Kafr Saba كفر سابا | |
|---|---|
 Mausoleum of Nabi Yamin, with riwaq (prayer hall) to the left. | |
| Etymology: the village of Sâba (fromAramaic )[1] | |
.jpg) 1870s map.jpg) 1940s map.jpg) modern map.jpg) 1940s with modern overlay mapA series of historical maps of the area around Kafr Saba (click the buttons) | |
  Kafr Saba Location withinMandatory Palestine | |
| Coordinates:32°10′52″N34°56′14″E / 32.18111°N 34.93722°E /32.18111; 34.93722 | |
| Palestine grid | 144/176 |
| Geopolitical entity | Mandatory Palestine |
| Subdistrict | Tulkarm |
| Date of depopulation | 15 May 1948[4] |
| Area | |
• Total | 9,688dunams (9.688 km2; 3.741 sq mi) |
| Population (1945) | |
• Total | 1,270[2][3] |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Military assault byYishuv forces |
| Current Localities | Hak'ramim,[5]Beit Berl,Kfar Saba,Neve Yamin |
Kafr Saba (Arabic:كفر سابا) was aPalestinian village famous for its shrine dating to theMamluk period and for a history stretching back for two millennia.[6][7] In Roman times, it was calledCapharsaba and was an important town in Palestine.[8] By around 1000, it was noted as a village with amosque.[9] The people of Kafr Saba were said to have come fromHebron because of crop failures.[10]
The village was[clarification needed]of its Palestinian residents[11][12]
Much of the village's ruins were built over as the neighboring Israeli town ofKfar Saba expanded in the late 20th century; the location of the built-up area of the village is now the Shikun Kaplan area of Kfar Saba, and part of it is known as the "Kfar Saba Archaeological Garden" or "Tel Kfar Saba".
Two domedmaqams remain, located on either side ofRoute 55 between Kfar Saba andQalqilya. The larger of the two is called theTomb of Benjamin and is situated on the east side. About 40 meters (44 yd) away, on the west side of the road, is a much smaller shrine named Nabi Serakha.[13] The Tomb of Benjamin shrine sits on what has historically been considered by Jews to be the biblical characterBenjamin[14] and was later taken over by theBreslov sect ofHaredi Judaism.
The origins of the name are not known – in Hebrew andAramaic, it means 'grandfather village'. Residents of the village were said to be Hebronites who migrated to the area due to crop failures.[10]
Excavations in Kafr Saba have revealed the remains of a largeRoman bathhouse. Capharsaba was an important settlement during theSecond Temple period[15][8] and is mentioned for the first time in the writings ofJosephus in his account of the attempt ofAlexander Jannaeus to halt an invasion from the north led byAntiochus XII Dionysus (Antiquities, book 13, chapter 15). Kfar Saba appears in theTalmud in connection to grain tithing and the Capharsabasycamore fig tree.[15] Kfar Saba is mentioned in theMosaic of Rehob, the oldest known Talmudic text, which dates from around the3rd century.
