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| Encyclopedia Of The Palestinians: Briefly, Safad's History | eMail to a friend
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Posted on August 13, 2001
The below article is from Encyclopedia Of The Palestinians edited by Philip Mattar
Safad
Safad lies in the hills of eastern Galilee and was long the most important town in northern Galilee.
Its strategic and economic value stemmed from the fact that it lay along historic trade and communications lines between Syria and Egypt.
Safad's importance thus made it a prize for various armies over the centuries, including those of Crusaders, Napoleon Bonaparte, and various Islamic dynasties. War was not the only disaster to befall Safad; like other towns in Palestine, it sustained damage during earthquakes, particularly the severe earthquake of 1837. It was also the administrative center of the
sub-district carrying its name, beginning in the Ottoman era in 1886 and during the period of the British PALESTINE MANDATE.
Governmental presence led to the establishment of schools, beginning in 1880. Safad was a relatively large Palestinian town during the first half of the twentieth century. Its population stood at some 12,000 during World War I, although this number had dropped to 8, 761 in 1922 as a result of wartime exigencies. The population had returned to some 13,300,
20 percent of whom were Jews, by 1948. Historically, economic activity centered around trade, artisanal production (especially wool and cotton textiles), and, given its location in the hills, summer tourism. Safad's 1,429 dunums of land was largely hilly, restricting agriculture predominantly to horticulture.
Safad was also long a center of Jewish life in Palestine. Along with JERUSALEM, HEBRON, and TIBERIAS, it was one of the cities considered holy by Jews in Palestine. Beginning in the early sixteenth century, Safad was the center of the
Kabbala movement of Jewish mysticism. Jews lived in the western district of the town, which was sacked by Palestinians during the WESTERN (WAILING) WALL DISTURBANCES, 1929, and twenty-six of its inhabitants killed.
Safad's strategic location made it a site of conflict during the Arab-Israeli fighting of 1948. Zionist forces made the capture of Safad their main objective in the days prior to Britain's evacuation of Palestine in May 1948. On May 11, 1948, Safad was secured by Zionist forces of the Palmach. Its Palestinian population fled thereafter, and Jews thus subsequently constituted the majority of the 2;300 persons who remained in the town.
Noted today as an Israeli arts center, Safad (Hebrew, Tzfat) had a population of 16,600 by 1992.
Michael R. Fischbach
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