Population :
1931 : 170
1944/45 : 240
Biriyya Before 1948
The village stood on the southern slope of a high hill that overlooked
the city of Safad, to the south, and faced Mount al-Jarmaq, to the west. At the
bottom of the slope ran a deep wadi. It was separated from Safad by
agricultural land that was crossed by a highway; the highway linked Safad with
nearby towns and villages. Biriyya may have been built on the site of the Roman
village of Beral or Bin, which was also a Jewish town during the first century
A.D. In 1596, Biriyya was a village in
the nahiya of Jira (liwa’ of Safad) with a population of 319. It paid
taxes on a number of crops, including wheat, barley, and olives, as well as on
other types of produce and property, such as goats, beehives, vineyards, and a
press that was used for processing either olives or grapes.
In the late nineteenth century, Biriyya was a
stone-built village surrounded by arable land, with about 100 to 150 (predominantly
Muslim) residents. In modern times, most of its agricultural lands were
southeast of the village. In 1944/45 a total of 328 dunums was allocated
to cereals and 53 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards. Most of the
residents worked in agriculture. They drew water for domestic use and crop
irrigation from a number of springs in the vicinity. The villagers relied on
Salad for services and for the marketing of their produce.
A skirmish in the
vicinity of Biriyya was reported on 7 April, when the Haganah announced to
foreign reporters that 20 Arabs had been killed in an engagement near Mount
Canaan, outside Salad. No further details are given by the New York Times, but the village may have been involved, since it
lay on the mountain slope.
Israeli historian
Benny Moms states that on 1 May 1948, one Palmach squad captured Biriyya, while
another force took the adjacent village of ‘Ayn al-Zaytun, in preparation for
the final assault on Salad. No details are given about the circumstances of the
occupation, but judging from the experience of ‘Ayn al-Zaytun, the residents
were probably forced to leave, and some may have been killed in the process. By
taking the two villages, the Palmach managed to establish a link with the
Jewish garrison in Safad, facilitating that city’s capture. Morris states that
the fall of Biriyya had a demoralizing effect on the residents of Salad;
according to a New York Times report,
they began to evacuate the city following its capture. The occupation of Salad
and eastern Galilee was completed in May during Operation Yiftach (see Abil
al-Qainh, Safad District
Israeli
Settlements
on Village Lands
Zionists established a fortified settlement on the lands of the village in 1945 and named it Biriyya . On 5 March 1946 British Mandatory authorities investigating reports that the settlers had fired on a nearby Arab Legion camp, carried out an arms search there. After discovering weapons, they arrested the settlers and occupied the settlement. Ten days later a mass of 3,000 other settlers marched up the mountain and tried to set up a second settlement, but the British soldiers drove them away. After continued confrontations the British released the settlers who had been arrested and eventually (7 June 1946) evacuated the site. It was taken over In September 1948 by a religious kibbutz-
About fifteen houses remain and are
inhabited by the residents of the settlement of Biriyya the settlement has
been expanded to include the village site. In addition to the inhabited houses,
four are semi-deserted or used for storage. Stones from destroyed houses can be
found in some of the walls around the settlement. Many old almond, olive, fig,
and eucalyptus trees are scattered throughout the Site, mingled with trees that
have been planted more recently.
al-Khalidi.
All That Remains