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Arab al-Safa

Coordinates: 32°26′27″N 35°32′16″E / 32.44083°N 35.53778°E / 32.44083; 35.53778
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Arab al-Safa
عرب الصفا
Village
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Arab al-Safa (click the buttons)
Arab al-Safa is located in Mandatory Palestine
Arab al-Safa
Arab al-Safa
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 32°26′27″N 35°32′16″E / 32.44083°N 35.53778°E / 32.44083; 35.53778
Palestine grid200/205
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictBaysan
Date of depopulation20 May 1948[3]
Area
[2]
 • Total12,518 dunams (12.518 km2 or 4.833 sq mi)
Population
 (1945)
 • Total650[1][2]
Cause(s) of depopulationInfluence of nearby town's fall

Arab al-Safa (Arabic: عرب الصفا), was a Palestinian Arab village in the District of Baysan . It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It was located 7.5 km south of Baysan.

The village was destroyed on May 20, 1948, by the Israeli Golani Brigade under Operation Gideon.

History

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British Mandate era

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In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the Mandatory Palestine authorities, Saffa had a population of 255 Muslims,[4] increasing in the 1931 census to 540; 4 Christians and the rest Muslims, in 108 houses.[5]

In the 1945 statistics, the population consisted of 650 Muslims,[1] and the total land area was 12,518 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[2] The land ownership in the village (in dunams) was as follows:[1][2][6]

Owner Dunams
Arab 7,549
Jewish 2,523
Public 2,446
Total 12,518

By 1945, the Arab population were occupied mainly in cereal farming. The use of village land in that year:[7][8]

Land Usage Arab Jewish Public
Citrus and bananas - 49 -
Irrigated and plantation - 14 -
Cereal 7,449 2,460 922
Urban - - -
Cultivable 7,449 2,523 922
Non-cultivable 100 - 1,524

The population had grown to 754 by 1948 with 150 houses.

1948 and aftermath

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The village became depopulated on 20 May 1948, a week after the fall of Baysan[3][6] Following the war the area was incorporated into the State of Israel, with the village's land left undeveloped; the closest villages are the kibbutzim of Tirat Zvi (established 1937) to the south-west and Sde Eliyahu (established 1939) to the west.[6]

In 1992 the village site was described: "Three palm trees stand on the village site. The surrounding lands are used for growing wheat."[6]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 7
  2. ^ a b c d Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 44
  3. ^ a b Morris, 2004, p. xvii, village #132. Also gives cause of depopulation
  4. ^ Barron, 1923, Table IX, p. 31
  5. ^ Mills, 1932, p. 77
  6. ^ a b c d Khalidi, 1992, p. 43
  7. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 85
  8. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 135

Bibliography

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  • Barron, J.B., ed. (1923). Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922. Government of Palestine.
  • Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics (1945). Village Statistics, April, 1945.
  • Hadawi, S. (1970). Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine. Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center.
  • Khalidi, W. (1992). All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948. Washington D.C.: Institute for Palestine Studies. ISBN 0-88728-224-5.
  • Mills, E., ed. (1932). Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas. Jerusalem: Government of Palestine.
  • Morris, B. (2004). The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-00967-6.
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