Kafr Kanna

Archaeological excavations by the Israel Antiquities Authority uncovered remains dating from the Neolithic to the Mamluk periods. Evidence for a large Early Bronze Age settlement was excavated adjacent to the perennial Kanna spring, overlaying a site dating to the Early Chalcolithic Period. A fortification wall indicates that the settlement was fortified.[5]

Kana was mentioned in the Amarna letters, and was known in the times of the Roman-Jewish historian Josephus.

On the outskirts of the modern town is the tomb of the Jewish sage, rabbi Simeon ben Gamliel, the Nasi (prince) of the Sanhedrin (legislative body of Ancient Israel), who became president of the Sanhedrin in 50 CE. His tomb has remained a Jewish pilgrimage site over the centuries.[6][7]

Nasir-i-Khusraw visited the village in 1047 CE and described the place in his diary:

To the southward [of Kafar Kannah] is a hill, on the top of which they have built a fine monastery. It has a strong gate, and the tomb of the prophet Yunis (Jonas) [...] is shown within. Near the gate of the monastery is a well, and the water thereof is sweet and good. [...] Acre is 4 leagues distant.[8]

Kafr Kanna was conquered by the Crusaders in 1099. During this period, Ali of Herat wrote that one could see the Maqam of Jonas, and also the grave of his son, at Kafr Kanna. This was repeated by Yaqut al-Hamawi, although he only wrote of the tomb as being that of Jonas' father.[8] The name Casale Robert was used by Franks, beside variations on the Arab name. In August 1254 Julian the lord of Sidon sold it to the Knights Hospitaller.[9][10]

Around 1300, Kafr Kanna was described as being a large village, in which lived the chiefs of various tribes. The head tribe is called Kais al-Hamra ("Kais the Red.") According to the chronicler, Al-Dimashqi, the district Buttauf, called "the Drowned Meadow", belonged to the village.[8] Al-Dimashqi further remarked that the waters of the surrounding hills drained into the area, flooding it; as soon as the land is dried up grain was sown.[11]

"Sun setting over landscape with Cana in the distance" (1839) in David Roberts' The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, and Nubia

"Kefr Kenna" (1859) in William McClure Thomson's The Land and the Book[12]

Two versions of the same picture, twenty years apart, with the first labelling it "Cana" without reservation, and the latter as "Kefr Kenna". Thomson wrote that he considered Edward Robinson's 1841 Biblical Researches in Palestine "has about settled the question" of Cana's location in favor of Kana el Jalil.

Kfar Kanna, 1903

Under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, the village flourished in the 16th century, as it lay on the western trade route between Egypt and Syria.[13] High taxes of different kinds were levied on the busy market. Among other things it traded in cloths, produced in Galilee for international consumption. Public baths and ovens were also taxed.[14] In 1533, Ottoman officials recorded the population as 147 households, and by 1596 (or rather 1548) it grew to 475 Muslim taxpayers (426 households and 49 bachelors) and 96 Jewish taxpayers (95 households and 1 bachelor),[15] making it the sixth most populous locality in Palestine at the time. The villagers paid a fixed tax-rate of 25% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, olive trees, fruit trees, cotton, goats and beehives, in addition to occasional revenues and a market toll; a total of 56,303 Akçe.[16][17] At the time, Kafr Kanna was one of a few market villages in the Safad Sanjak and the second largest after the city of Safed.[18] It was also the only locality in the sanjak besides Safed to have a public bathhouse.[19]

A map from Napoleon's invasion of 1799 by Pierre Jacotin showed the place, named as Cana,[20] and

David Roberts' The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, and Nubia illustrated the same in two separate lithographs. Edward Robinson's 1841 Biblical Researches in Palestine wrote that "The monks of the present day, and all recent travellers, find the Cana of the New Testament, where Jesus converted the water into wine, at Kefr Kenna", however he argued that Cana's location was in fact at the ruins known as Kana el Jalil (Cana of Galilee).[21] In the 1881 PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP), described it as a stone-built village, containing 200 Christians and 200 Muslims.[22] A population list from about 1887 showed that Kefr Kenna had about 830 inhabitants; "the greater part Christians."[23]

Postcard of Kafr Kanna by Karimeh Abbud, c. 1925

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Kufr Kenna had a total population of 1,175; 672 Muslims and 503 Christians,[24] of the Christians, 264 were Orthodox, 82 Catholics, 137 were Melkite and 20 were Anglican.[25] The population had increased at the 1931 census to 1,378; 896 Muslims and 482 Christians, in a total of 266 houses.[26]

In the 1945 statistics, the population was 1,930; 1,320 Muslims and 610 Christians,[27] while the total land area was 19,455 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[28] Of this, 1,552 were allocated for plantations and irrigable land, 11,642 for cereals,[29] while 56 dunams were classified as built-up areas.[30]

During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Kfar Kanna was captured by units of Israel's 7th Brigade in the second half of Operation Dekel (July 15–18, 1948).[31] On July 22, 1948 the two priests, Giuseppe Leombruni (Catholic) and Prochoros (Greek Orthodox), and the Christian mayor surrendered Kanna peacefully to the advancing Haganah troops, ensuring that the population can remain in the village.[32][33] Kafr Kanna remained under martial law until 1966.

On 30 March 1976, a resident of Kafr Kanna, Muhammad Yusuf Taha, was one of six people killed by the Israeli army during Land Day demonstrations.[34]

In November 2014, there were clashes for some days because Israeli police killed one Israeli Arab, who attacked a police van with a knife. The police said that they had fired warning shots before shooting him but relatives said he was shot in "cold blood" and images from closed-circuit television (CCTV) showed a police officer shooting at the man while he was backing away.[35]

The mayor of the town is Mujahed Awadeh.[35]