Sataf

Remains of a 4,000 BCE Chalcolithic village were discovered at the site. The related traces of agricultural activities number among the oldest in the region.

Most ancient remains date to the Byzantine period.

The first written mention of the site is from the Mamluk era.{{cite web|url=https://www.gemsinisrael.com/the-gems/the-judean-hills/ancient-agriculture-the-sataf/|title=Ancient Agriculture: Sataf - A Reconstruction|first=Yael|last=Adar|publisher=Gems in Israel|access-date=27 November 2017}}

Sataf was noted in the Ottoman tax records of 1525-1526 and 1538–1539, as being located in the Sanjak of Al-Quds.Toledano, 1984, pp. 280, 298. Toledano gives its location as 31°46′20″N 35°07′25″E According to archaeological work, the village originated in the late 16th century, with the use of several cave−dwellings. Later, houses were erected in front of the caves.Petersen, 2001, pp. [https://www.academia.edu/21620272/Gazetteer_6._S-Z 274]−275

In 1838 it was described as a Muslim village, located in the Beni Hasan district, west of Jerusalem.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/123/mode/1up 123]

In 1863, Victor Guérin found a village of one hundred and eighty people. He further noted that their houses were standing on the slopes of a mountain, and that the mountainside was covered by successive terraces.Guérin, 1869, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/descriptiongog02gu#page/3/mode/1up 3]-4 An Ottoman village list from about 1870 counted 38 houses and a population of 115, whereby only men were counted.Socin, 1879, p. [https://archive.org/stream/zeitschriftdesde01deut#page/160/mode/1up 160] also noted it was located in the Beni Hasan DistrictHartmann, 1883, p. [https://archive.org/stream/bub_gb_BZobAQAAIAAJ#page/n930/mode/1up 122], noted 40 houses

In 1883, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine described Setaf as "a village of moderate size, of stone houses, perched on the steep side of a valley. It has a spring lower down, on the north."Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp03conduoft#page/22/mode/1up 22]

In 1896 the population of Sataf was estimated to be about 180 persons.Schick, 1896, p. [https://archive.org/stream/zeitschriftdesde19deut#page/n232/mode/1up 125]

By the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Sataf had a population of 329; 321 Muslims and 8 Christians.Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Jerusalem, p. [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n16/mode/1up 14] All the Christians were Roman Catholic.Barron, 1923, Table XVI, p. [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n47/mode/1up 45] The 1931 census lists 381 inhabitants; 379 Muslim and 2 Christian, in a total of 101 houses.Mills, 1932, p. [https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas 43]

In the 1945 statistics the population of Sataf was 540, all Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. [http://cs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/yabber/census/VSpages/VS1945_p25.jpg 25] and the total land area was 3,775 dunams, 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/Jerusalem/Page-058.jpg 58] Of this, 928 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 465 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/Jerusalem/Page-104.jpg 104] while 22 dunams were built-up land.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20III/Jerusalem/Page-154.jpg 154]

On July 13–14, 1948 the Arab village was depopulated by the Har'el Brigade, during Operation Danny. Sataf and the surrounding area became part of the newly created State of Israel.

A short time after the 1948 War, a small group of Jewish immigrants from North Africa settled for a few months in the village area, calling it Bikura.{{cite news | title = This Murder Was Pinned on Palestinian Terrorists. Intelligence Docs Suggest They Were Jews | author = Nir Hasson | newspaper = Haaretz | date = 23 June 2023 | url = https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-06-23/ty-article-magazine/.highlight/this-murder-was-pinned-on-palestinian-terrorists-intelligence-docs-suggest-they-were-jews/00000188-e504-d5fc-ab9d-ff6c0b930000}} The village, which lasted only until the fall of 1950, was founded on the initiative of former Lehi commanded Natan Yellin-Mor. Subsequently, the IDF's Unit 101 and paratroopers used the site for training purposes.

