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#redirect [[Alma, Israel]]
{{Infobox settlement
| name = Alma
| native_name = علما
| native_name_lang = ar
| settlement_type = Village
<!-- images, nickname, motto -->
| etymology = from personal name<ref>Palmer, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp00conduoft#page/66/mode/1up 66], [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp00conduoft#page/17/mode/1up 17], [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp00conduoft#page/61/mode/1up 61]</ref>
<!-- maps and coordinates -->
| pushpin_map = Mandatory Palestine
| pushpin_mapsize = 200
| coordinates = {{coord|33|3|20|N|35|29|28|E|type:city_region:IL|display=inline,title}}
| grid_name = [[Palestine grid|Palestine&nbsp;grid]]
| grid_position = 196/273
<!-- location -->
| subdivision_type = [[Geopolitical entity]]
| subdivision_name = [[Mandatory Palestine]]
| subdivision_type1 = [[Districts of Mandatory Palestine|Subdistrict]]
| subdivision_name1 = [[Safad Subdistrict, Mandatory Palestine|Safad]]
<!-- established -->
| established_title1 = Date of depopulation
| established_date1 = October 30, 1948<ref>Morris, 2004, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PR16 xvi], village #33. Also gives cause of depopulation</ref>
| established_title2 = Repopulated dates
<!-- area -->
| area_footnotes = <ref name=Hadawi69/>
| unit_pref = dunam
| area_total_dunam = 19,498
<!-- population -->
| population_as_of = 1945
| population_total = 950<ref name=Hadawi69>Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20I/Safad/Page-069.jpg 69] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604235924/http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20I/Safad/Page-069.jpg |date=2011-06-04 }}</ref><ref name=1945p9>Department of Statistics, 1945, p. [http://cs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/yabber/census/VSpages/VS1945_p09.jpg 9]</ref>
<!-- blank fields (section 1) -->
| blank_name_sec1 = Cause(s) of depopulation
| blank_info_sec1 = Military assault by [[Yishuv]] forces
| blank3_name_sec1 = Current Localities
| blank3_info_sec1 = [[Alma, Israel|Alma]]<ref>Morris, 2004, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PR22 xxii], settlement #162.</ref>
}}

'''Alma''' ({{lang-ar|علما}}) was a [[Palestinian people|Palestinian]] [[Arab]] village in the [[Safad Subdistrict, Mandatory Palestine]]. It was depopulated during the [[1948 Arab-Israeli War]] on October 30, 1948 during [[Operation Hiram]]. It was located 10&nbsp;km north of [[Safad]].

In 1945 it had a population of 950. Alma had several nearby khirbas and architectural fragments with inscriptions from an ancient [[synagogue]].

==History==
Alma was situated in the heart of upper Galilee in the middle of a fertile plain, about 4&nbsp;km south of the [[Lebanon|Lebanese]] border.<ref name=Khalidi>Khalidi, 1992, pp. 432–433.</ref>
Ceramics from the [[Byzantine empire|Byzantine]] era have been found here.<ref>Dauphin, 1998, p. 647</ref>

The [[Crusaders]] called the village "Alme." Several ancient ruins remain and three inscribed architectural fragments in [[Hebrew]] and [[Aramaic]] from an ancient synagogue were found on the surface of the village site between 1914 and 1957.<ref name=Khalidi/>

While travelling though the region in the 12th century CE, [[Benjamin of Tudela]] noted that Alma contained fifty Jewish inhabitants and a "large cemetery of the [[Israelites]]."<ref name=Tudelap89>[[Benjamin of Tudela]] in Thomas Wright. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=QliW8XHtsa4C&pg=PA89 Early Travels in Palestine]''. Courier Corporation; 2003. {{ISBN|978-0-486-42871-0}}. p. 89.</ref>

Remains of a ruined watch-tower was found on the crest of the ridge, and a quarter of a mile south of those there were three perfect [[Dolmen|dolmens]], not very large.<ref>Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp01conduoft#page/220/mode/1up 220]</ref>

