Tel Aviv — Israel’s Tourism Ministry proudly announced on Tuesday that the Circassian Kfar Kama village has been included in the United Nations' "Best Tourism Villages 2022." The 32 villages were selected by the UN World Tourism Organization to both promote tourism and safeguard rural communities and their landscapes.

The prestigious competition, now in its second year, included 130 villages in 57 countries of up to 15,000 residents, small communities where the tourism industry is often underfunded compared with urban areas, develop sustainable tourism. Entrants offered visitors a wholesome experience including historic villages, a cultivated landscape and natural and cultural diversity as well as local values and activities, including gastronomy.

The Circassian community in Israel counts some 4,000 to 5,000 people, and the majority of them live in Kfar Kama. Both Kfar Kama and the other main Circassian village in Israel — Rehaniya — are located in the Galilee region, in the north of the country.

In the late 1870s, under the Ottoman Empire and in the midst of the 100-year Russo-Circassian War, a group of Circassians fleeing persecution arrived to the Galilee and settled there. Today’s Israeli Circassians are all descendants of these Circassian tribes from the North Caucasus region, bordering the Black Sea, and most of them are Sunni Muslims. Together with the Druze community, and unlike Arab Israelis, they serve in the Israeli army. They speak both Hebrew and Arabic and their schools operate in Hebrew, though the Circassian language and heritage are also taught.