Al-Salihiyya

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For other places with similar names, see Salihiyah.
Al-Salihiyya
Salheih.jpg
Al-Salihiyya c. 1936. Woman weaving papyrus mat.
Al-Salihiyya is located in Mandatory Palestine
Al-Salihiyya
Al-Salihiyya
Arabic الصالحية
Name meaning This name is elsewhere attached to buildings or establishments founded by Saladin.[1]
Also spelled Salihiya[2]
Subdistrict Safad
Coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Palestine grid 207/285
Population 1520[3] (1945)
Date of depopulation May 25, 1948[2]
Cause(s) of depopulation Fear of being caught up in the fighting
Secondary cause Whispering campaign

Al-Salihiyya (Arabic: الصالحية‎‎), was a Palestinian Arab village in the Safad Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1948 War on May 25, 1948, by the Palmach's First Battalion of Operation Yiftach. It was located 25 km northeast of Safad, situated on the intersection of the Jordan River and Wadi Tur'an.

History

Canoeing pioneer John MacGregor was taken prisoner by the villagers of Al-Salihiyya during his exploration of the region in January 1869.[4] 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."[5]

In 1881, during the late Ottoman period, the Palestine Exploration Fund'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."[6]

British Mandate era

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.[7]

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."[8]

In 1945 the population was 1,520, all Arabs, owning 4,528 dunams, while Jews owned 789 dunams, and 290 was publicly owned, according to an official land and population survey.[3] Of this, 23 dunams were allocated for plantations and irrigable land, 4,230 for cereals,[9] while 94 dunams were classified as built-up areas.[10] The village had a mosque and an elementary school for boys.[11]

1948, aftermath

The village was depopulated on May 25, 1948,[2] during Operation Yiftach.[11]

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."[11]

  • Example of a papyrus reed house in the Hula valley. c. 1910.

  • Al-Salihiyya, 1944 (bottom left quadrant).

  • Preparing papyrus for weaving.

  • Al-Salihiyya (Salhyeh) marked on John MacGregor's map. January 1869

  • Hula Bedouin 1935

See also

References

  1. ↑ Palmer, 1881, p. 93
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Morris, 2004, p. xvi, village #15. Also gives causes of depopulation.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 71
  4. ↑ MacGregor, John (1869) The Rob Roy on The Jordan. A Canoe Cruise in Palestine, Egypt, and the Wates of Damascus John Murray 8th Edition 1904.The Rob Roy on the Jordan pp.223-246. nb going rate for holding an English man for ransom was at least 100ll.
  5. ↑ MacGregor pp.238,239
  6. ↑ Conder and Kitchener, 1881, p. 203
  7. ↑ Mills, 1932, p. 110
  8. ↑ Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement. October 1936. pp. 225−229. "A Visit to the Mat Makers of Huleh" by Theodore Larsson.
  9. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 121
  10. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 171
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Khalidi, 1992, pp. 492-3

Bibliography

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External links

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