Saffa, Ramallah

Saffa ( ar, صفّاء) is a Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, located west of Ramallah in the northern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the town had a population of approximately 3,802 inhabitants in 2007.

Location

Saffa is located (in straight distance) west of Ramallah. It is bordered by Beit 'Ur at Tahta, Kafr Ni'ma and Deir Ibzi to the east, Bil'in, Ni'lin and Al Midya to the north, Israel to the west, and Beit 'Ur at Tahta and Beit Sira to the south.

History

It has been proposed identifying Saffa with Casale ''Saphet'' of the Crusader era.

Ottoman era

In the early Ottoman census of 1525-1526, it was not mentioned, but in 1538-1539, ''Saffa'' was located in the ''nahiya'' of Quds, and named as ''Mazra'', or cultivated land.

In 1838 it was noted as a Muslim village, located in the ''Beni Harith'' district, west of Jerusalem.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p.
124
/ref>Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, p.
58
/ref>

In 1870, Victor Guérin noted that: "This village occupies a high plateau; it contains four hundred inhabitants. Some stones, scattered or embedded in Arab buildings, and numerous excavations in the rock, such as cisterns, tombs, quarries and subterranean vaults, proves that the present Saffa succeeded an ancient locality." An Ottoman village list of about the same year showed that Saffa had 200 inhabitants with 67 houses, though the population count included only the men.

In 1883 the PEF's ''Survey of Western Palestine'' described ''Suffa'': "A small village standing high on a ridge, with a well to the east and a sacred place to the south."

In 1896 the population of Safa was estimated to be about 564 persons.

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Saffa had a population of 495 Muslims,Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Ramallah, p
17
/ref> increasing in the 1931 census to 644 Muslims, in 143 houses.Mills, 1932, p
50

In the 1945 statistics the population was 790 Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p
26
/ref> while the total land area was 9,602 dunams, according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 2,536 were used for plantations and irrigable land, 2,975 for cereals, while 99 dunams were classified as built-up areas.

File:Saffa 1944.jpg, Saffa 1944 1:20,000 from 1919 survey
File:Burj 1945.jpg, Saffa 1945 1:250,000

Jordanian era

In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreementsian rule. It was annexed by Jordan in 1950.

In 1961, the population of Saffa was 1,364.

1967-present

After the Six-Day War in 1967, Saffa has been under Israeli occupation.

After the 1995 accords, 12.9% of village land was classified as Area B, and the remaining 87.1% as Area C.Saffa village profile
ARIJ, p. 16

Israel has confiscated land from Saffa in order to construct six Israeli settlements:

* 814 dunams for Kfar Rut,Saffa village profile
ARIJ, p. 17
* 781 dunams for Shilat,
* 682 dunams for Menora,
* 471 dunams for Makkabim,
* 441 dunams for Lapid, and
* 5 dunams for Hashmona'im.

References

Bibliography

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External links

Saffa
Welcome to Palestine
*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 17
IAAWikimedia commons

Saffa village (fact sheet)
Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem (ARIJ)
Saffa village profile
ARIJ
Saffa aerial photo
ARIJ
Locality Development Priorities and Needs in Saffa Village
ARIJ
{{Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate
Villages in the West Bank
Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate
Municipalities of the State of Palestine