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Taytaba

طيطبا
Teitaba^[1]
Taytaba طيطبا Teitaba
	Etymology: "Watchtower"
	1870s map 1940s map modern map 1940s with modern overlay map A series of historical maps of the area around Taytaba (click the buttons)
	Taytaba Location within Mandatory Palestine
	Coordinates: 33°00′48″N 35°28′35″E / 33.01333°N 35.47639°E
Palestine grid	194/268
Geopolitical entity	Mandatory Palestine
Subdistrict	Safad
Date of depopulation	May 1948
Area
• Total	8,453 dunams (8.453 km2 or 3.264 sq mi)
Population (1945)
• Total	530
Cause(s) of depopulation	Fear of being caught up in the fighting
Current Localities	None

Taytaba (Arabic: طيطبا, also spelled Teitaba) was a Palestinian-Arab village in the Safad Subdistrict, located 5 kilometers north of Safad. It was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine in May 1948 under Operation Hiram. In 1945 it had a population of 530 and a total area of 8,453 dunams, 99.8% of which was Arab-owned.^[5]

It was situated in a rocky area located along the crest of a basaltic hill that overlooks Wadi Taytaba, a tributary of Wadi Waqqas, to the southeast. It was connected to a highway leading to Safad via a secondary road and connected to many of the surrounding villages through secondary roads as well.^[5]

History

Taytaba has been suggested as the Biblical site where Elijah received his patronymic of "Tishbite".^[2]^[6]

Ottoman era

During the early Ottoman era in 1596, Taytaba was part of the nahiyah ("subdistrict") of Jira, part of Safad Sanjak, and paid taxes on goats and beehives, in addition to a fixed amount; a total of 5,220 akçe. It had a population of 73 households and 6 bachelors, an estimated 434 persons. All were Muslims.^[7]^[8]

In 1838, Robinson noted the village when he travelled in the region,^[9] as a village located in the Safad district.^[10]

Its population decreased to roughly 200, all Muslims, by the late Ottoman era when French explorer Victor Guérin visited in 1870. The houses were made of basalt and there was a plantation of figs. An Islamic shrine stood on a nearby hill, with blocks of basalt apparently carved by hand.^[11] At that time, Taytaba's inhabitants cultivated gardens to the west of the village site.^[5]^[12]

A population list from about 1887 showed Teitaba to have about 455 inhabitants; all Muslims.^[13]

British Mandate era

During the British Mandatory period in the early 20th-century, the houses of the village were built from stone and adobe brick. The inhabitants main source of income and sustenance was from agriculture.^[5] A mosque and a boys' elementary school (the latter was built during the British period) was located in the southern section of Taytaba.^[14]

In the 1922 census of Palestine Taitaba had a population of 269; all Muslim,^[15] increasing in the 1931 census to 364, still all Muslims, in a total of 60 houses.^[16]

In the 1945 statistics, its population was 530 Muslims,^[4] with a total of 8,453 dunams of land.^[3] 585 dunams were cultivated for orchards and 5,175 dunams for cereals; a total of 5,763 dunams were cultivable,^[17] while the built-up areas of the village amounted to 61 dunams.^[18]

1948 War and aftermath

In February 1948 Taytaba reportedly hosted Arab volunteers participating in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War according to the New York Times. The newspaper stated that on 18 February a British Army patrol approaching Taytaba was attacked by Arab fighters prompting the dispatch of British reinforcements. British forces eventually withdrew and no casualties were reported. On 15 February a unit from the Haganah (precursor to the Israeli Army) attacked Taytaba following a mass killing they committed at the nearby Palestinian-Arab village of Sa'sa'. No details of the attack on Taytaba were mentioned the Associated Press report.^[14]

It is not known exactly when Taytaba was captured by Israel or emptied of its residents, but most likely fell in May during the later stages of the Israeli offensive Operation Yiftach. According to Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi, as such its residents probably evacuated or were expelled between the capture of Safad on 11 May or the end of the operation on 25 May. The Palestinian historian Nafez Nazzal contends that most of Taytaba's inhabitants left the village in early May as a result of the massacre at Ein al-Zeitun.^[14]^[1]^[19] Following the news of the massacre, many families fled to temporarily camp in the fields between the village and nearby Ras al-Ahmar. However, armed men remained in Taytaba until retreating after Jewish forces attacked in October.^[20]

In 1992 Khalidi noted about Taytaba: "The village site contains the stone rubble of razed houses. A few olive trees still stand, growing among the thorny plants and grass. Part of the surrounding land is used by the settlement of Dalton for agriculture and pastures; other parts are wooded."^[14]

Archaeology

To the east of Taytaba lies the ruins (khirba) of al-Tasarif.^[14]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Morris, 2004, p. xvi, village #44. Gives cause of depopulation as "?"
^ ^a ^b Palmer, 1881, p. 95
^ ^a ^b Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p.71
^ ^a ^b Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 11
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Khalidi, 1992, p. 499.
^ Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 257
^ Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 175, cited by Khalidi, 1992, p. 499
^ Note that Rhode, 1979, p. 6 Archived 2019-04-20 at the Wayback Machine writes that the register that Hütteroth and Abdulfattah studied was not from 1595/6, but from 1548/9
^ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, p. 367
^ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, 2nd appendix, p. 134
^ Guérin, 1880, pp. 442–443
^ Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 200
^ Schumacher, 1888, p. 188
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Khalidi, 1992, p. 500.
^ Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Safad, p. 41
^ Mills, 1932, p. 111
^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p.121
^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 171
^ Morris, 2004, p. 226, note #459, p. 290
^ Esber, 2008, p. 337.