In theByzantine periods the ruins of the bathhouse were first converted into fish pools, and later into some form of industrial installation.[16]
Samaritan authorBenyamim Tsedaka names the Baalah family as aSamaritan family who resided in Kafr Saba before their destruction or conversion.[17]
Around the year 985,al-Maqdisi described the place as a large village with a mosque that was situated on theroad to Damascus.[9][18] In 1047Nasir Khusraw described it as a town on the road toRamla rich infig andolive trees.[9]
A five-line inscription recording the grave of Sayf al-Din Bari, dated 1299–1300 CE was recorded within the shrine enclosure in 1922. The present location of this inscription is unknown.[19] Asabil or public water fountain is situated on the east side of the main enclosure. An inscription embedded on the right side of thesabil referred to the foundation of a fountain for the public byTankiz,governor of Damascus in 1311–1312.[20]
In 1596, Kafr Saba was part of theOttoman Empire,nahiya (subdistrict) ofBani Sa'b under theadministrative banner ofNablus Sanjak. It had a population of 42 households and an estimated 231 persons, allMuslim. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 33,3 % on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, goats and beehives, in addition to occasional revenues; a total of 8,314akçe. 3/24 the revenue went to aWaqf.[21]
In 1730, the EgyptianSufi travelleral-Luqaimi visited Kafr Saba and saw the shrine for a local religious figure, the Tomb of Benjamin.[9] In 1808, ariwāq orarcaded prayer hall was constructed, according to a now vanished inscription. This riwāq occupies the south side of the main enclosure of the shrine.[22]
In the 1860s, the Ottoman authorities granted the village an agricultural plot of land called Ghabat Kafr Saba in the former confines of the Forest of Arsur (Ar. al-Ghaba) in the coastal plain west of the village.[23][24]
In the 1870s, the village of Kafr Saba was described as a village built of stone and adobe brick and was situated on a low hill. It contained a mosque and was surrounded by sandy ground with olive groves to the north. Its population was estimated to be 800.[25]
In 1870/1871 (1288AH), an Ottoman census listed the village in thenahiyah (sub-district) of Bani Sa'b.[26]
Part of the village was sold to theJewish Colonisation Association during theOttoman period.Jewish immigrants to Palestine established amoshava on the land and called itKfar Saba.[27]
In the1922 census there were 546 villagers, all Muslim,[28] increasing in the1931 census to a population of 765, still all Muslims, in a total of 169 houses.[29]
The village expanded in theBritish Mandate period; new houses were built along the highway, and new agricultural land were cultivated to the west of the village.[9] In the1945 statistics it had population of 1,270 Muslims,[2] while the total land area was 9,688dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[3] Of this, 1,026 dunums were used for citrus and bananas, 4,600 dunums for cereals, while 355 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards, of which 30 dunums were planted with olive trees.[30]
| Part ofa series on the |
| Nakba |
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In the months leading up to the 1948 war, the local militia from Kafr Saba had attacked the neighboring Jewish town ofKfar Saba several times. TheArab Liberation Army (ALA), an army consisting of volunteers from several neighboring Arab countries, supported the Kafr Saba militia with troops during these intermittent attacks.[31]
HistorianSaleh Abdel Jawad writes that a massacre occurred in the village on 14 May, killing 11-20.[32]
ThePalestinian historianWalid Khalidi, described the remaining structures on the village land in 1992:
"The village site has been used for the construction of new residential quarters within an industrial area that is part of the settlement of Kefar Sava. Some of the old village houses have survived destruction and are located today within the settlement; a number of them are used as commercial buildings. The two shrines, the school, and the ruins of the village cemetery remain. The shrines have arched entrances and are surmounted with domes. The land around the site is cultivated by Israelis."[33]
After the war, the shrine near the town was abandoned. After 1967, the ruin was taken over by theBreslov sect ofHasidic Judaism, which claimed it was theTomb of Benjamin, father ofTribe of Benjamin, one of theTwelve Tribes of Israel.[34]Meron Benvenisti writes in 2002, "the dedicated inscriptions from theMamluk period remain engraved on the stone walls of the tomb, but the cloths embroidered with verses from theQur'an, with which the gravestones were draped, have been replaced by draperies bearing verses from theHebrew Bible."[35] Benvenisti frames this transformation, and others similar to it, in the context of, "a wholesale appropriation of the sacred sites of a defeated religious community by members of the victorious one."[36]
The Jewish town of Kfar Saba, founded in 1903, was situated southwest of the village on the eve of the war. Following the war, it expanded to cover much of the village land. The location of the built-up area of the village is now the Shikun Kaplan area of modern Kfar Saba, and part of it is known as the "Kfar Saba Archaeological Garden" or "Tel Kfar Saba".
Beit Berl, established in 1947 northwest of the village site, is on village land. The moshav ofNeve Yamin was established in 1949 to the east of the village site on land around the shrine for al-Nabi Yamin. The Kibbutz ofNir Eliyahu was established in 1950 about 1 kilometer (0.62 mi) northeast of the village site, on lands of nearbyQalqilyah.[33]
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