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Shefa-Amr, also Shfar'am ( ar, شفاعمرو, Šafāʻamr, he, שְׁפַרְעָם, Šəfarʻam) is an Arab city in the Northern District of
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
. In it had a population of , with a
Sunni Muslim Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagre ...
majority and large
Christian Arab Arab Christians ( ar, ﺍَﻟْﻤَﺴِﻴﺤِﻴُّﻮﻥ ﺍﻟْﻌَﺮَﺏ, translit=al-Masīḥīyyūn al-ʿArab) are ethnic Arabs, Arab nationals, or Arabic-speakers who adhere to Christianity. The number of Arab Christians who l ...
and
Druze The Druze (; ar, دَرْزِيٌّ, ' or ', , ') are an Arabic-speaking esoteric ethnoreligious group from Western Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, syncretic, and ethnic religion based on the teachings of ...
minorities.


Etymology

Palmer Palmer may refer to: People and fictional characters * Palmer (pilgrim), a medieval European pilgrim to the Holy Land * Palmer (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Palmer (surname), including a list of people and ...
writes that the name meant: "The margin or edge of 'Amr. Locally and erroneously supposed to mean the healing of 'Amer ( ed Dhaher)"


History


Ancient period

Walls, installations and pottery
sherd In archaeology, a sherd, or more precisely, potsherd, is commonly a historic or prehistoric fragment of pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are ...
s from the Early Bronze Age IB and the Middle Bronze Age IIB,
Iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in ...
,
Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...
and
Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...
periods have been excavated at Shefa-ʻAmr. Shefa-Amr is first mentioned under the name ''Shefar'am'' ( he, שפרעם) in the
Tosefta The Tosefta ( Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: תוספתא "supplement, addition") is a compilation of the Jewish oral law from the late 2nd century, the period of the Mishnah. Overview In many ways, the Tosefta acts as a supplement to the Mishnah ( ...
(Tractate Mikvaot 6:1), followed by the
Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...
redacted in 500 CE where it is mentioned in several places, in Tractate ''Avodah Zarah'' 8b and ''Rosh Hashanah'' 31b, ''et al.'' Settlement has existed there without interruption since the Roman period, when it was one of the cities mentioned in the
Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...
as containing the seat of the Jewish
Sanhedrin The Sanhedrin ( Hebrew and Aramaic: סַנְהֶדְרִין; Greek: , '' synedrion'', 'sitting together,' hence ' assembly' or 'council') was an assembly of either 23 or 71 elders (known as " rabbis" after the destruction of the Second Temp ...
during the reign of
Marcus Aurelius Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Latin: áːɾkus̠ auɾέːli.us̠ antɔ́ːni.us̠ English: ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good E ...
.Zaharoni (1978), p. 125 The seat of the Sanhedrin was traditionally thought to be where the Old Synagogue "Maḥaneh Shekhinah" was built in later times. Old Shefa-'Amr was settled in the area where are now built the Police Station, the various Churches and Jews' Street. Decorated burial caves were documented by the Survey of Western Palestine in the late nineteenth century; they were found to be Christian tombs from the
Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
era, dating to the 5th and 6th century CE. Greek inscriptions were also found.Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I
339
-343
Archaeological excavations of a cave and
quarries A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envir ...
revealed that they were used in the Roman and Byzantine eras. Shefa-ʻAmr contains Byzantine remains, including a church and tombs. A salvage dig was conducted in the southern quarter of the old city exposing remains from five phases in the Late Byzantine and early
Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...
periods. Finds include a
tabun oven A tabun oven, or simply tabun (also transliterated taboon, from the ar, طابون), is a clay oven, shaped like a truncated cone, with an opening at the bottom from which to stoke the fire. Built and used in biblical times as the family, neigh ...
, a pavement of small fieldstones, a mosaic pavement that was probably part of a
wine press A winepress is a device used to extract juice from crushed grapes during wine making. There are a number of different styles of presses that are used by wine makers but their overall functionality is the same. Each style of press exerts contro ...
treading floor, a small square wine press, handmade
krater A krater or crater ( grc-gre, , ''kratēr'', literally "mixing vessel") was a large two-handled shape of vase in Ancient Greek pottery and metalwork, mostly used for the mixing of wine with water. Form and function At a Greek symposium, krat ...
s, an imported Cypriot bowl and an open cooking pot. Also discovered were glass and pottery vessels.


