Al-Salihiyya, Palestine

Canoeing pioneer John MacGregor was taken prisoner by the villagers of Al-Salihiyya during his exploration of the region in January 1869.MacGregor, 1869/1904, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/robroyonjordana00macggoog#page/n255/mode/1up 223]-246. Nb going rate for holding an English man for ransom was at least 100ll. During his second night in the village he ate with the village sheikh and 50 other men. The meal consisted of "kusskoosoo" which MacGregor described as "a kind of small bean porridge uncommonly good to eat" and was eaten with saucers of buffalo cream. It was served on a communal wooden plate with wooden spoons for the cream. "They all behaved with excellent propriety and good breeding, but without constraint."MacGregor, 1869/1904, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/robroyonjordana00macggoog#page/n270/mode/1up 238]-239

In 1881, during the late Ottoman period, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described the village as "a mud village, containing about ninety Moslems; situated on plain of arable land, with march and river near."Conder and Kitchener, 1881, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp01conduoft#page/203/mode/1up 203]

At the time of the British Mandate for Palestine, the village had a population of 1281, all Muslim except 2 Christians. They occupied a total of 257 houses, according to the 1931 census of Palestine.Mills, 1932, p. [https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas 110]

A visitor to the village in 1936 noted that the inhabitants, along with those in other Huleh villages, had a "pronounced negroid element" and suggested they may have originated from Sudan or from slaves purchased in Mecca and resold at Ma'an. Their dialect was close to Egyptian Arabic. The village's main industry was harvesting the papyrus groves of Lake Huleh and the manufacture of papyrus matting. The mats were either fine work for interior use or courser work for building construction. The reed huts were made weatherproof in winter by adding further layers. A roof might end up eight or nine mats thick with the walls made up of four or five layers. They kept chickens, geese and buffaloes. The arable land was made difficult to plough by an invasive low growing grass similar to couch grass, called Injeel or Najeel. Some wheat, Indian corn and millet (dura) was being grown. The villagers also caught fish, of which there was an abundance, with drag nets as well as cast nets. They also acted as guides during the duck shooting season. The writer expressed fear for their future. "The whole area has been taken over by Jewish colonists who intend in the near future to drain it and convert it into useful arable land."Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement. October 1936. pp. 225−229. "A Visit to the Mat Makers of Huleh" by Theodore Larsson.

In the 1945 statistics the population was 1,520, all Muslims, owning 4,528 dunams, while Jews owned 789 dunams, and 290 was publicly owned, according to an official land and population survey.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20I/Safad/Page-071.jpg 71] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604235830/http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20I/Safad/Page-071.jpg |date=2011-06-04 }} Of this, 23 dunams were allocated for plantations and irrigable land, 4,230 for cereals,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20II/Safad/Page-121.jpg 121] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180926124115/http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20II/Safad/Page-121.jpg |date=2018-09-26 }} while 94 dunams were classified as built-up areas.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20III/Safad/Page-171.jpg 171] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180926124116/http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20III/Safad/Page-171.jpg |date=2018-09-26 }}

The village had a mosque and an elementary school for boys.Khalidi, 1992, pp. 492-3

According to Israeli sources, the village had traditionally been ‘friendly’ towards the Yishuv.Morris, 2004, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA251 251], note #708, p.[https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA303 303] In late May, 1948, the Haganah reported an argument in Salihiya between youngsters and village elders. The youngsters thought it best ‘to approach the Jews and hand over their arms and stay’. The elders, however, feared that if an Arab army nonetheless reached their area, they would be deemed traitors, ‘and the village would be destroyed.Morris, 2004, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA96 96], note #171, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA146 146] According to Haganah sources: ‘They wanted negotiations [with us]. We did not show up. [They became] afraid.’ The village was depopulated on May 25, 1948, by the Palmach's First Battalion{{citation needed|date=July 2016}} during Operation Yiftach.

Walid Khalidi described the village remains in 1992: "The village has been obliterated; no trace of it remains. Residents of the settlement of Kefar Blum cultivate the surrounding land."

File:Rob_Roy_Map_V_p.195_i.jpg|Al-Salihiyya (Salhyeh) marked on John MacGregor's map. January 1869

File:PikiWiki Israel 13450 Bedouins in the Hula Valley.jpg|Example of a papyrus reed house in the Hula valley. c. 1910.

File:Davis ii 001.jpg|Hula Bedouin 1935

File:Tel Hai.jpg|Al-Salihiyya, 1944 (bottom right quadrant).

File:PikiWiki 3398 Economy of Palestine.jpg|Preparing papyrus for weaving.

File:Papyrus mat.jpg|Members of the Yiftach Brigade in the Hula with an example of local matting. 1948

• Marsh Arabs
• Al-Mansura
• Mallaha

{{Reflist|25em}}

{{Refbegin}}

• {{cite book|last1=Conder|first1=C.R.|author-link1=Claude Reignier Conder|last2=Kitchener|first2=H.H.|author-link2=Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener|year=1881|url=https://archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp01conduoft|title=The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology|location=London|publisher=Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund|volume=1}}
• {{cite book|title=Village Statistics, April, 1945 |url=http://web.nli.org.il/sites/nli/Hebrew/library/Pages/BookReader.aspx?pid=856390|author=Department of Statistics|year=1945|publisher=Government of Palestine}}
• {{cite book|title=Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine|url=http://www.palestineremembered.com/Articles/General-2/Story3150.html|first=S.|last=Hadawi|author-link=Sami Hadawi|year=1970|publisher=Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center|access-date=2009-08-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181208215837/http://www.palestineremembered.com/Articles/General-2/Story3150.html|archive-date=2018-12-08|url-status=dead}}
• {{cite book|title=All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_By7AAAAIAAJ |first=W.|last=Khalidi|author-link=Walid Khalidi|year=1992|location=Washington D.C.|publisher=Institute for Palestine Studies|isbn=0-88728-224-5}}
• {{cite book|title=The Rob Roy on The Jordan. A Canoe Cruise in Palestine, Egypt, and the Wates of Damascus |url=https://archive.org/details/robroyonjordana00macggoog |first=J.|last= MacGregor|author-link=John MacGregor (sportsman)|year= 1869|edition= 8th, 1904|publisher=John Murray}}
• {{cite book | editor = Mills, E.| title = Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas |url=https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas | publisher = Government of Palestine | location = Jerusalem | year = 1932}}
• {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C |first=B.|last=Morris |author-link=Benny Morris |year=2004 |title=The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited|isbn=978-0-521-00967-6 |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}
• {{cite book|last=Palmer|first=E.H.|author-link=Edward Henry Palmer|year=1881|url=https://archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp00conduoft|title=The Survey of Western Palestine: Arabic and English Name Lists Collected During the Survey by Lieutenants Conder and Kitchener, R. E. Transliterated and Explained by E.H. Palmer|publisher=Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund}}

{{Refend}}

• [http://www.palestineremembered.com/Safad/al-Salihiyya/index.html Welcome To al-Salihiyya]
• [http://www.zochrot.org/en/village/49353 al-Salihiyya], Zochrot
• [http://www.villagesofpalestine.com/alSalihiyya.htm al-Salihiyya], Villages of Palestine
• Survey of Western Palestine, map 4: [http://www.iaa-archives.org.il/zoom/zoom.aspx?folder_id=93&type_id=6&id=8367 IAA], [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Survey_of_Western_Palestine_1880.04.jpg Wikimedia commons]
• [http://www.alnakba.org/villages/safad/salihiyya.htm al-Salihiyya], from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center

{{Palestinian Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Palestine War}}

Category:Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War

Category:District of Safad