Hula Valley

The Hula Valley (Hebrew: עֵמֶק הַחוּלָה, romanized: ʿEmeq haḤūlā; Arabic: سهل الحولة, romanized: Sahl al-Ḥūlat) is a topographic depression forming a valley and fertile agricultural region in northern Israel with abundant fresh water that used to be part covered by marshland and Lake Hula. These areas were a breeding ground for mosquitoes carrying malaria and were drained in the 1950s. A small section of the valley was later reflooded in an attempt to revive a nearly extinct ecosystem. It is a major stopover for birds migrating along the Great Rift Valley between Africa, Europe, and Asia, with an estimated 500 million migrating birds now pass through the Hula Valley every year.

Etymology

Different names referred to Lake Hula in the past. In the 1st century, the Roman Jewish historian Josephus termed it Semechonitis (Greek: Σημεχωνίτις, romanized: Sēmekhonítis), John Lightfoot writing it as Samochonitis. In the Babylonian Talmud, it is called the Lake of Sivekhi (יַמָּהּ שֶׁל סִיבְכִי, Siḇəḵi). Both names are identified with the placename Šamḫuna found in the Amarna letters written in the Akkadian language c. 1360 BCE.

The Waters of Merom has sometimes been used in scientific literature, although that term refers specifically to springs on the western side of the valley.

Several ancient place names in the Hula Valley survived into the Islamic and Ottoman periods through Arabic linguistic adaptation. Scholars linked ancient sites such as Abela, Dan, and Daphne with later Arabic toponyms.