English Guide to Israeli Topographical Hiking Maps

Colored lines (top of the rightmost column) are routes blazed with a colored line between two white lines. Unmarked paths are also shown on the maps, but are often shown inaccurately, and we do not recommend hiking off of marked routes without GPS or a good knowledge of the area. Road for all vehicles Water channel Road 4x4 track Stream or streambed; 2-Lane Highway circle = water mill Hiking route Tunnel Pit, well, spring Short walking trail Other, paved road Lake, pool or reservoir Short, signed footpath Gas Station Water container, water tower Mountain bike paths, Railroad, railroad spur marked with a purple Pumping station Dirt Road dot or blaze Swamp, flooded area Airport, airfield, runway Urban trail Contour lines showing Port Cars/bicycles per- elevation at 10-meter intervals Expressway, main road, mitted/prohibited on route Height mark secondary road, Long-distance trail local road, (colored line over Cliffs other trails) Steep slope toll Road Pink: Israel National Trail (shown here) High voltage line Blue: Golan Heights Trail Cemetery Oil pipeline Orange: Jesus Trail and Springs Valley Trail Fence or Stone Wall West Bank/Gaza Israel National Trail information board Relay station, antenna, separation barrier lighthouse Museum (in box: with entrance fee) Memorial Checkpoint in National park or nature reserve separation barrier Cave, industrial pit, tower, mill Nature site Ancient or historic site Quarry Jewish National Fund site Boundary of nature reserve Transformer station Historic, pre-historic or archaeological site Hospital (on older maps the General, industrial, Site pertaining to Israel’s independence symbol is a blue Star of David) agricultural (structures) Site related to pre-1948 Jewish Swimming beach Chimney settlement in Palestine Sand or dunes Ruins Lookout tower, lookout point Flood plains at a Built-up area Lookout point to the direction indicated stream mouth Youth hostel, field school Synagogue Park On older maps, forests and Zip-lines orchards are represented by Church or monastery Forest small icons of trees Visitor center with amenities Mosque, tomb of Plantation or orchard notable Sheikh Picnic area (with drinking water) Military firing area Campground (in box: with entrance fee) Ancient church —entry forbidden or synagogue Camping forbidden, night parking,

day parking Borders International border Natural mineral spring Lebanese border Jordanian border Magen David Adom (ambulance/ Israeli front Wye Accord Areas (West Bank) first aid service) Syrian front Area A—Palestinian Authority control Police station Border of This mark (in one of several colors) Naharim area (an island Area B– Joint Israeli and Palestinian is painted on natural features shared with Jordan) Authority control along marked hiking routes to Nature Reserve show the path Translation and Pronunciation of Common Geographical Terms The .ת in some grammatical forms, will have its last letter changed to ,ה Note: A word ending in resulting word has the same meaning and is pronounced with a T on the end. For example, “Giva” (hill) becomes “Givat” in proper names such as “Givat Yehonatan” (Hill of Jonathan).

These common terms are listed by Hebrew spelling, approximate pronunciation (“kh” is the guttural “h” sound), and meaning. Mara – Cave – מערה\ת En – Spring – עין Yar – Forest – יער Mayan – Spring – מעיין Gesher – Bridge – גשר Be’er – Well – באר Birka – Pool – ברכה\ת Nahal – River (stream, dry bed, or the canyon created by – נחל She’ar – Gate – שער (a stream Khorva – Ruin – חורבה\ת Wadi – The Arabic equivalent of Nahal – ואדי (”Tel – Archaeological site (lit. “Hill – תל Har – Mountain – הר Tsomet – Junction – צומת Giva – Hill – גבעה\ת Shvil Yisrael – Israel National Trail – שביל ישראל Emek – Valley – עמק Shvil HaGolan – Golan Heights Trail – שביל הגולן Beka – Valley – בקעה (”Derekh HaBisura – Jesus Trail (lit. “Gospel Trail – דרך הבשורה (Ramot – רמות .Rama – Plateau or high place (pl – רמה\ת Shvil Emek HaMayanot – Valley of Springs – שביל עמק המעיינת Gan – Park or Garden – גן Gan Le’umi – National Park Trail – גן לאומי Shvil Azori – Regional mountain bicycle trail – שביל אזורי Shmora – Nature Reserve – שמורה\ת Hebrew Alphabet Guide

Learning the whole Hebrew alphabet can be difficult, but this guide should allow you to roughly sound out the names of towns and other sites shown on the map. Some letters have a final form (left column), which is used when they appear at the end of a word. Ayin—Glottal stop or silent ע Aleph—Glottal stop (the sound in the middle of א the word “mitten”), or at the beginning of a word Pe/Fe—P or F פ ף starting with a vowel Tsade—Ts (as in pizza), “ch” with an apostrophe צ ץ Beit—B or V ב Kof—K ק Gimel—G. With an apostrophe, J ג Resh—R ר Dalet—D ד Shin—Sh or S ש Hei—H ה Tav—T ת Vav—V or W as a consonant, O or U as a vowel ו

Zayin—Z ז

-Khet—Kh The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel publishes a set of 20 topo ח -Tet—T graphical hiking maps covering the whole of Israel and the occupied territo ט ries, which are invaluable for independent hikers in the region. The maps Yod– Y as a consonant, I or E as a vowel are only in Hebrew, and this guide was created to enable foreigners to use י them as well. We hope it will encourage visitors and travelers to discover Kaf—K or Kh כ ך the region’s potential for outdoor adventure and its beautiful landscape. On Lamed—L this side is a list of common terms found on the maps; on the opposite side ל is an English translation of the map key. The key found here is from the Mem—M newest edition of the maps; as of January, 2011, only map 9 (the Jerusalem מ ם Nun—N area) has the new system. However, almost all symbols are the same and נ ן this guide will allow you to use any of the maps. Samekh—S ס This guide was created by Julian Bender, with translation help from Kent Barshov, and published and distributed by the Jesus Trail (www.jesustrail.com), based in Nazareth, Israel. With questions about this guide, email [email protected]. The Israel Trails Committee (www.teva.org.il/english/itc) maintains hiking trails and sells maps; they are located within the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel’s offices in Jerusalem, on Heleni HaMalka St., just off Jaffa St.