PLace

al-Farradiyya

Place
al-Farradiyya — الفَرّاضِيَّة
District
Galilee
Subdistrict
Safad
Average Elevation
375 m
Distance from Safad
8 km
Population
Year Arab Total
1931 465 465
1944/45 670 670
Land Ownership (1944/45) in dunums
Year Arab Public Total
1944/45 15228 4519 19747
Land Use (1944/45) in dunums
Use Arab Public Total
Non-Cultivable & Built-up (Total)
Use Arab Public Total
Built-up 25 25
Non-Cultivable 9884 4473 14357
9909 4473 14382 (73%)
Cultivable (Total)
Use Arab Public Total
Plantation and Irrigable 1182 1182
Cereal 4137 46 4183
5319 46 5365 (27%)
Number of Houses (1931)
101

The village stood on the southern slope of Mount Zabud. The Nazareth-Safad highway passed just to the north of it. Al-Farradiyya may have been built on the site of a village known during the Roman period as Parod, The Arab geographer al-Maqdisi (d. 985), referred to it as al-Farradhiyya and described it as a large village, renowned for its groves of fruit trees and grapes, located in a pleasant area with plentiful water. In 1596, al-Farradiyya was a village in the nahiya of Jira (liwa' of Safad) with a population of 237. It paid taxes on a number of crops, including wheat, barley, olives, and fruits, as well as on other types of produce and property, such as goats, beehives and pasturelands. In the late nineteenth century, al-Farradiyya was a village built of stone and situated on a plain. The village residents, who numbered about 150, tilled small gardens and grew figs and olives. Al-Farradiyya's population was predominantly Muslim. The village had a boys' elementary school. Springs that issued from Mount al.Jarmaq, to the north, provided an ample water supply.

AI-Farradiyya had a thriving agricultural sector. It was known for its model, experimental farm, which covered 300 dunums of land. The farm was founded to improve the varieties of apples, figs, grapes, apricots, pears, and almonds, and to develop new seed varieties. It had an arboretum where 2,000 plants were grown and distributed to peasants. It also provided extension services for the farmers from both the Acre and Safad sub-disctricts and gave them advice on poultry production methods and beekeeping. The station was supervised by a Palestinian agronomist who had done his graduate studies at Montpelier University in France, and had begun to work at the station in 1932. Apart from the station, a number of water-powered mills were to be found in the village vicinity. In 1944/45 a total of 4,147 dunums was allocated to cereals and 1,182 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards. AI-Farradiyya was the site of a shrine (maqam) for a local religious teacher, al-Shaykh Mansur, and there are ruins of mills and an aqueduct.

People from neighboring villages (mainly 'Akbara and al-Zahiriyya al-Tahta) took refuge in al-Farradiyya in early May, as they fled out of the path of Operation yiftach (see Abil al-Qamh, Safad sub-disctrict), according to testimony by the villagers of 'Akbara. The History of the War of Independence implies that the village did not come under Israeli control until 30 October 1948, during Operation Hiram (see 'Arab al-Samniyya, Acre sub-disctrict). It was probably one of several villages occupied when various forces executed a pincer maneuver to occupy a pocket in central Galilee, west of Safad. It apparently was not attacked directly. However, as units of the Golani Brigade advanced northwards from 'Aylabun (some 10 km to the south of al-Farradiyya) towards Sa'sa' (about 10 km to the north), the village was surrounded by Israeli forces on all sides. Since it did not suffer a direct assault, many of its residents seem to have remained in their homes until February 1949, when the final assault on the village began.

In December 1948 and January 1949, top Israeli officials increasingly supported a plan to expel the villagers. Minority Affairs Minister Bechor Shitrit argued for expulsion on the pretext of preventing 'infiltration' of refugees back to the village. Israeli historian Benny Morris quotes, him as saying that if the infiltrations were not halted, Israel would have to 'conquer the Galilee anew.' Morris adds that the Committee for Transferring Arabs from Place to Place endorsed a proposal on 15 December to expel the 261 remaining inhabitants of al-Farradiyya and Kafr 'Inan (Acre sub-disctrict). This plan was not executed until February. Some villagers were evicted to other villages under Israeli control and others expelled to the Triangle area (Nablus-Tulkarm-Jenin) on the West Bank.

In 1949 Israel founded the settlement of Parod (190257) on village land, about 300 m east of the site of the destroyed village. The settlement of Shefer (191260), established in 1950 on village lands, is north of the village site. In 1980 the settlement of Qaddarim (193257) was established to the east of the site, but it was moved to the south-east in 1987.

The site is deserted and covered with wild thorns, trees, and piles of stones from the destroyed homes. Cactuses grow on the land around the site, which is mostly utilized for grazing animals. Some segments of it, however, are wooded and serve as Israeli recreation grounds.

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