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Arab al-Zubayd

عرب الزبيد
'Arab Zubeih^[1]
Arab al-Zubayd عرب الزبيد 'Arab Zubeih
Village
	Etymology: The Zubeid Arabs
	1870s map 1940s map modern map 1940s with modern overlay map A series of historical maps of the area around Arab al-Zubayd (click the buttons)
	Arab al-Zubayd Location within Mandatory Palestine
	Coordinates: 33°4′44″N 35°34′03″E / 33.07889°N 35.56750°E
Palestine grid	203/276
Geopolitical entity	Mandatory Palestine
Subdistrict	Safad
Date of depopulation	April 20, 1948
Population (1945)
• Total	890
Cause(s) of depopulation	Fear of being caught up in the fighting

Arab al-Zubayd was a Palestinian village in the Safad Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on April 20, 1948, when the villagers fled on hearing the intentions of The Palmach's First Battalion of Operation Yiftach.^[5] It was located 15 km northeast of Safad, near the al-Mutilla-Safad—Tiberias highway.^[5]

History

In 1838, in the Ottoman era, ez-Zubeid was desribed as an Arab tribe residing in the vicinity of Safad.^[6]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Arab Zubaid had a population of 257; 255 Muslims^[7] and 2 Melkite Christians,^[8] increasing in the 1931 census, when it was counted together with Al-'Ulmaniyya, to 432; 5 Christians and 427 Muslims, in a total of 100 houses.^[9]

The population, combined with that of Mallaha, came to 890 Muslims in the 1945 statistics,^[3] with a total of 2,168 dunams of land.^[4]

The village relied on its abundant springs for farming.^[5] In 1944–45 a total of 1,761 dunums was allocated to cereal farming.^[10] while 20 dunams were classified as built-up land.^[11]

1948 war and depopulation

According to Israeli historian Benny Morris, the villagers fled on 20 April (prior to the occupation of any neighboring villages), anticipating an Israeli attack.^[12] In August 1948, Golani Brigade units were preparing to blow up the village in spite of a complaint from the nearby Kibbutz Sha’ar ha-’Amaqim, which objected.^[12] Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion denied responsibility, saying: "No permission was given by me or to any commander to destroy houses." The village was nevertheless destroyed.^[12]

In 1992, Khalidi wrote that the area was strewn with rubble covered by a thicket of woods, grass, and thorny plants, and he saw animals grazing in the hills. Some land in the plain had been turned into a nature reserve and the rest cultivated by Israeli farmers."^[12]

Notes and references

^ ^a ^b Morris, 2004, p. xvi, village #31. Also gives cause of depopulation.
^ Palmer, 1881, p. 67
^ ^a ^b Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 10
^ ^a ^b Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 70
^ ^a ^b ^c Khalidi, 1992, p.435.
^ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. 134
^ Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Safad, p. 42
^ Barron, 1923, table XV, p. 51
^ Mills, 1932, p. 111
^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 119
^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 169
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Khalidi, 1992, p. 436