{{Short description|Israeli settlement in the Golan Heights}} {{About|a settlement|the kinase enzyme|GSG2}} {{pp-extended|small=yes}} {{Infobox Israel village |name = Haspin |image=חספין בשקיעה.jpg |imgsize= |hebname = {{Script/Hebrew|חַסְפִּין}} |meaning= |founded = 1978 |founded_by = | country = |district = north |council = Golan | popyear = {{Israel populations|Year}} | population = {{Israel populations|Haspin}} | population_footnotes={{Israel populations|reference}} |pushpin_map = Syria Golan#Israel Golan |pushpin_mapsize=250 |coordinates = {{coord|32|50|42|N|35|47|33|E|display=inline,title}} |website= }}
'''Haspin''' ({{langx|he|חַסְפִּין}}), widely known as '''Hispin''', is a religious Israeli settlement organized as a community settlement in the southern Golan Heights. The international community considers the settlement illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.<ref name="BBC_The_Geneva_Convention">{{cite news | url = https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1682640.stm | title = The Geneva Convention | publisher = BBC | date=2009-12-10}}</ref>
==History== The modern Haspin was established in 1978 at the site of the abandoned village Khisfin ({{langx|ar|خسفين}}). During G. Schumacher's visit to the village in 1883, it was inhabited by about 270 people, living in some 60 huts.<ref name= "Schumacher1888"/> Three-fourths of the village already lay waste or deserted.<ref name= "Schumacher1888"/>
Haspin now falls under the municipal jurisdiction of the Golan Regional Council. In {{Israel populations|Year}} the village had a population of {{Israel populations|Haspin}}.{{Israel populations|reference}} ''Yeshivat HaGolan'', a Hesder Yeshiva is located in the town.
In antiquity, Haspin (''Khisfin'') is first mentioned in sources describing the military exploits of Judas Maccabeus (''I Maccabbees'' 5:26), under the name ''Chaspho''.<ref name= "GalBarLev1978"/> The town features prominently in the early rabbinic writings of the 3rd century CE (corresponding with the late Roman-early Byzantine period), under the name ''Hisfiyya''.<ref name=grandrapids1979>''The Holy Land - from the Persian to the Arab Conquests (536 B.C. to A.D. 640) A Historical Geography '', Michael Avi-Yonah, Grand Rapids, 1979, p. 170; {{ISBN|0-8010-0010-6}}</ref> It is also mentioned in the 3rd century-4th century Mosaic of Rehob,<ref name="grandrapids1979" /> listed among the 'forbidden' towns within the territory of Susita. This designation indicates that, according to rabbinic standards, the town was subject to Jewish ''shmita'' regulations applicable within the Land of Israel.<ref name=":0">{{Citation |last=Sivan |first=Hagith |title=The Periphery of Dreams and Deserts |date=2008-02-14 |work=Palestine in Late Antiquity |pages=95–96 |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/6825/chapter-abstract/150995702?redirectedFrom=fulltext |access-date=2024-09-04 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199284177.003.0003 |isbn=978-0-19-928417-7|url-access=subscription }}</ref> By the late sixth to early seventh centuries, the Jewish population in the village had likely diminished, with the town's residents being replaced by Samaritans and Christians.<ref name=":0" />
==Geographical description== Haspin lies on the northern border of the most productive agricultural region of the southern Golan Heights, which, in ages past, was part of the main road leading up from Hamat Gader and from the Yarmuk valley to the northern regions of the Golan (''Jaulan'') as far as Hauran.<ref name= "GalBarLev1978">{{cite book |contribution=Khasfin (Hispiyeh) |editor1=Gal, Yitzhaki|editor-link1=:he:יצחקי גל |editor2=Bar Lev, Shmuel |editor-link2=:he:סמי בר לב |title=Israel Guide - Hermon and Golan (A useful encyclopedia for the knowledge of the country)|volume=1 |publisher=Keter Publishing House, in affiliation with the Israel Ministry of Defence |location=Jerusalem|year=1978|pages=193–195|language=he|oclc=745203905 }}</ref> An ancient Roman road criss-crossed the region.<ref name= "GalBarLev1978"/> The area is rich in natural springs.<ref name= "GalBarLev1978"/>
==Archaeology== Many ancient artefacts from the Roman and Byzantine periods have been unearthed in Haspin.<ref name= "GalBarLev1978"/> An ancient doorpost stone featuring a three-branched menorah and a lintel adorned with symbols typically associated with Jewish public structures, such as a palm-tree, rosettes, grapevines, and a garland with a Hercules' knot, were found during an archaeological survey at Haspin.<ref name=":0" />
Sir Laurence Oliphant, who visited the area on 15 March 1885, described the remains of a large fort, measuring 68 yards (62 m) x 54 yards (49 m) (the outer wall) and the thickness of the wall that surrounded it measuring {{convert|9|ft|m|}} in diameter, nestled between Haspin and Nâb.<ref name= "GalYitzhakiBarLevShmuel1978">{{cite book |contribution=Khasfin (Hispiyeh) |editor1=Gal, Yitzhaki|editor-link1=:he:יצחקי גל |editor2=Bar Lev, Shmuel |editor-link2=:he:סמי בר לב |title=Israel Guide - Hermon and Golan (A useful encyclopedia for the knowledge of the country)|volume=1 |publisher=Keter Publishing House, in affiliation with the Israel Ministry of Defence |location=Jerusalem|year=1978|page=194|language=he|oclc=745203905 }}</ref> This is probably the fortified caravanserai (''khan'') described by Gottlieb Schumacher in his book ''The Jaulân'', situated west of the town of Haspin.<ref name= "GalYitzhakiBarLevShmuel1978"/><ref name= "Schumacher1888">{{cite book|first1 =G.|last1=Schumacher |authorlink1=Gottlieb Schumacher |title=The Jaulân: surveyed for the German Society for the Exploration of the Holy Land|url=https://archive.org/details/jaulnsurveyedfo00schugoog|year=1888|location=London|publisher=R. Bentley |pages=[https://archive.org/details/jaulnsurveyedfo00schugoog/page/n205/mode/2up 184]–186}} The actual figures of this structure posted in G. Schumacher's work, ''The Jaulân'', are {{convert|160|ft|m|}} x {{convert|133|ft|m|}}</ref> According to Oliphant, the fortress dates from the Early Arab period, and was used by the Crusaders in a later period.<ref name= "GalYitzhakiBarLevShmuel1978"/> Its location is currently unknown.
== Notable people ==
* Maximus the Confessor, Christian monk, theologian and scholar, is said to have been born in the area (Khifsin),<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dhDlzh--Q2AC&dq=maximus+the+confessor+%22Haspin%22&pg=PA352 | title=Early Christian Authors on Samaritans and Samaritanism: Texts, Translations and Commentary | isbn=9783161478314 | last1=Pummer | first1=Reinhard | year=2002 }}</ref> though this is disputed. * Bezalel Smotrich, leader of the Religious Zionist Party and former Israeli Minister of Transportation, was born in Haspin.
==See also== * Israeli-occupied territories
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Golan Regional Council}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Religious Israeli settlements Category:Golan Regional Council Category:Community settlements Category:Religious Israeli communities Category:Populated places in Northern District (Israel) Category:Populated places established in 1978 Category:1978 establishments in the Israeli Military Governorate Category:Israeli settlements in the Golan Heights