===Ottoman era===
At the beginning of the period of [[Ottoman empire|Ottoman rule]] over Palestine, an Italian traveller to Alma in 1523 noted that there were 15 Jewish families there and one synagogue.<ref name=Schwarzp385>Schwarz, 1850, [http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=moa;cc=moa;sid=95e3f6e828e116b80d4cccd93c806bc1;idno=AHZ1758.0001.001;seq=399 p. 385].</ref> In the Ottoman [[daftar|tax registers]] of 1596, the village is listed as forming part of the ''[[nahiya]]'' ("subdistrict") of Jira in the ''[[Liwa (Arabic)|liwa']]'' ("district") of [[Safad]].<ref name="Hutteroth"/> It had a relatively large population of 1,440,<ref name="Petersen141"/> consisting of 288 Muslim households and 140 Muslim bachelors, together with seven Jewish households and one Jewish bachelor. The village paid taxes on goats, beehives, a water-powered mill, and a press that was used for processing olives or grapes.<ref name="Hutteroth">Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 177</ref><ref>Note that Rhode, 1979, p. [https://www.academia.edu/2026845/The_Administration_and_Population_of_the_Sancak_of_Safed_in_the_Sixteenth_Century 6] writes that the register that Hütteroth and Abdulfattah studied was not from 1595/6, but from 1548/9</ref> Total tax revenue amounted to a substantial 51,100 [[akce]].<ref name="Petersen141">Petersen, 2005, p. [https://archive.org/stream/TheTownsOfPalestineUnderUnderMuslimRule/AndrewPetersenTheTownsOfPalestineUnderMuslimRule-600-1600#page/n141/mode/1up 133].</ref> Alma's prosperity was attributed to its close proximity to Safad.<ref>Petersen, 2005, p. [https://archive.org/stream/TheTownsOfPalestineUnderUnderMuslimRule/AndrewPetersenTheTownsOfPalestineUnderMuslimRule-600-1600#page/n49/mode/1up 42].</ref>

The village was totally destroyed in the [[Galilee earthquake of 1837|earthquake of January 1837]].<ref>{{cite journal | author = Nicholas N. Ambraseys |authorlink=Nicholas Ambraseys| title = The earthquake of 1 January 1837 in Southern Lebanon and Northern Israel | journal = Annali di Geofisica | volume = XL | issue = 4 | year = 1997 | pages = 923–935 |doi=10.4401/ag-3887}}</ref>
[[Edward Robinson (scholar)|Edward Robinson]] and [[Eli Smith]], who travelled to the region in 1838, give the full name of the village as '''Alma el-Khait'' ({{lang-ar|علماالخيط}}).<ref name=Robinsonp134>Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Second Appendix, p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/134/mode/1up 134].</ref>

[[James Finn]], the British consul to Jerusalem who travelled around Palestine between 1853 and 1856, describes the village of Alma as being situated in an area in which volcanic basalt was abundant. Around the village, women and children were gathering olives from the trees by beating them with poles and then collecting the fallen fruit. He notes that the small district in which the village is located is known by the locals as "the ''Khait''" (Arabic for "string") and that they "boast of its extraordinary fertility in corn-produce."<ref name=Finnp88>Finn, 1877, p. [https://archive.org/stream/byewaysinpalesti00finniala#page/108/mode/1up 108]</ref>

[[Victor Guérin]] visited in 1875, and noted that 200 Muslim inhabitants lived there.<ref>Guérin, 1880, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/descriptiongogr00gugoog#page/n485/mode/1up 445]-6</ref>
In ''The Survey of Western Palestine'' (1881), Alma is described as a village built of stone with about 250 "[[Algerine]] [[Mohammedan]]" residents, situated in the middle of a fertile plain with a few gardens.<ref name=SWP>Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp01conduoft#page/196/mode/1up p.196]. Also quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 432.</ref>

A population list from about 1887 showed ''Alma'' to have about 1,105 Muslim inhabitants.<ref>Schumacher, 1888, p. [https://archive.org/stream/quarterlystateme19pale#page/n214/mode/1up 189]</ref>

===British Mandate period===
The population of Alma in the [[1922 census of Palestine|1922 census]] consisted of 309 Muslims,<ref>Barron, 1923, Table XI, p. [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n43/mode/1up 41]</ref> increasing to 712 Muslims in 148 occupied houses by [[1931 census of Palestine|1931]].<ref>Mills, 1932, p. [https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas 105]</ref>

In the [[Village Statistics, 1945|1945 statistics]], the population had reached 950,<ref name=Hadawi69/><ref>[[Walid Khalidi|Khalidi]], 1992, p. 432</ref> still all Muslim.<ref>United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine, ''Village Statistics, April 1945'', p. [http://domino.un.org/pdfs/AAC25ComTech7Add1.pdf 4]{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120609000000/http://domino.un.org/pdfs/AAC25ComTech7Add1.pdf |date=June 9, 2012 }}</ref>

