الموارنة في إسرائيل | |
|---|---|
| Total population | |
| 11,000[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Jish,Haifa,Nazareth,Jerusalem | |
| Languages | |
| Arabic,Hebrew,Neo-Aramaic (Language revitalization),[2]Classical Syriac (Liturgical) | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity (Maronite Church) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Arameans in Israel,Assyrians in Israel |
Maronites in Israel (Arabic:الموارنة في إسرائيل;Hebrew:מארונים;Syriac:ܒܝܫܪܐܠ ܡܖ̈ܘܢܝܐ) are an ethnoreligious minority who belong to theMaronite Catholic Church, which has historically been tied withLebanon. They derive their name from the SyriacSaint Maron, whose followers moved toMount Lebanon from northernSyria, establishing the Maronite Church,[3] most of whose members currently reside inLebanon.[3] The Maronites in Israel encompass the long-existing Maronite community inJish,Haifa, andNazareth areas, as well as the families of formerSouth Lebanon Army members, 7,000 of whom fled South Lebanon in April–May 2000 toIsrael. Of these approximately 7,000 original migrants, 2,700 of them remained inIsrael which by 2025 has increased by natural growth (births minus deaths) with their Israeli-born members to 3,500. Of the original immigrants who left over the years, most of them either move toEurope or theUnited States and some decided to return to Lebanon.
Since 2014, Maronites in Israel are eligible to register their ethnicity as"Aramean".
The Maronite community inupper Galilee spans from the 18th century, being concentrated in the village ofKafr Bir'im andJish. Following the1948 Arab-Israeli War, the residents of theMaronite village ofKafr Bir'im were ordered by theIDF toevacuate temporarily, due to its strategic proximity to the Lebanese border. However, the Maronite residents were prohibited from returning to their hometownKafr Bir'im after thewar(a fact that still stands today), and thus ended up taking residence in neighboring villages, predominantly, inJish andRameh,[4][5] both of which had been almost emptied from much of their Arab Muslim population, who fled duringthe war. The Maronites constitute the biggest portion of Jish's population, as 55% of the inhabitants of Jish are Maronite Christians, in comparison to 10% being Melkites and 35% being Sunni Muslims.[6][7][8]
The Maronite population of Israel has significantly[9] increased, as a direct result of the May 2000 withdrawal of IDF from southern Lebanon. Several thousands of formerSLA militia members and their families, mostly Lebanese Maronites, fled from South Lebanon toGalilee during April–May 2000. While many of them later immigrated toFrance,Canada,United States andSouth America, the rest have remained inIsrael. The cities and communities where most Maronites in Israel reside areHaifa,Jish,Nazareth,Isfiya,Acre,Maker andJaffa.[8][10] In 2021, there were 3,500Lebanese in Israel,[11] they are located mainly inNahariya,Kiryat Shmona,Tiberias,Ma'alot andHaifa.[12] Their main church is inAcre, Israel, and they tend to pray separately from other Maronites in Israel.[12]
TheMaronite Church has been in formal communion with the Roman Catholic Church since 1182.[3] As anEastern Catholic church (asui juris Eastern Church incommunion withRome, which yet retains its own language, rites and canon law), it has its own liturgy, which basically follows theAntiochene rite inclassical Syriac. The Maronite Patriarchal Vicariate in Jerusalem dates from 1895.[3]
The Maronites inIsrael and thePalestinian territories are subject to either theMaronite Catholic Archeparchy of Haifa and the Holy Land, or theMaronite Catholic Patriarchal Exarchate of Jerusalem and Palestine, both in turn subject to theMaronite Patriarch of Antioch, but since 1996 both these jurisdictions of the Maronite Church have been in the pastoral care of one single bishop, being united for nowin persona episcopi. The current archbishop of Haifa and the Holy Land isMoussa El-Hage since 2012, succeeding original archbishopPaul Nabil El-Sayah. Between 1906 and 1996, the territory was part of theMaronite Catholic Archeparchy of Tyre, while Jerusalem was served by a patriarchalvicar.[13]
According to the 2022Annuario Pontificio, in 2021 theMaronite Catholic Archeparchy of Haifa and the Holy Land had 10,000 members, 6 parishes, 11 priests and 1 deacon. In 2020, theMaronite Catholic Patriarchal Exarchate of Jerusalem and Palestine had 504 members, 3 parishes, 1 priest and 1 deacon.[14]
A study on Maronites' identity in Israel performed at Haifa University found that most of this community rejectedArab identity in favor of a distinct Maronite identity,[8] and that many Maronite residents ofJish considered themselvesAramean Christian Maronites.[15]
In 2014, Israel decided to recognize theAramean community within its borders as a national minority, allowing some of theChristians in Israel to be registered as "Aramean",[16] instead of "Arab" or "Unclassified". The Christians, who may apply for recognition as Aramean, are mostly Galilean Maronites, who trace part of their cultural identity to theArameans.[17]
Traditionally,Neo-Aramaic had been the spoken language of the Maronites, even in Lebanon, up to the 17th century, when differing linguistic and sociological pressures causedArabic to displace it as the main language, whileClassical Syriac variety of Aramaic remained in use only for liturgical purposes. In 2011, activists tried to revitalizeSyriac by teaching it for young children in Jish Elementary School, with approval of the Israeli Ministry of Education. The program was implemented briefly by the school, but was quickly dropped.[18][15]
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More than half of its current 3,000 inhabitants are Maronite Christians, whom Israeli soldiers displaced from neighboring Bir'am in 1948; they were not allowed to return to their village of origin, which became the Bar'am Kibbutz.
More than 10 thousand Maronites are currently living in Israel. Two thousand of them are former South Lebanon Army (SLA) combatants and their family members who moved to Israel following the withdrawal of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) from Lebanon in 2000.
