Massad, Israel 3.94

Masad is a community settlement in northern Israel. Located to the west of the Sea of Galilee, it falls under the jurisdiction of Lower Galilee Regional Council. In it had a population of.HistoryThe village was founded as Har Kotz in 1983.Plans to build a quarry on Mount Kotz were rejected by the National Planning and Construction Council in 2008 after protests staged by the residents of Masad and the nearby Arab village of Eilabun.Nature reserveMasad is surrounded by the Har Kotz Nature Reserve. Among the trees found there are carob, mastic, Valonia oak, Christ's Thorn, Palestine oak, and Jerusalem thorn. The nature reserve derives its name from Mount Qotz (292 m), named for a priestly family that migrated to the Galilee from Jerusalem after the destruction of the Second Temple.