Saliha
| Saliha | |
 Saliha
|
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| Arabic | صَلْحَة |
| Sub-district | Safad |
| Coordinates | 33°04′30.66″N 35°27′19.84″E / 33.0751833°N 35.4555111°ECoordinates: 33°04′30.66″N 35°27′19.84″E / 33.0751833°N 35.4555111°E |
| Population | 1070[1] (1945) |
| Area | 11,735[1] dunums |
| Date of depopulation | 30 October 1948[2] |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Military assault by Yishuv forces |
| Current localities | Yir'on[3] and Avivim |
Saliha (Arabic: صَلْحَة)is one of the Seven Lebanese Villages that was later transferred to the British Mandate of Palestine. Originally part of the Jabal Amel district of South Lebanon, this term has been historically used to denote the homeland of Shi'a Muslims in Southern Lebanon. Located twelve kilometers north of Safad and after the transfer of the village, Saliha is currently one kilometer south of the border with Lebanon on the edge of a deep wadi (i.e. valley) known as Wadi Saliha.[4][5][6][7]
The Franco-British Boundary Agreement of 1920 placed Saliha within the French mandate of Lebanon border, thus classifying it a part of Lebanese territory.[8][9] It was one of the 24 villages transferred from the French mandate of Lebanon to British control in 1924 in accordance with the 1923 demarcation of the border between the British Mandate for Palestine and the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon. It thus formed part of Palestine until 1948.
Under the 1948 United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, Saliha was to be included in the proposed Arab state, while the boundary between it and the proposed Jewish state was to run north of the built-up area of the village.[10]
During the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, Saliha was the site of a massacre carried out by Israeli forces shortly before the village was completely depopulated.[11] The built structures in the village, with the exception of an elementary school for boys, were also destroyed.[4]
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[edit] History
There were several old structures in the village, including rock-cut tombs, traces of mosaic floors, and oil presses. The nearby Khirbat al-Sanifa contained ancient relics, such as a circular pressing floor.[12] A winepress was excavated in the area in 2001.[13]
In the late nineteenth century, Saliha was a village of about 200 people who cultivated gardens in the surrounding area and built their homes out of basalt stones mortared with mud. They took their drinking water from several cisterns and a large pond.[14]
Its population was predominantly Shi'a Muslim, and it had an elementary school for boys. In 1944/45 a total of 7,401 dunums of its land was allocated to cereals, while 422 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards.[12][15]
[edit] 1948 War and aftermath
Between 30 October 1948 and 2 November 1948, Saliha was the first of three villages (the others being Safsaf and Jish) in which a massacre was committed by the Seventh Brigade of the Israel Defense Forces of [16] under the command of General Moshe Carmel.[17]
In the case of Saliha, the troops entered the village and blew up a structure, possibly a mosque, killing the 60 to 94 people who had taken refuge inside.[16] These estimates, made by Benny Morris, are based on documentary evidence that include a 6 November 1948 diary entry by Yosef Nahmani, which refers to "'60 - 70' men and women murdered after 'they had raised a white flag'".[18] Also referenced by Morris are handwritten notes taken by Aharon Cohen from the Mapam Political Committee meeting on 1 November 1948 in which Galili, also known as Moshe Erem is recorded stating: "94 in Saliha blown up in a house".[18]
After the assault was over, the remaining inhabitants of the village were expelled,[11] forming part of the Palestinian exodus of 1948.
Yoav Gelber lists Saliha alongside Deir Yassin, Abu Shusha, Sufsuf, and Lydda as forming part of the "Palestinian pantheon of massacres ... villages where Palestinians claimed that atrocities had taken place".[19]
[edit] Today
Salman Abu-Sitta, author of the Atlas of Palestine,[20] estimated that the number of Palestinian refugees from Saliha in 1998 was 7,622 people.[4]
Saliha's refugees escaped to Lebanon, where they were granted Lebanese citizenship in 1994. They were granted citizenship because they were officially recognized as Lebanese citizens before the creation of the state of Israel.[21]
Of what remains of Saliha's built structures today, Walid Khalidi writes that, "The only remaining landmark is a long building (which may have been a school) with many high windows. The site is a flat, mostly cultivated area. The bulk of the surrounding land is planted by Israeli farmers with apple trees."[4][12]
The Israeli Jewish localities of Yir'on and Avivim are located on the former lands of Saliha.[4][12]
[edit] See also
- Seven Lebanese Villages
- List of Arab towns and villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
- Killings and massacres during the 1948 Palestine War
- Metawali
- Franco-British boundary agreement (1920)
[edit] References
- ^ a b Hadawi, 1970, p.71
- ^ Morris, 2004, p. xvi, village #34. Also gives cause of depopulation.
