Arab al-Safa

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Arab al-Safa
عرب الصفا
Village
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1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
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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[1]
Area
[2]
 • Total
12,518 dunams (12.518 km2; 4.833 sq mi)
Population
 (1945)
 • Total
650[3][2]
Cause(s) of depopulationInfluence of nearby town's fall

Arab al-Safa (Arabic: عرب الصفا), was a majority Arab village in the District of Baysan in the times of Ottoman Palestine and through the British Mandatory Palestine period, located 7.5 km (4.7 mi) south of Beit She'an. The village was destroyed and rendered inhabitable on 20 May 1948 by the IDF's Golani Brigade under Operation Gideon during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

History

Ottoman empire era

Arab al-Safa originated as a Bedouin summer work camp, before becoming a permanent village by the late 19th century. It transitioned to focus on agriculture, particularly grains, as noted by traveler Victor Guérin.[4][5] During the late Ottoman period (ending in 1918), Arab al-Safa was part of a local district called the Baysan nahiye, an administrative unit for villages and rural areas within the larger Beisan subdistrict.[5] This area fell under the broader Acre district as the Ottoman reforms (Tanzimat) from 1864 onward reorganized the entire Palestine region's governance into shifting provinces for better tax collection and control.[5]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the Mandatory Palestine authorities, Saffa had a population of 255 Muslims,[6] increasing in the 1931 census to 540; 4 Christians and the rest Muslims, in 108 houses.[7]

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][8]

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:[9][10]

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 was depopulated on 20 May 1948, a week after the fall of Baysan[1][8] 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.[8]

In 1992 the village site was described: "Three palm trees stand on the village site. The surrounding lands are used for growing wheat."[8]

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. "'Arab al-Safa — عَرَب الصَفا". Interactive Encyclopedia of the Palestine Question – palquest. Retrieved 9 May 2026.
  5. "Administrative Divisions of Ottoman Palestine, c. 1860-1914". ercloop.hypotheses.org. Retrieved 9 May 2026.
  6. Barron, 1923, Table IX, p. 31
  7. Mills, 1932, p. 77
  8. Khalidi, 1992, p. 43
  9. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 85
  10. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 135

Bibliography