In the 1980s the Jewish National Fund began the restoration of ancient agricultural terraces, and the area around the springs has been turned into a tourist site. A forest around the site was also planted by the Jewish National Fund.[http://www.alnakba.org/villages/jerusalem/sataf.htm Sataf] from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center

In 1992, Sataf was described as follows: "Many half-destroyed walls still stand, and some still have arched doorways. The walls of a few houses with collapsed roofs are almost intact....The area around the village spring, which is located to the east next to the ruins of a rectangular stone house, has been turned into an Israeli tourist site. A Jewish family has settled on the west side of the village, and have fenced in some of the village area."Khalidi, 1992, p. 317

The shrine (maqam) of 'Ubayd, southwest of the village site, contains a courtyard and three rooms. According to Tawfiq Canaan, Sheikh 'Ubayd "is said to kill any goat or sheep who enters his cave."Canaan, 1927, p. [http://digital.soas.ac.uk/LOAA003475/00002/108j 96]

Image:Sataf,_Sataf.jpg|The hill (jabal) across from Sataf. September 1, 1945.

Image:SatafNov062022 09.jpg|Ein Sataf (Ein El-Balad), 2022

Image:Ein Sataf14.jpg|Ein Sataf, 2009

Image:SatafNov062022 02.jpg|Ein Bikura (Ein E-Sharkia), 2022

Image:Bikura2.jpg|Ein Bikura, 2009

Image:Sataf 006.jpg|Sataf reconstruction

Image:Sataf17.jpg|Agriculture in Sataf, 2009

Image:PikiWiki Israel 7596 ruins at the Sataf near Jerusalem.JPG|Remains of Sataf village

{{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|last=Canaan|first=T.|author-link=Tawfiq Canaan|url=http://digital.soas.ac.uk/LOAA003475/00002/9j|title=Mohammedan Saints and Sanctuaries in Palestine|year=1927|location=London|publisher=Luzac & Co|access-date=2015-04-09|archive-date=2019-05-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190516015019/https://digital.soas.ac.uk/LOAA003475/00002/9j|url-status=dead}}
• {{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=1883|url=https://archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp03conduoft|title=The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology|location=London|publisher=Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund|volume=3}}
• {{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/descriptiongog02gu|volume=1: Judee, pt. 2|year=1869|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 journal | last = Hartmann | first = M. | author-link = Martin Hartmann | title = Die Ortschaftenliste des Liwa Jerusalem in dem türkischen Staatskalender für Syrien auf das Jahr 1288 der Flucht (1871) | journal = Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins | volume = 6 | pages = 102–149 | url = https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_BZobAQAAIAAJ | year = 1883 }}
• {{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 book|last=Petersen|first=Andrew|title=A Gazetteer of Buildings in Muslim Palestine (British Academy Monographs in Archaeology)|url=https://www.academia.edu/21620272|volume=1|year=2001|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-727011-0}}
• {{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 = Schick | first = C. | author-link = Conrad Schick | title = Zur Einwohnerzahl des Bezirks Jerusalem | journal = Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins | volume = 19 | pages = 120–127 | url = https://archive.org/details/zeitschriftdesde19deut | year = 1896 }}
• {{cite journal | author = Socin, A. | author-link = Albert Socin | title = Alphabetisches Verzeichniss von Ortschaften des Paschalik Jerusalem | journal = Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins | volume = 2 | pages = 135–163 | url = https://archive.org/details/zeitschriftdesde01deut | year = 1879 }}
• {{cite journal |last=Toledano |first=E. |author-link=Ehud R. Toledano |title=The Sanjaq of Jerusalem in the Sixteenth Century: Aspects of Topography and Population |url=http://alkindi.ideo-cairo.org/manifestation/61348 |journal=Archivum Ottomanicum |volume=9 |pages=279–319 |date=1984 }}

{{refend}}

{{Commons cat}}

• [http://www.palestineremembered.com/Jerusalem/Sataf/index.html Welcome To Sataf] in Palestineremembered.com
• [http://zochrot.org/en/village/49359 Sataf], from Zochrot
• Survey of Western Palestine, Map 17: [http://www.iaa-archives.org.il/zoom/zoom.aspx?folder_id=93&type_id=6&id=8379 IAA], Wikimedia commons
• [http://www.palestineremembered.com/Acre/Maps/Story582.html Map, 1946]

{{Palestinian Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Palestine War|state=collapsed}}

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

Category:District of Jerusalem

Category:Archaeological sites in Israel

Category:Springs of Israel