Israel has also occupied territory in Lebanon several times since 1978, but withdrew from Lebanon in 2000.

History

The land of Canaan, the origin of modern-day Israel, is one of the oldest wine-growing regions. The "Promised Land" was settled by the Israelites under Abraham around 2000 to 1900 and under Moses around 1300 to 1200 BC. However, the two events were not exactly the same area, as the borders were fluid and constantly changing. Canaan stretched from Sidon (now Sayda in Lebanon) to Gaza and encompassed the coastal strip and hinterland on the east coast of the Mediterranean, including modern-day Israel and parts of Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. The current name Palestine (not to be confused with the much smaller Palestinian autonomous area on the West Bank) only came into being in the 2nd century AD under Roman rule. At the time of Moses, Phoenicia (Syria, Lebanon), the Hittite Kingdom (Armenia) and Assyria (Iraq) lay to the north to north-east, as did Egypt (Upper Kingdom) to the south. Viticulture played an important role in these countries and the Mesopotamian landscape is regarded as one of the cradles of wine culture.

Salomon - historische Landkarte - Salomonisches Urteil

Viticulture in antiquity

The vineyards between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea produced large quantities of wine, which was also supplied to the Egyptian court. Wine played an important role for the Israelites and was part of their religious and cultural life. There are many examples of the drinking culture of the time in the Bible. Some Jewish kings gave their names to oversized bottles, such as Solomon (Solomon's judgement in the picture on the right), Jeroboam and Rehoboam. The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II (605-562 BC) conquered Jerusalem in 586 BC. Even after the destruction of Jerusalem and the expulsion of the Jews under Emperor Titus (39-81) in 70 AD, viticulture continued under Roman rule. After the Arab conquest around 650 AD, most of the vineyards were cleared due to the Muslim ban on alcohol. It was not until the Crusades between 1100 and 1300 that there was a temporary return to modest viticulture. After the final expulsion of the Jews, however, it came to a complete standstill for over 600 years.

The free-growing vines were left to climb up other...

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Prof. Dr. Walter Kutscher

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Prof. Dr. Walter Kutscher
Lehrgangsleiter Sommelierausbildung WIFI-Wien

The world's largest Lexicon of wine terms.

26,379 Keywords · 46,983 Synonyms · 5,323 Translations · 31,713 Pronunciations · 202,091 Cross-references
made with by our author Norbert F. J. Tischelmayer. About the Lexicon

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