Info
District: Safed
Occupation date: 10/05/1948
Occupying unit: Palmah 1st battalion
Jewish settlements on village/town land before 1948: None
Jewish settlements on village/town land after 1948: None
Background:
Al-’Urayfiyya Before 1948
The village was classified as a hamlet by the Palestine Index Gazetteer, and was situated on a slope at the foot of the Golan Heights, overlooking the al-Hula Plain in the west.
Occupation and Depopulation
Like almost all the villages in the northwest corner of Palestine, al.-’Urayfiyya was overrun in April—May 1948 during Operation Yiftach (see Abil al-Qamh, Safad District). It is not known precisely when it was occupied by Zionist forces or what were the circumstances of its depopulation. While some villages in its vicinity were occupied at the beginning of May, others held out until the end of the operation on 25 May. Its proximity to the Palestine—Syria border suggests that it was the case for the neighboring village of Khiyam al-Walid.
Israeli Settlements on Village Lands
There are no Israeli settlements on village land.
The Village Today
The site is deserted and overgrown with grass, thorns, a variety of trees, and cactuses. The remains of a masonry channel, which carried the water that powered a watermill, are visible.
---------------------------------
Source: al-Khalidi, Walid (ed.). All that remains: the Palestinian villages occupied and depopulated by Israel in 1948. Washington DC: 1992.
Images
