Baron Rothschild buys a large tract of…

Baron Rothschild buys a large tract of land in 1894 for Jewish settlement in the Golan plateau, a hilly area overlooking the upper Jordan River valley on the west; he is followed by other groups in the United States, Canada, and Europe.

Jewish colonization is attempted but is frustrated by the hostility of the Arab population and by the Ottoman land laws, which virtually forbids settlement by nonnatives.

The Jewish settlement of Metulla (established in 1896), one of twelve sponsored by Rothschild, has the further advantage of controlling water sources; it establishes the northern limit of Jewish settlement in Palestine.