Fara (
Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
: ) was a
Palestinian Arab
Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world.
Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...
village in the
Safad Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the
1948 Arab-Israeli War on October 30, 1948, under
Operation Hiram. It was located 11.5 km north of
Safad on the Wadi al-Fara.
History
According to the
PEF's ''
Survey of Western Palestine'' (SWP) this place seems to be the most probable site of Caphar Farara (or Farawa), where was the tomb of
R. Nahum of Gimzo, as mentioned in the various Jewish itineraries from 1210 to 1664 CE.
Ottoman era
During the early
Ottoman era in 1596, Fara was part of the ''
nahiyah
A nāḥiyah ( , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiyeh, nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level divisi ...
'' ("subdistrict") of Jira, part of the ''
Liwa'' ("district") of
Safad. It had a population of 40 households and 11 bachelors; an estimated 281 persons, all
Muslim
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
.
[Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 178, as given by Khalidi, 1992, p. ] They paid a fixed tax rate of 25% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, olive trees, vineyards, goats and beehives, in addition to occasional revenues and a press for olive oil or grape syrup; a total of 3,832
akçe. Half of the revenues went to a ''
waqf''.
[Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 178]
In 1838 ''Farah'' was noted as a village in the Safad district, while in 1881 the SWP described Farah as having "
Mud and
basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
houses, containing about 100 Moslems. It is situated on a plain, cultivated as arable land. Water from Wady Far'ah and from
cisterns and birket." The villagers cultivated olive and fig trees and vineyards.
[Khalidi, 1992, p. 448]
A population list from about 1887 showed ''Farah'' to have an estimated 385 Muslim inhabitants.
British Mandate era
In the
1922 census of Palestine conducted by the
British Mandate authorities, "Fara" had a population of 218, all Muslims except 1 Christian,
[Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Safad, p.]
41
/ref> increasing slightly in the 1931 census to 229, all Muslims, in a total of 42 houses.[Mills, 1932, p]
106
/ref>
In the 1944/5 statistics it had a population of 320 Muslims,[ with a total of 7,229 dunums of land.][ Of this, 3,738 were used for ]cereal
A cereal is a grass cultivated for its edible grain. Cereals are the world's largest crops, and are therefore staple foods. They include rice, wheat, rye, oats, barley, millet, and maize ( Corn). Edible grains from other plant families, ...
, 173 were irrigated or used for orchards,[Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945''. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p]
118
/ref> while 38 dunams were classified as built-up (urban), land.[Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p]
169
/ref>
1948, aftermath
In 1992 the village site was described: "One stone building (probably a mosque) stands on the site, as well as several stone terraces. On the whole, however, the site is overgrown with grass and fig trees. Less than 1 km north of it lies the settlement of Yir'on. A portion of the land around the village is planted with fruit trees, such as apples, but the land along the valley’s slope is deserted and uncultivated."[
]
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Welcome To Fara Fara
Zochrot,
Fara
Villages of Palestine
*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 4
IAAWikimedia commons
{{Palestinian Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Palestine War
Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War
District of Safad