Qaddita
| Qaddita | |
 Qaddita
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| Arabic | قدّيتا |
| Also Spelled | Kaditta |
| Sub-district | Safad |
| Coordinates | 33°00′20.12″N 35°28′01.32″E / 33.0055889°N 35.4670333°ECoordinates: 33°00′20.12″N 35°28′01.32″E / 33.0055889°N 35.4670333°E |
| Population | 240[1] (1945) |
| Area | 2,441 dunums
20.0 km² |
| Date of depopulation | May 11, 1948[2] |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Influence of nearby town's fall |
| Current localities | None |
Qaddita (Arabic: قدّيتا, transliteration: Qaddîtâ) was a Palestinian Arab village of 240, located 4.5 kilometers (2.8 mi) northwest of Safad. It was captured and depopulated in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, with some of its inhabitants fleeing to nearby Akbara where they live as internally displaced Palestinians and others to refugee camps in Lebanon or Syria.
Contents |
[edit] History
It is possible that the name "Qaddita" is an Arabic corruption of the Aramaic word kaddish.[3]
Qaddita was under the Ottoman Empire in 1517, and by 1596 it was administrated by the nahiya ("subdistrict") of Jira, part of Sanjak Safad. It paid taxes on wheat, barley, vineyards, beehives, and goats.[4] In the late 19th century, it was a small densely populated village consisting of ten houses built of stone and mud. The slope on which it was located was covered by gardens and fig trees.[5]
The village was reported to be totally destroyed in the devastating Galilee earthquake of 1837.[6]
Under the rule of the British Mandate in Palestine in the first half of the 20th century, Qaddita expanded north and south, its houses clustered together, and built of stone. Its economy was based on animal husbandry and crop cultivation, mainly grains, figs, pomegranates, and grapes as well as olives which by 1943 covered 77 dunams.[3]
[edit] 1948, and after
Like many other Arab villages in the eastern Galilee, Qaddita was evacuated a day after Safad fell to the Israelis during Operation Yiftach on May 10. Some villagers were evicted to the village of Akbara, south of Safad, where they, according to Walid Khalidi, lived under harrowing circumstances. No Jewish towns were built on village lands.[3] Khalidi describes the remains of the village being "tombs from the cemetery and stone rubble from the destroyed homes."[7]
[edit] Demographics
Qaddita had a population of 149 inhabitants in 1596,[4] rising by only a third two centuries later in the late 19th century to roughly 200. In the British census of 1931 the population decreased, and there were 170 people living in the village.[3] According to Sami Hadawi's land and population survey, Qaddita had 240 inhabitants in 1945.[1] All the residents were Muslims.[3]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b Hadawi, 1970, p.71.
- ^ Morris, 2004, p. xvi, village #46. Also gives cause of depopulation.
- ^ a b c d e Khalidi, 1992, p.485.
- ^ a b Hütteroth and Abdulfattah p.175, quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p.485.
- ^ Conder and Kitchener: SWP I, 1881, p.198. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 485
- ^ "The earthquake of 1 January 1837 in Southern Lebanon and Northern Israel" by N. N. Ambraseys, in Annali di Geofisica, Aug. 1997, p.933,
- ^ Khalidi, 1992, p.486.
[edit] Bibliography
- Conder, Claude Reignier and H.H. Kitchener (1881): The Survey of Western Palestine: memoirs of the topography, orography, hydrography, and archaeology. London:Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund. vol 1
- Hadawi, Sami (1970), Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine, Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center, http://www.palestineremembered.com/Articles/General-2/Story3150.html
- Morris, Benny (2004), The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-00967-7
- Khalidi, Walid (1992), All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948, Washington D.C.: Institute for Palestine Studies, ISBN 0-88728-224-5
[edit] External links
- Welcome to Qaddita
- Qaddita, from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center
- Qaddita, Dr. Khalil Rizk
