Arab al-Safa

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.

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
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 32°26′27″N 35°32′16″E
Palestine grid200/205
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictBaysan
Date of depopulation20 May 1948[1]
Area
 • Total12,518 dunams (12.518 km2 or 4.833 sq mi)
Population
 (1945)
 • Total650[3][2]
Cause(s) of depopulationInfluence of nearby town's fall

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

History

British Mandate era

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,[3] 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:[3][2][6]

OwnerDunams
Arab7,549
Jewish2,523
Public2,446
Total12,518

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

Land UsageArabJewishPublic
Citrus and bananas-49-
Irrigated and plantation-14-
Cereal7,4492,460922
Urban---
Cultivable7,4492,523922
Non-cultivable100-1,524

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

1948 and aftermath

The village became depopulated on 20 May 1948, a week after the fall of Baysan [1][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
  1. Morris, 2004, p. xvii, village #132. Also gives cause of depopulation
  2. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 44
  3. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 7
  4. Barron, 1923, Table IX, p. 31
  5. Mills, 1932, p. 77
  6. 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
  • 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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