Shitola Colony

Shtula is a moshav located in the Upper Galilee in the north of occupied Palestine, near the Lebanese border. It was established in 1967 as part of a broader program aimed at strengthening the Zionist presence in the Galilee. Many members of the community were immigrants from the town of Koy Sanjaq in Iraq, and children in the moshav reportedly learned Neo-Aramaic of the Zionist community. The moshav is built on the lands of the depopulated Palestinian villages of Suruh, Tarbikha, and an-Nabi Rubin, whose inhabitants were displaced during the 1948 Arab–Israeli war. The location was also the site of a cross-border Hezbollah raid during the 2006 Lebanon War, in which three Israeli soldiers were killed and two others captured. In 2014, a resident of Shtula alerted the Hebrew University’s Cave Research Unit to the presence of a deep cave near the moshav. Researchers later confirmed that the cave set a new national record, reaching a depth of 187 meters. During the 2023 conflict between Palestinian resistance factions and the Israeli occupation, Hezbollah targeted several northern border settlements, including Shtula. On 14 October 2023, an anti-tank missile launched by Hezbollah struck the moshav, killing one person and injuring three others. As of 2021, the population of Shtula was 320 settlers. Sources: Due to the limited availability of Arabic sources, Hebrew-language references were used:

• The official Hebrew website of the settlement

• Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics

• Palestine Remembered entries for the villages of Suruh, Tarbikha, and an-Nabi Rubin