Dallata

Dallata was located on the upper slope of a hill, built on the ruins of an ancient occupied site. Excavations have found remains of settlements and agricultural installation from the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age.Bron, 2009, [http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=1284&mag_id=115 Dalton, Survey] Tombs had been located in the vicinity.Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp01conduoft#page/206/mode/1up 206]

An excavation carried out in 2006 on a location halfway between the center of Dallata and the new Israeli settlement of Dalton, found alluvial soil that contained worn Late Roman and Byzantine potsherds.Smithline, 2008; [http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.asp?search=&id=878&mag_id=114 Har Dalton Final Report] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222091855/http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.asp?search=&id=878&mag_id=114 |date=2012-02-22 }}Dauphin, 1998, p. 650 Among the findings from Dallata is a marble column inscribed with Hebrew and Aramaic blessings, though only the ends of the lines remain. This column might have been part of a chancel screen within a synagogue.{{Citation |title=XXXVIII. Dalton, Dallata |date=2023-03-20 |work=Volume 5/Part 1 Galilaea and Northern Regions: 5876-6924 |pages=203–205 |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110715774-046/html |access-date=2024-02-19 |publisher=De Gruyter |language=en |doi=10.1515/9783110715774-046 |isbn=978-3-11-071577-4}}

The village was referred to by the Crusaders as Deleha. Mamluk remains have also been found.

In 1517, the village was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire with the rest of Palestine, and in 1596 the village appeared in the tax registers as being in the nahiya (subdistrict) of Jira (part of Safad Sanjak), with an estimated population of 127. The inhabitants paid taxes on wheat, barley, olives, goats, beehives, vineyards, and a press for processing grapes or olives; a total of 4416 Akçe.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 177. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 443 All the inhabitants were Muslim.21 households and 2 bachelors, according to Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 177Note that Rhode, 1979, p. [https://www.academia.edu/2026845/The_Administration_and_Population_of_the_Sancak_of_Safed_in_the_Sixteenth_Century 6] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190420031504/https://www.academia.edu/2026845/The_Administration_and_Population_of_the_Sancak_of_Safed_in_the_Sixteenth_Century |date=2019-04-20 }} writes that the register that Hütteroth and Abdulfattah studied was not from 1595/6, but from 1548/9

In 1662, it was mentioned as a place of Jewish graves,including Jose the Galilean, his son Rabbi Ishmael; Hottinger, 1662, p. [https://archive.org/details/cippihebraicisi00browgoog/page/n74/mode/1up 66]Robinson and Smith, vol 3, p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/356/mode/1up 356] while in 1838 Delata was noted as a village located in the Safad district.Robinson and Smith, vol 3, 2nd appendix, p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/134/mode/1up 134]

In 1875 Victor Guérin visited, and noted that all the inhabitants were Muslim.Guérin, 1880, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/descriptiongogr00gugoog#page/n483/mode/1up 443]-444 In 1881, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) noted the village had about 100 Muslim residents. There were a few gardens around the village, and water was supplied from a well and a birket.Conder & Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp01conduoft#page/197/mode/1up p.197]. Quoted in Khalidi, p. 443 The villagers worked primarily in agriculture throughout its history, and some worked in carpentry and trade.

A population list from about 1887 showed Dalata to have about 355 Muslim inhabitants.Schumacher, 1888, p. [https://archive.org/stream/quarterlystateme19pale#page/n214/mode/1up 189]

The 2006 excavation found a structure dating to the Late Ottoman Period.

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Dallatha had a population of 204, all Muslims,Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Safad, p. [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n43/mode/1up 41] increasing in the 1931 census to 256, still all Muslims, in a total of 43 houses.Mills, 1932, p. [https://web.archive.org/web/20111201210326/http://www.archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas 105]

In the 1945 statistics it had a population of 360, all Muslims, with a total of 9072 Dunams of land. Of this, 3,651 was allocated to cereal, 302 were used for orchards,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-118.jpg 118] while 36 dunams were classified as built-up (urban) land.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-168.jpg 168] The village had a small school which had an enrollment of 37 students in 1945.Khalidi, 1992, pp. 443-4

Dallata was depopulated in the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine. The Israeli historian Benny Morris writes that the date and cause of the depopulation is unknown, while Walid Khalidi assumes it was occupied some time after the fall of the district capital of Safed, 10–11 May 1948. According to Khalidi, the indirect evidence points to the village being seized during Operation Yiftach, and, in that case, it was probably one of the villages attacked in the latter stages of the operation, like neighboring 'Ammuqa, which was occupied on 24 May. The American historian Rosemarie Esber reports that Dallata was one of the villages that locals fled to in the first days of May 1948, when Fir'im, Mughr al-Khayt and Qabba'a were attacked with mortars by Israeli forces.Esber, 2008, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=NXMPAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA332 332], 333 Esber gives the depopulation date as 10 May 1948, and the causes twofold: "Direct mortar attacks on civilians, siege, shooting at fleeing Arabs", and "Terror raids, house demolitions, sniping, hostage-taking, looting, destruction of crop and livestock".Esber, 2008, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=NXMPAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA391 391]

In 1950 after the 1948 war, the settlement of Dalton was established by the Israelis about 1 km southwest of the village site, on village land.

The Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi described the village remains in 1992: "All that remains are the debris of the houses scattered across the site, partly covered by grass, shrubs, and trees. A few stone terraces on village land are still intact, and some olive trees still grow. About 1 km south of the site lies the Israeli settlement of Dalton."

In 2000, a 117-page book was published about Dallata. Included in it was ten pages on the families of the village, listing the father and sons and where they were living in 2000.Hummayd 2000, pp. 40–49. Cited in Davis, 2011, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=wlKjZwMwz0wC&pg=PA251 251]

{{reflist|25em}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book |editor = Barron, J.B. |title = Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922 |url = https://archive.org/details/PalestineCensus1922 |publisher = Government of Palestine |year = 1923 }}
• {{cite journal|last=Bron|first=Hendrik (Enno)|date=2009-12-26|url=http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=1284&mag_id=115|title=Dalton, Survey Final Report|publisher=Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel|number=121}}
• {{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=Palestinian Village Histories: Geographies of the Displaced|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wlKjZwMwz0wC|first=Rochelle A.|last=Davis|publisher=Stanford University Press, Stanford, California|year=2011|isbn=978-0-8047-7312-6}}
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• {{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|last1=Esber|first1=R. M.|author-link1=Rosemarie Esber|title=Under the Cover of War, The Zionist Expulsions of the Palestinians|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NXMPAQAAMAAJ|year=2008|publisher=Arabicus Books & Media|isbn=978-0-9815131-7-1}}
• {{cite book|last=Guérin|first=V.|author-link=Victor Guérin|title=Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine|url=https://archive.org/details/descriptiongogr00gugoog|volume=3: Galilee, pt. 2|year=1880|publisher=L'Imprimerie Nationale|location=Paris|language=fr}}
• {{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}}
• {{cite book|last=Hottinger|first=J.H.|author-link=Johann Heinrich Hottinger|url=https://archive.org/details/cippihebraicisi00browgoog|title=Cippi Hebraici, 2nd ed.|year=1662|publisher=Typis Samuelis Broun}}
• {{cite book | last= Hummayd |first=Nihad Fawzi| title =Dallata: Ta'ir al- niq al-Filastini [Dallata: The Palestinian phoenix] | year = 2000|location=Damascus, Syria: Dar al-Shajara|language=ar}}
• {{cite book

|last1=Hütteroth |first1=W.-D.|author-link1=Wolf-Dieter Hütteroth

|last2=Abdulfattah|first2=K. |author-link2=Kamal Abdulfattah

|title=Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wqULAAAAIAAJ |year=1977 |publisher=Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft |isbn=3-920405-41-2 }}

• {{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 | 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}}
• {{cite thesis |type=PhD |last=Rhode |first=H. |author-link=Harold Rhode |date=1979 |url=https://www.academia.edu/2026845 |title=Administration and Population of the Sancak of Safed in the Sixteenth Century |publisher=Columbia University |access-date=2017-11-02 |archive-date=2020-03-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200301141739/https://www.academia.edu/2026845/The_Administration_and_Population_of_the_Sancak_of_Safed_in_the_Sixteenth_Century |url-status=dead }}
• {{cite book|last1=Robinson|first1=E.|author-link1=Edward Robinson (scholar)|last2=Smith|first2=E.|author-link2=Eli Smith|year=1841|url=https://archive.org/details/biblicalresearch03robiuoft|title=Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838|location=Boston|publisher=Crocker & Brewster|volume=3}}
• {{cite journal | last = Schumacher | first = G. | author-link = Gottlieb Schumacher | title = Population list of the Liwa of Akka | journal = Quarterly Statement - Palestine Exploration Fund | volume = 20 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/quarterlystateme19pale/page/169 169]–191 | url = https://archive.org/details/quarterlystateme19pale | year = 1888 }}
• {{cite book|title=Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum Palaestinae, D-F|volume=3|url=https://archive.org/details/9004131973|first1=M.|last1=Sharon|authorlink=Moshe Sharon|year=2004|publisher=BRILL|isbn=90-04-13197-3}} (pp. [https://archive.org/details/9004131973/page/n59/mode/1up 5]-6)
• {{cite journal|last=Smithline|first=Howard|date=2008-09-04|url=http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?search=&id=878&mag_id=114|title=Har Dalton Final Report|publisher=Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel|number=120}}

{{refend}}

• [http://www.palestineremembered.com/Safad/Dallata/index.html Welcome To Dallata]
• [http://www.zochrot.org/en/village/49119 Dallata], at Zochrot
• 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/dallata.htm Dallata], at Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center
• [http://www.villagesofpalestine.com/Dallata.htm Dallata], Dr. Khalil Rizk.

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

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

Category:District of Safad