Al-Zahiriyya al-Tahta
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Al-Zahiriyya al-Tahta ( ar, الظاهرية التحته, al-Ẓāhiriyya al-Ṭaḥṭā) was a Palestinian Arab village in the Safad Subdistrict. The village was on a descent at the southwestern part of Safad, a town east of the village. Possibly named after the Mamluk sultan
al-Zahir Baybars Al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Bunduqdari ( ar, الملك الظاهر ركن الدين بيبرس البندقداري, ''al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Rukn al-Dīn Baybars al-Bunduqdārī'') (1223/1228 – 1 July 1277), of Turkic peoples, T ...
(), the village was incorporated into the Safad Sanjak of the Ottoman Empire in 1517, and its entirely
Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
population paid fixed taxes, as well as taxes on winter pastures, an olive oil or grape syrup press and beehives during the 16th century. By the late 19th century, the population grew to 335 inhabitants, all Muslims. The population remained about the same in the last years of British Mandatory rule. The village lands spanned 6,773 dunums, nearly half of which were used to grow grains, the residents living on 28 dunums. Al-Zahiriyya al-Tahta was depopulated during the
1948 Palestine War The 1948 Palestine war was fought in the territory of what had been, at the start of the war, British-ruled Mandatory Palestine. It is known in Israel as the War of Independence ( he, מלחמת העצמאות, ''Milkhemet Ha'Atzma'ut'') and ...
when its inhabitants fled shortly after the capture of Safed by Jewish paramilitary forces.


Name

According to Edward Henry Palmer the name ''Edh Dhaheriyeh et Tahta'' means "The lower village on the ridge", while according to Walid Khalidi, the name Zahiriyya might be a tribute to the Mamluk Sultan
al-Zahir Baybars Al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Bunduqdari ( ar, الملك الظاهر ركن الدين بيبرس البندقداري, ''al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Rukn al-Dīn Baybars al-Bunduqdārī'') (1223/1228 – 1 July 1277), of Turkic peoples, T ...
.


History


Ottoman era

Incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517 with the rest of
Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
; in the 1596 tax registers al-Zahiriyya al-Tahta belonged to the '' nahiya'' (subdistrict) of Jira in the Safad Sanjak. It had an all Muslim population, consisting of 56 households; an estimated population of 308. The villagers paid most of its taxes as a fixed sum of 6,000
akçe The ''akçe'' or ''akça'' (also spelled ''akche'', ''akcheh''; ota, آقچه; ) refers to a silver coin which was the chief monetary unit of the Ottoman Empire. The word itself evolved from the word "silver or silver money", this word is deri ...
. In addition they paid taxes on goats and beehives, winter pastures, occasional revenues, and a press for olive oil or grape syrup; a total 6,336
akçe The ''akçe'' or ''akça'' (also spelled ''akche'', ''akcheh''; ota, آقچه; ) refers to a silver coin which was the chief monetary unit of the Ottoman Empire. The word itself evolved from the word "silver or silver money", this word is deri ...
. Part of the revenues went to a '' waqf'' (religious endowment).Khalidi, 1992, p. 505 The village appeared under the name of ''Elzalarieh'' on the map that
Pierre Jacotin Pierre Jacotin (1765–1827) was the director of the survey for the ''Carte de l'Égypte (Description de l'Égypte)'', the first triangulation-based map of Egypt, Syria and Palestine. The maps were surveyed in 1799-1800 during the campaign in Eg ...
compiled during Napoleon's invasion of 1799, while in 1838 it was noted as a village in the Safad district. In 1881 the PEF's '' Survey of Western Palestine'' described al-Zahiriyya al-Tahta: "This village is built of good stone materials, at the foot of a hill, with olives and arable land around. It is inhabited by about 100 Moslems, and has two good springs close to the village." A population list from about 1887 referred to the village as ''Kiryet ed Daheriyeh'', and counted 335 Muslim inhabitants.


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, al-Zahiriyya al-Tahta had a population of 212 Muslims,Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Safad, p
41
/ref> increasing slightly in the 1931 census to 256 Muslims, in a total of 53 houses.Mills, 1932, p
106
/ref> In the 1945 statistics, al-Zahiriyya al-Tahta had a population of 350, all Muslims, and a land area of 6,773
dunam A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; tr, dönüm; he, דונם), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area equivalent to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amount ...
s. Of this, 810 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 3,042 were used for grain,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p
118
/ref> while 28 dunams were classified as built-up, or urban area.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p
168
/ref> The children in the village went to school in Safad.


1948 war and aftermath

The inhabitants of al-Zahiriyya al-Tahta fled the village in the aftermath of Safed's capture by the Jewish paramilitary forces of the
Palmach The Palmach (Hebrew: , acronym for , ''Plugot Maḥatz'', "Strike Companies") was the elite fighting force of the Haganah, the underground army of the Yishuv (Jewish community) during the period of the British Mandate for Palestine. The Palmach ...
and the
Haganah Haganah ( he, הַהֲגָנָה, lit. ''The Defence'') was the main Zionist paramilitary organization of the Jewish population ("Yishuv") in Mandatory Palestine between 1920 and its disestablishment in 1948, when it became the core of the ...
and the subsequent exodus of Safed's Arab population in early May 1948, 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 ...
. In 1992 the village site was described: "The entire topography of the place has been altered, as Safad's expansion has taken over the site. A street that is part of the urban neighborhood crosses the site and leads to a recently-built cluster of houses. However, the stone debris from demolished houses can be identified, along with iron supports that protrude from the ruined cement walls. The cemetery is visible, though dilapidated. An olive grove and almond trees grow on the edge of the site." In 2003 a memorial book about the village was published in Jordan.Al-Waridat, 2003; cited in Davis, 2011, p
285
/ref>


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * (pp. 327, 391) * * * * * * * (
591
* * ** ** * * *


External links


al-Zahiriyya al-Tahta
Zochrot
Maqam sheikh Kuweiyis
Dr. Khalil Rizk. *Survey of Western Palestine, Map 4
IAAWikimedia commons
from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center {{DEFAULTSORT:Al-Zahiriyya Al-Tahta Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War District of Safad