Safsaf

The village was called Safsofa in Roman times.Khalidi, 1992, p. 490

According to Yaqut, it was harried in 950 CE by the Hamdanid ruler of Aleppo, Sayf al-Dawla.Le Strange, 1890, p. [https://archive.org/stream/palestineundermo00lestuoft#page/526/mode/1up 526]

In the early sixteenth century CE, Safsaf was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire, and by the 1596 tax records, it was a village in the nahiyah ("subdistrict") of Jira, part of Sanjak Safad. It had a population of 25 households, an estimated 138 persons, all Muslim. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 25% on several agricultural items, including wheat, barley, olives and fruits, as well as other types of produce, such as beehives and goats; a total of 3,714 akçe. A quarter of the revenue went to a waqf (religious endowment).Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p.177, quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 490Note 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 1838 Safsaf was noted as a village in the Safad district,Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, 2nd appendix, p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/134/mode/1up 134] while in 1875 Victor Guérin described it as a village with fifteen Muslim families.Guérin, 1880, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/descriptiongogr00gugoog#page/n458/mode/1up1up 418]-419

In 1881 the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described Safsaf as a small village situated on a plain, with a population of about 100. They also noted that "ornamented stones of a preexisting public building" had been built into the doorway of the village mosque.Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp01conduoft#page/257/mode/1up 257]. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 491 The villagers cultivated olive and fig trees and vineyards.Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p.[https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp01conduoft#page/200/mode/1up 200]. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 491

A population list from about 1887 showed Safsaf to have about 740 inhabitants, all Muslim.Schumacher, 1888, p. [https://archive.org/stream/quarterlystateme19pale#page/n215/mode/1up 190] At this time it was part of Beirut vilayet.

Safsaf became a part of the British Mandate in 1922. During this time, the village lay on the eastern side of the Safad-Tarshiha highway and extended in a northeast–southwest direction. All the residents of Safsaf were Muslims. A mosque and several shops were located in the village center, and an elementary school was established during this period. Agriculture was the main economic activity, and it was both irrigated from springs and rainfed. Fruits and olives were cultivated on the land north of the village.

In the 1922 census of Palestine Safsaf had a population of 521 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 662, still all Muslims, in a total of 124 houses.Mills, 1932, p. [https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas 110]

File:Safsaf.jpg

In the 1945 statistics the population was 910 Muslims, with a total of 7,391 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey. Of this, a total of 2,586 dunums were allotted to cereals; 769 dunums were irrigated or 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-121.jpg 121] while a 72 dunams was built-up (urban) area.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]

{{Main article|Safsaf massacre}}

On October 29, 1948, Israeli forces assaulted the village as part of Operation Hiram.{{Citation|title=Welcome to Safsaf|publisher=Palestine Remembered|access-date=2007-12-12|url=http://www.palestineremembered.com/Safad/Safsaf/index.html}} After the villagers surrendered, some 50-70 men were massacred while bound and four women reported being raped.Benvenisti, 2000, p. [https://archive.org/details/sacredlandscapeb00benvrich/page/153 153]Nazzal, 1978, pp. 93-96Morris, 2004, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA481 481] The IDF records for this massacre remain classified.The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, Ilan Pappe, Oneworld, Oxford, 2006, p. 184:"Israeli archival documents confirm this case"

In 1949 Kfar Hoshen was established on village land, followed by Bar Yohai in 1979, also on village land.

In 1992 the village site was described: "The site is overgrown with grass and scattered trees among which can be seen a few terraces and piles of stones from destroyed houses. A few houses are inhabited by Israelis. A fraction of surrounding land is cultivated by the settlements, and the rest is forested."

• Killings and massacres during the 1948 Palestine War
• Depopulated Palestinian locations in Israel

{{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 book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7itq6zYtSJwC|title=Sacred landscape: the buried history of the Holy Land since 1948|first=M.|last=Benveniśtî|author-link1=Meron Benvenisti|edition=Illustrated|publisher=University of California Press|year=2000|isbn=0-520-21154-5}}
• {{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=Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics|year=1945}}
• {{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 Centre}}
• {{cite book |last1=Hütteroth|first1=W.-D.|author-link1=Wolf-Dieter Hütteroth

|first2=K. | last2=Abdulfattah |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|title=Palestine Under the Moslems: A Description of Syria and the Holy Land from A.D. 650 to 1500|url=https://archive.org/details/palestineundermo00lestuoft|first=G.|last=Le Strange|author-link=Guy Le Strange|year=1890|publisher=Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund}}
• {{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=Nazzal|first=Nafez|year=1978|title=The Palestinian Exodus from Galilee 1948|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=li1IAAAAMAAJ|publisher=The Institute for Palestine Studies|location=Beirut|isbn=9780887281280}} (Safsaf, p. 93-96, 107)
• {{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=2018-11-13 |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 = 169–191 | url = https://archive.org/details/quarterlystateme19pale | year = 1888 }}

{{refend}}

• [http://www.safsaf.org welcome to safsaf - Nidal Hamad] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200621215631/http://www.safsaf.org/ |date=2020-06-21 }}
• [http://www.palestineremembered.com/Safad/Safsaf/index.html Welcome to Safsaf]
• [http://www.zochrot.org/en/village/49364 Safsaf], 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/sfsaf.htm Safsaf], from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20071024013802/http://www.jalili48.com/pub/EN_ShowGallary.asp?GName=What_Remained_of_the_destroyed&SuName=Safsaf Safsaf photos], Dr. Moslih Kanaaneh
• [http://www.villagesofpalestine.com/Safsaf.htm Safsaf], Dr. Khalil Rizk.

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

Category:District of Safad

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

Category:Ancient Jewish settlements of Galilee