Arab al-Zubayd was a
Palestinian village in the
Safad Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the
1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine
The 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine was the first phase of the 1947–1949 Palestine war. It broke out after the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution on 29 November 1947 recommending the adoption of the Pa ...
on April 20, 1948, when the villagers fled on hearing the intentions of The Palmach's First Battalion of
Operation Yiftach
Operation Yiftach ( he, מבצע יפתח, ''Mivtza Yiftah'') was a Palmach offensive carried out between 28 April and 23 May 1948. The objectives were to capture Safed and to secure the eastern Galilee before the British Mandate ended on 14 May ...
.
[Khalidi, 1992, p.435.] It was located 15 km northeast of
Safad, near the al-Mutilla-Safad—Tiberias highway.
[
]
History
In 1838, in the Ottoman era, ''ez-Zubeid'' was noted as an Arab tribe, within the Government of Safad.[Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p.]
134
/ref>
British Mandate era
In the 1922 census of Palestine
The 1922 census of Palestine was the first census carried out by the authorities of the British Mandate of Palestine, on 23 October 1922.
The reported population was 757,182, including the military and persons of foreign nationality. The divisi ...
conducted by the British Mandate authorities, ''Arab Zubaid'' had a population of 257; 255 Muslims[Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Safad, p]
42
/ref>
and 2 Melkite
The term Melkite (), also written Melchite, refers to various Eastern Christianity, Eastern Christian churches of the Byzantine Rite and their members originating in the Middle East. The term comes from the common Central Semitic Semitic root, ro ...
Christians, increasing in the 1931 census, when it was counted together with Al-'Ulmaniyya
Al-'Ulmaniyya was a Palestinian Arab village in the Safad Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on April 20, 1948, by the Palmach's First Battalion of Operation Yiftach. It was located 14.5 ...
, to 432; 5 Christians and 427 Muslims, in a total of 100 houses.[Mills, 1932, p]
111
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The population, combined with that of Mallaha, came to 890 Muslims in the 1945 statistics,[ with a total of 2,168 dunams of land.][
The village had many springs for its water source, and farming was the main occupation.][ In 1944–45 a total of 1,761 dunums was allocated to cereal farming.][Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p]
119
/ref> while 20 dunams were classified as built-up land.[Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p]
169
/ref>
1948 war and depopulation
Israeli historian Benny Morris
Benny Morris ( he, בני מוריס; born 8 December 1948) is an Israeli historian. He was a professor of history in the Middle East Studies department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in the city of Beersheba, Israel. He is a member of t ...
has found evidence that the population fled on 20 April (prior to the occupation of any of the neighboring villages), anticipating an Israeli attack.[Khalidi, 1992, p. 436] In August 1948, Golani Brigade units were preparing to blow up the village in spite of a complaint from the nearby Kibbutz Sha’ar ha-’Amaqim, who objected.[ Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion denied responsibility, saying: "No permission was given by me or to any commander to destroy houses." The village was nevertheless destroyed.][
In 1992 the village site was described: "All that remains of ‘Ara al-Zubayed is scattered rubble, buried under a thicket of woods, grass, and thorny plants. Irrigation works tap the village’s water resources. Animals graze in the mountainous portions of the land near the site. Some land in the plain that borders the site has been converted into an Israeli nature reserve, while the rest is cultivated by Israeli farmers."][
]
Notes and references
Bibliography
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External links
Welcome To 'Arab al-Zubayd'Arab al-Zubayd
Zochrot
'Arab al-Zubayd
at Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center
'Arab al-Zubayd
Dr. Khalil Rizk.
*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 4
IAAWikimedia commons
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arab Al-Zubayd
Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War
District of Safad