The villagers were heavily involved in agriculture, including raising livestock and growing crops, particularly grain and fruit and their orchards were concentrated on the northern and northwestern outskirts of the village.<ref name=Khalidi/> During the 1942/43 season olive trees were recorded as being grown on 750 dunums of village land, making it the largest area devoted to olive growing in the whole district of Safad.<ref name=Khalidi/> The trees in 550 dunums were bearing fruit. In 1944–45 some 983 dunums was irrigated or used for orchards and a total of 7,475 dunums was allocated to cereal farming.<ref name=Khalidi/><ref name=Hadawi118>Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20II/Safad/Page-118.jpg 118] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924152110/http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20II/Safad/Page-118.jpg |date=2015-09-24 }}</ref>

The village comprised a total area of 19,498 [[Dunam|dunums]] of which 17,240 dunums was run by Arabs and the rest public. The population of the village was entirely Arab in ethnicity and Muslim in religion.<ref name=Hadawi118/> They had their own mosque as well as an elementary school, which pupils from [[Rehaniya|al-Rihaniyya]] also attended.

A large number of inhabitants were employed in cereal farming, which occupied about 38% of the land area.<ref name=Hadawi118/> Some land was also allocated for irrigation and plantation, and the growing of olives.

{{Col-begin}}
{{Col-2}}

Types of landuse in [[dunam]]s by Arabs in 1945:<ref name=Hadawi118/><ref name=Hadawi168>Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20III/Safad/Page-168.jpg 168] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141101214855/http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20III/Safad/Page-168.jpg |date=2014-11-01 }}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Land Usage !! Dunams
|-
| Irrigated & Plantation || 983
|-
| Olives || 750
|-
| Cereal || 7,475
|-
| Urban || 147
|-
| Cultivable || 8,458
|-
| Non-cultivable || 10,893
|-
|}
{{Col-2}}

The land ownership of the village before occupation in dunums:<ref name=Hadawi69/>
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Owner !! Durums
|-
| Arab || 17,240
|-
| Jewish || 0
|-
| Public || 2,258
|-
| '''Total''' || 19,498
|-
|}
{{Col-end}}

===1948 war and aftermath===
The village was attacked by the Israeli forces in [[Operation Hiram]] on 30 October 1948. Israeli historian [[Benny Morris]] has documented that Alma was the one village in the area where the villagers were uprooted and/or expelled by the Israeli forces, in spite of the fact that they had not offered any resistance.<ref>Morris, 2004, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA475 475]</ref>
In 1949, the [[Israeli people|Israeli]] [[moshav]] of [[Alma, Israel|Alma]] was built about 0.5&nbsp;km east of where the built-up portion of the former village was located.

Today Alma is a fenced-in site and the rubble remains of the houses which are covered in thorny grasses. Israeli farmers still cultivate fruit and olives there.<ref name=Khalidi/>