- ^ Morris, 2004, p. xxii, Settlement #161, established 1949-50.
- ^ a b c d e "Welcome to Saliha". Palestine Remembered. http://www.palestineremembered.com/Safad/Saliha/. Retrieved 2007-12-20.
- ^ http://www.counterpunch.org/lamb11182008.html
- ^ http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+Seven+Villages,+another+Lebanese-Israeli+complication-a0206496006
- ^ http://www.dur.ac.uk/resources/ibru/publications/full/bsb8-4_eshel.pdf
- ^ http://www.britannica.com/bps/additionalcontent/18/23072855/Between-Palestine-and-Lebanon-Seven-Shii-Villages-as-a-Case-Study-of-Boundaries-Identities-and-Conflict
- ^ http://www.therightroadtopeace.com/infocenter/Heb/FrancoBritishConv.html
- ^ Moore, 2004, p. 160.
- ^ a b Morris, 2004, p. 498.
- ^ a b c d Khalidi, 1992, p.492
- ^ Frankel, 2005, Yir’on
- ^ Conder and Kitchener: SWP I, 1881, p.202 -p.203, Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 492
- ^ Hadawi, 1970, p.121
- ^ a b Morris, 2004, p. 487.
- ^ Rogan, 2007, p. 53.
- ^ a b Morris, p.500.
- ^ Gelber, 2006, p. 324.
- ^ "Bibliography and References". Palestine Remembered. 25 June 2007. http://www.palestineremembered.com/Bibliography.html. Retrieved 2007-12-20.
- ^ http://snuffysmithsblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/bitterlemons-internationalorg-middle_20.html
[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
- Franco-British Convention on Certain Points Connected with the Mandates for Syria and the Lebanon, Palestine and Mesopotamia, signed Dec. 23, 1920. Text available in American Journal of International Law, Vol. 16, No. 3, 1922, 122-126.
- Agreement between His Majesty's Government and the French Government respecting the Boundary Line between Syria and Palestine from the Mediterranean to El Hámmé, Treaty Series No. 13 (1923), Cmd. 1910.
- Gideon Biger (1989), Geographical and other arguments in delimitation in the boundaries of British Palestine, in "International Boundaries and Boundary Conflict Resolution", IBRU Conference, ISBN 1-85560-000-5, 41-61.
- John McTague (1982), Anglo-French Negotiations over the Boundaries of Palestine, 1919–1920, Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 11, No. 2, 101-112.
- Yitzhak Gil-Har (1993), British commitments to the Arabs and their application to the Palestine-Trans-Jordan boundary: The issue of the Semakh triangle, Middle Eastern Studies, Vol.29, No.4, 690-701.
- Muhsin Yusuf (1991), The Zionists and the process of defining the borders of Palestine, 1915–1923, Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 15, No. 1, 18-39.
- Gideon Biger (1995), The encyclopedia of international boundaries, New York : Facts on File.
- Gideon Biger (2005), The Boundaries of Modern Palestine, 1840-1947. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-7146-5654-2.
- US Department of State, International Boundary Study series: Iraq-Jordan, Iraq-Syria, Jordan-Syria, Israel-Lebanon.
- Frankel, Rafael (2005): Yir’on, Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel, No. 117.
- Gelber, Yoav. (2006) Palestine 1948: War, Escape And The Emergence Of The Palestinian Refugee Problem. Sussex Academic Press. ISBN 1-84519-075-0
- 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
- 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
- Moore, Dahlia; Aweiss, Salem. (2004) Bridges Over Troubled Water: A Comparative Study Of Jews, Arabs, and Palestinians. Praeger/Greenwood. ISBN 0-275-98060-X
- Morris, Benny. (2004) The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-00967-7
- Rogan, Eugene L. (2007) The War for Palestine: Rewriting the History of 1948. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-87598-6
[edit] External links
- Welcome to Saliha
- Saliha, from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center
- Saliha, Dr. Khalil Rizk.
