Welcome To al-Sanbariyya - السنبرية (א-סנבריה)

District of Safad Ethnically cleansed days ago	العربية Google Earth
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Statistic & Fact

Value

Occupation Date

May 1, 1948

Distance From District

31.5 (km) North East of Safad

Elevation

150 (meters)

Before & After Nakba, Click Map For Details

Pre-Nakba Map showing before and after destruction

Map Location

See location #5 on the map

View from satellite

Military Operation

Operation Yiftach (commanded by the ethnic cleansing champion Yigal Allon)

Attacking Units

The Palmach's First Battalion

Exodus Cause

Military assault by Zionist troops

Village Temains

The village has been completely obliterated on the orders of the Jewish National Fund official Yosif Witz

Ethnically Cleansing

al-Sanbariyya inhabitants were completely ethnically cleansed.

Pre-Nakba
Land Ownership

Ethnic Group	Land Ownership (Dunums)*
Arab	2,284
Jewish	198
Public	50
**Total	2,532

*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics
**Town Lands' Demarcation Maps

Land Usage
As of 1945

Land Usage	Arab (Dunum)*	Jewish (Dunum)*
Irrigated & Plantation	539	44
Planted W/ Cereal	1,739	154
Arable	2,278	198
Non-Arable	56	0

*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics

Population

Year	Population*
1931	83
1945	130
1948	151
Est. Refugees 1998	926

*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics

Number of Houses

Year	Number of Houses
1931	20
1948	36

Nearby Wadies & Rivers

The village was near Wadi Hasibani

Archeological Sites

The village contained an important inscription, cut into a Roman column, that referred to the Roman Emperor Julian (A.D. 331-363)

Exculsive Jewish Colonies
Who Usurped Village Lands

Ma'yan Barukh and Dafna

Village Before Nakba

The village was located on gently sloping terrain on the northern edge of the al-Hula Plain. Paved roads and tracks linked it to several neighboring villages. AI-Sanbariyya's houses were not arranged in any particular pattern, but spread along this network of roads. In modern times, the people of al-Sanbariyya, all of whom were Muslims, obtained their drinking water from the nearby springs. They relied on agriculture for their livelihood, growing fruits and vegetables on the north and south sides of the site. In 1944/45 a total of 1,739 dunums was allocated to cereals; 539 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards. A prehistoric site more than 100,000 years old was found a bit more than 1 km north of the village, on a terrace that was about 100 m higher in elevation than the village. Furthermore, a number of cave-tombs dating to the end of the third millenium B.C. were also nearby, on village land. Finally, archaeologists discovered an important inscription, cut into a Roman column, that referred to the Roman Emperor Julian (A.D. 331‒363). The column was found just north of al-Sanbariyya, near a Roman bridge that spanned Wadi Hasibani. All of this suggests that the area around the village may have been densely settled in ancient times.

Village Occupation and Ethnic Cleaning

Although the date of its occupation is unknown, al-Sanbariyya was probably taken in May 1948. The village lay within the operational area of Operation Yiftach (see Abil al-Qamh, Safad sub-disctrict), the offensive launched in Upper Galilee in the second half of April 1948. [See M:120-24] Later in the summer of 1948, a representative of the Jewish National Fund (JNF) toured the area and found that several houses were still standing in al-Sanbariyya, albeit without roofs. (The fact that some houses were roofless implies that the village was subject to a direct attack.) According to Israeli historian Benny Morris, the JNF official instructed the secretariat of the nearby kibbutz of Ma'yan Barukh to destroy the houses immediately. As an incentive, he told them that this would enable the kibbutz to take the village's lands, as it would prevent the villagers from returning. This was agreed to immediately (and presumably soon carried out). Later, one member of the kibbutz, who described this sequence of events, complained to the leaders of the Mapam party about the destruction, on military grounds. He argued that in border areas, 'there is a danger that the Arabs will use [the abandoned villages] for military operations if they get a chance.'

Zionists Colonies on Village Lands

The settlement of Ma'yan Barukh (207294) was established in 1947 on village land, just north of the village site. The settlement of Dafna (210292), established in 1939, is about 3 km east of the village. Yuval (206294), established in 1952 on land belonging to the destroyed village of Abil al-Qamh (Safad sub-district), is about 1 km northwest of the site.

Village Today

The uneven land of the site is covered by grass and trees, including some old olive trees. No sign of the village remains. The surrounding lands are cultivated by Israeli farmers.

Source

Dr. Walid al-Khalidi, 1992: All That Remains.

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Nakba Oral History Interview with Kamil Hussein Theib

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Clan/Hamolah

Country of Residence

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