Arab al-Safa ( ar, عرب الصفا), was a

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

village in the District of Baysan . It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It was located 7.5 km south of

Baysan Beit She'an ( he, בֵּית שְׁאָן '), also Beth-shean, formerly Beisan ( ar, بيسان ), is a town in the Northern District of Israel. The town lies at the Beit She'an Valley about 120 m (394 feet) below sea level. Beit She'an is be ...

. The village was destroyed on May 20, 1948, by the Israeli Golani Brigade under

Operation Gideon Operation Gideon was a Haganah offensive launched in the closing days of the British Mandate in Palestine, as part of the 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine. Its objectives were to capture Beisan (Beit She'an), clear the surrounding vil ...

History

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the Mandatory Palestine authorities, ''Saffa'' had a population of 255 Muslims, increasing in the 1931 census to 540; 4 Christians and the rest Muslims, in 108 houses. In the 1945 statistics, the population consisted of 650 Muslims, and the total land area was 12,518 dunams, according to an official land and population survey. The land ownership in the village (in dunams) was as follows:Khalidi, 1992, p. 43 By 1945, the Arab population were occupied mainly in cereal farming. The use of village land in that year:Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p
135
/ref> The population had grown to 754 by 1948 with 150 houses.

1948 and aftermath

The village became depopulated on 20 May 1948, a week after the fall of

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 Tirat Zvi ( he, טִירַת צְבִי, lit. ''Zvi Castle'') is a religious kibbutz in the Beit She'an Valley, ten kilometers south of the city of Beit She'an, Israel, just west of the Jordan River and the Israel-Jordan border. It falls under the ...

(established 1937) to the south-west and

Sde Eliyahu Sde Eliyahu ( he, שְׂדֵה אֵלִיָּהוּ, ''lit.'' Eliyahu Field) is a religious kibbutz in northern Israel. Located five kilometres south of Beit She'an, it falls under the jurisdiction of Valley of Springs Regional Council. In it ...

(established 1939) to the west. In 1992 the village site was described: "Three palm trees stand on the village site. The surrounding lands are used for growing wheat."

References

Bibliography

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External links

Welcome To 'Arab al-Safa 'Arab al-Safa

Zochrot Zochrot ( he, זוכרות; "Remembering"; ar, ذاكرات; "Memories") is an Israeli nonprofit organization founded in 2002. Based in Tel Aviv, its aim is to promote awareness of the Palestinian ''Nakba'' ("Catastrophe"), including the 1948 Pa ...

*Survey of Western Palestine Map 9:
IAAWikimedia commons
from Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre {{DEFAULTSORT:Arab Al-Safa Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War