Hukok Fortress

To the north-west of the Sea of Galilee, near the Amud stream, lies kibbutz Hukok, founded in 1946 by the recruited trainees of the Palmach, graduates of the “Mikveh Israel” agricultural school and the “HaNoar HaOved” (The Working Youth) movement. The Hukok fortress had been erected a year earlier by “Solel Boneh” as a strategic settlement point at the heart of an area inhabited by Arab villages controlling the north-west of the Sea of Galilee. During the War of Independence, Hukok constituted a buffer between the Arab forces and the road, which connects Tiberias with the Upper Galilee. Hukok was the only Jewish settlement in the area for many years, and it guarded the lands of the entire region. Following the War of Independence the kibbutz evolved beyond the fortress, which continued to serve as an absorption center until 1983.

What’s at the site: a visitor’s center dedicated to the history of settlement and pre-state defence; the preserved fortress courtyard, which included two observation and defence towers, a dining room and a kitchen, a bakery, bedrooms, a warehouse and a sewing workshop, and armoury and a water collection and conservation system. Four tents have been set up in the courtyard which used as “family rooms” for the settlers; an arrangement of hiding caves, which belonged to an ancient settlement during of time of the Bar Kokhba revolt, and a cave, in which a prehistoric skeleton was found.

For the general public: interactive tours of the fortress and the cave area, experiential instructional activity for pupils and adults; evening activities.