Arab al-Safa


Arab al-Safa, was a Palestinian Arab village in the District of Baysan. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It was located 7.5 km south of Baysan.
The village was destroyed on May 20, 1948, by the Israeli Golani Brigade under Operation Gideon.

History

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the Mandatory Palestine authorities, Saffa had a population of 255 Muslims, increasing in the 1931 census to 540; 4 Christians and the rest Muslims, in 108 houses.
In the 1945 statistics, the population consisted of 650 Muslims, and the total land area was 12,518 dunams, according to an official land and population survey. The land ownership in the village was as follows:
OwnerDunams
Arab7,549
Jewish2,523
Public2,446
Total12,518

By 1945, the Arab population were occupied mainly in cereal farming. The use of village land in that year:
Land UsageArabJewishPublic
Citrus and bananas-49-
Irrigated and plantation-14-
Cereal7,4492,460922
Urban---
Cultivable7,4492,523922
Non-cultivable100-1,524

The population had grown to 754 by 1948 with 150 houses.

1948 and aftermath

The village became depopulated on 20 May 1948, a week after the fall of Baysan Following the war the area was incorporated into the State of Israel, with the village's land left undeveloped; the closest villages are the kibbutzim of Tirat Zvi to the south-west and Sde Eliyahu to the west.
In 1992 the village site was described: "Three palm trees stand on the village site. The surrounding lands are used for growing wheat."