Population :
1931 : n.a.
1944/45 :
60
Ghabbatiyya Before 1948
The village stood on a rocky hill between
the peaks of Mount al-Jarmaq (1208 m) and Mount ‘Adathir (1009m), the two
highest mountains in Palestine. It was
2 km of the Druz village Hurfaysh.
Three wadis passed next to the village, supplying it with water during
the rainy season and making part of its arable land during the dry
season. Ghabbatiyya obtained additional
surface water from a number of springs and a well. Classified as a hamlet by
the Mandate-era Palestine Inde.r
Gazetteer, it Was laid out in an east-west direction along the northern
side of a secondary road that linked it to other villages. This secondary road
was connected to highways that led to Safad and the Jewish settlement of
Nahariyya on the Mediterranean. The entire village population was Muslim, and
the economy relied heavily on ariculture and animal husbandry. In 1944/45 a
total of 412 dunums was allocated to cereals; 15 dunums were irrigated or used
for orchards.
Occupation and Depopulation
Ghahhatiyya was
occupied on 30 October 1948, during the second phase of Operation Hiram (see
‘Arab al-Samniyya, Acre District), just as forces on the eastern and western
fronts converged in a pincer movement at nearby Sa’sa’ around noon that same
day. The following day, an Israeli army spokesman, quoted in the New York Times, said that several
hundred of the area’s Arab Liberation Army garrison were killed, and another
several hundred taken prisoner.
Israeli Settlements on
Village Lands
There are no Israeli
settlements on village lands.
The Village Today
The site is deserted and covered with grass, a few fig trees, stones, and the ruins of stone houses. The walls of one destroyed house still stand. The surrounding land is used by Israelis for grazing and forestry, and woods cover nearby Mount ‘Adathir.
al-Khalidi.
All
That Remina