==References==
{{reflist|25em}}

==Bibliography==
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite book | editor =Barron, J. B. | title = Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922 |url=https://archive.org/details/PalestineCensus1922 |publisher = Government of Palestine | year = 1923}}
*{{cite book|title=Early Travels in Palestine|last1=Benjamin of Tudela|authorlink1=Benjamin of Tudela|editor=Thomas Wright|edition=Illustrated|publisher=Courier Dover Publications|year=2003|isbn=978-0-486-42871-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QliW8XHtsa4C&pg=PA89}}
*{{cite book|last1=Conder|first1=C.R.|authorlink1=Claude Reignier Conder|last2=Kitchener|first2=H.H.|authorlink2=Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener|year=1881|url=https://archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp01conduoft|title=The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology|location=London|publisher=[[Palestine Exploration Fund|Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund]]|volume=1}} (p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp01conduoft#page/205/mode/1up 205])
*{{cite book | last= Dauphin |first = Claudine | title = La Palestine byzantine, Peuplement et Populations|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FC1mAAAAMAAJ |volume = III : Catalogue | series = BAR International Series 726 | year = 1998 | publisher = Archeopress | location = Oxford|language =French|isbn=0860549054}}
*{{cite book|title=Village Statistics, April, 1945 |url=http://web.nli.org.il/sites/nli/Hebrew/library/Pages/BookReader.aspx?pid=856390|author=Department of Statistics|year=1945|publisher=Government of Palestine}}
*{{cite book|url= https://archive.org/details/byewaysinpalesti00finniala |title=Byeways in Palestine |volume=1|first=J.|last=Finn|authorlink=James Finn |publisher=James Nisbet & Co. |year=1877|location=London}}
*{{cite book|last=Guérin|first=V.|authorlink=Victor Guérin|title=Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine|url=https://archive.org/details/descriptiongogr00gugoog|volume=3: Galilee, pt. 2|year=1880|publisher= L'Imprimerie Nationale|location=Paris|language=French}}
*{{cite journal|title=Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine|url=http://www.palestineremembered.com/Articles/General-2/Story3150.html|first=S.|last=Hadawi|authorlink=Sami Hadawi|year=1970|publisher=Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center|journal=|access-date=2009-08-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181208215837/http://www.palestineremembered.com/Articles/General-2/Story3150.html|archive-date=2018-12-08|dead-url=yes|df=}}
*{{cite book | last1= Hütteroth |first1=Wolf-Dieter |first2=Kamal | last2=Abdulfattah | title = Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=wqULAAAAIAAJ | year = 1977 | publisher = Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft|isbn= 3-920405-41-2}}
*{{cite book|title=All That Remains:The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_By7AAAAIAAJ |first=W.|last=Khalidi|authorlink=Walid Khalidi|year=1992|location=[[Washington D.C.]]|publisher=[[Institute for Palestine Studies]]|isbn=0-88728-224-5}}
*{{cite book | editor = Mills, E. | title = Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas |url=https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas | publisher = Government of Palestine | location = Jerusalem | year = 1932}}
*{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/?id=uM_kFX6edX8C |first=B. |last=Morris |authorlink=Benny Morris |year=2004 |title=The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited|isbn=978-0-521-00967-6 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]}}
*{{cite book|last=Palmer|first=E.H.|authorlink=Edward Henry Palmer|year=1881|url=https://archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp00conduoft|title=The Survey of Western Palestine: Arabic and English Name Lists Collected During the Survey by Lieutenants Conder and Kitchener, R. E. Transliterated and Explained by E.H. Palmer|publisher=[[Palestine Exploration Fund|Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund]]}}
*{{cite book|title=The Towns of Palestine Under Muslim Rule|last1=Petersen|first1=Andrew|publisher=British Archaeological Reports|year=2005|isbn=1841718211|url=https://archive.org/stream/TheTownsOfPalestineUnderUnderMuslimRule/AndrewPetersenTheTownsOfPalestineUnderMuslimRule-600-1600#page/n91/mode/2up}}
*{{cite book|last1=Robinson|first1=E.|authorlink1=Edward Robinson (scholar)|last2=Smith|first2=E.|authorlink2=Eli Smith|year=1841|url=https://archive.org/details/biblicalresearch03robiuoft |title=Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838| location=Boston|publisher=[[Crocker & Brewster]]|volume=3}}
*{{cite book|last=Rhode |first=H.|authorlink=Harold Rhode
|date=1979 |url=https://www.academia.edu/2026845/The_Administration_and_Population_of_the_Sancak_of_Safed_in_the_Sixteenth_Century |title=Administration and Population of the Sancak of Safed in the Sixteenth Century |publisher=[[Columbia University]]}}
*{{cite journal | last = Schumacher | first =G.| authorlink = Gottlieb Schumacher | title = Population list of the Liwa of Akka | journal = Quarterly statement – Palestine Exploration Fund | volume = 20 | pages = 169–191 | url = https://archive.org/details/quarterlystateme19pale | year = 1888}}
*{{cite book|url=http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=moa;cc=moa;sid=95e3f6e828e116b80d4cccd93c806bc1;idno=ahz1758.0001.001;view=toc|title=A descriptive geography and brief historical sketch of Palestine|first1=Rabbi Joseph|last1=Schwarz|location=Philadelphia|publisher=A. Hart|year=1850|others=Isaac Leeser}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100219035240/http://www.palestineremembered.com/Safad/Alma/index.html Welcome To 'Alma]
*[http://www.zochrot.org/en/village/49398 'Alma], [[Zochrot]]
*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 4: [http://www.iaa-archives.org.il/zoom/zoom.aspx?folder_id=93&type_id=6&id=8367 IAA], [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Survey_of_Western_Palestine_1880.04.jpg Wikimedia commons]
*[http://www.alnakba.org/villages/safad/alma.htm 'Alma] at [[Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center]]
*[http://www.villagesofpalestine.com/Alma.htm 'Alma], Dr. Khalil Rizk.
{{Palestinian Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Palestine War}}

[[Category:Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War]]
[[Category:District of Safad]]
[[Category:Ancient Jewish settlements of Galilee]]
[[Category:Cities destroyed by earthquakes]]

Latest revision as of 07:11, 9 September 2024

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