Middle Ages

Under the
Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...
the place was known as "Safran", "Sapharanum", "Castrum Zafetanum", "Saphar castrum" or "Cafram".Pringle, 1997
p. 115
/ref> The Crusaders built a fortress, used by the
Knights Templar , colors = White mantle with a red cross , colors_label = Attire , march = , mascot = Two knights riding a single horse , equipment ...
, in the village. At the foot of the castle was a fortified settlement with a church, inhabited either by local Christians or Crusaders. The village, then called "Shafar 'Am", was used by Muslim leader
Saladin Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Shadi () ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known by the epithet Saladin,, ; ku, سه‌لاحه‌دین, ; was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from an ethnic Kurdish family, he was the first of both Egypt an ...
between 1190–91 and 1193-94 as a military base for attacks on
Acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial and US customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet), which is exactly equal to 10 square chains, of a square mile, 4,840 square ...
. By 1229, the place was back in Crusader hands; this was confirmed by Sultan
Baybars Al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Bunduqdari ( ar, الملك الظاهر ركن الدين بيبرس البندقداري, ''al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Rukn al-Dīn Baybars al-Bunduqdārī'') (1223/1228 – 1 July 1277), of Turkic Kipchak ...
in the peace treaty of 1271, and by Sultan
Qalawun ( ar, قلاوون الصالحي, – November 10, 1290) was the seventh Bahri Mamluk sultan; he ruled Egypt from 1279 to 1290. He was called (, "Qalāwūn the Victorious"). Biography and rise to power Qalawun was a Kipchak, ancient Turki ...
in 1283. Italian monk
Riccoldo da Monte di Croce Riccoldo da Monte di Croce (Florence; 1320) or Ricold of Monte Croce ( la, Ricoldus de Monte Crucis) was an Italian Dominican friar, travel writer, missionary, and Christian apologist. He is most famous for his polemical works on Medieval Islam a ...
visited the village in 1287–88, and noted that it had Christian inhabitants. It apparently was under
Mamluk Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning " slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') ...
control by 1291,Pringle, 1998, pp.
301
4
as it was mentioned in that year when sultan
al-Ashraf Khalil Al-Ashraf Salāh ad-Dīn Khalil ibn Qalawūn ( ar, الملك الأشرف صلاح الدين خليل بن قلاوون; c. 1260s – 14 December 1293) was the eighth Bahri Mamluk sultan, succeeding his father Qalawun. He served from 12 Novem ...
allocated the town's income to a
charitable organization A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definition of a ...
in
Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metr ...
.


Ottoman era

During early Ottoman rule in the Galilee, in 1564, the revenues of the village of Shefa-Amr were designated for the new
waqf A waqf ( ar, وَقْف; ), also known as hubous () or '' mortmain'' property is an inalienable charitable endowment under Islamic law. It typically involves donating a building, plot of land or other assets for Muslim religious or charitab ...
of Hasseki Sultan Imaret in Jerusalem, established by Hasseki Hurrem Sultan (
Roxelana Hurrem Sultan (, ota, خُرّم سلطان, translit=Ḫurrem Sulṭān, tr, Hürrem Sultan, label=Modern Turkish; 1500 – 15 April 1558), also known as Roxelana ( uk, Роксолана}; ), was the chief consort and legal wife of the List o ...
), the wife of
Suleiman the Magnificent Suleiman I ( ota, سليمان اول, Süleyman-ı Evvel; tr, I. Süleyman; 6 November 14946 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the West and Suleiman the Lawgiver ( ota, قانونى سلطان سليمان, Ḳ ...
. In the early decades of the 16th century a small number of Jews were mentioned, but none at the end of the century. A
firman A firman ( fa, , translit=farmân; ), at the constitutional level, was a royal mandate or decree issued by a sovereign in an Islamic state. During various periods they were collected and applied as traditional bodies of law. The word firman co ...
dated to 1573 mentioned that Shefa-Amr was among a group of villages in the ''
nahiya A nāḥiyah ( ar, , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level division w ...
'' (sub district) of
Akka Akka or AKKA may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Akka'' (film), a 1976 Indian Tamil film * ''Akka'' (TV series), a 2014–2015 Indian Tamil soap opera * Akka, a character in the children's novel ''The Wonderful Adventures of Nils'' by Selma ...
which had rebelled against the Ottoman administration. By 1577, the village had accumulated an arsenal of 200 muskets. In the 1596 tax records, Shefa-Amr was part of the ''nahiya'' of Akka, part of
Safad Sanjak Safed Sanjak ( ar, سنجق صفد; tr, Safed Sancağı) was a ''sanjak'' (district) of Damascus Eyalet ( Ottoman province of Damascus) in 1517–1660, after which it became part of the Sidon Eyalet (Ottoman province of Sidon). The sanjak was ce ...
, with a population of 83 households (''khana''), and eight bachelors, all
Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
. The total revenue was 13,600
akçe The ''akçe'' or ''akça'' (also spelled ''akche'', ''akcheh''; ota, آقچه; ) refers to a silver coin which was the chief monetary unit of the Ottoman Empire. The word itself evolved from the word "silver or silver money", this word is der ...
, most of which was given in fixed amounts. The taxable produce also comprised occasional revenues, goats and beehives, and the inhabitants paid for the use or ownership of an olive oil press. In the 18th century the village rose to prominence. At the beginning of the century the village was under the control of Shaykh Ali Zaydani, the uncle of
Zahir al-Umar Zahir al-Umar al-Zaydani, alternatively spelled Daher al-Omar or Dahir al-Umar ( ar, ظاهر العمر الزيداني, translit=Ẓāhir al-ʿUmar az-Zaydānī, 1689/90 – 21 or 22 August 1775) was the autonomous Arab ruler of northern Pale ...
and leading
shaykh Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonly designates a chief of a ...
of lower
Galilee Galilee (; he, הַגָּלִיל, hagGālīl; ar, الجليل, al-jalīl) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon. Galilee traditionally refers to the mountainous part, divided into Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and Lower Gali ...
. It is also known that there was a castle in the village at least as early as 1740. After Zahir al-Umar's rise to power in the 1740s, Ali Zaydani was replaced by his nephew, Uthman, a son of Zahir. After Zahir's death in 1775, Jazzar Pasha allowed Uthman to continue as the governor of Shefa-Amr in return for a promise of loyalty and advance payment of taxes. Jazzar Pasha allowed the fortress to remain intact despite orders from
Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
that it should be destroyed. Several years later Uthman was removed and replaced by Ibrahim Abu Qalush, an appointee of Jazzar Pasha. During this period Shefa-Amr was a regional centre of some importance due to its location in the heart of the cotton-growing area and its natural and man-made defenses. The significance of cotton to the growth of Shefa-Amr was fundamental. Tax returns for the village attest to the large returns expected of this crop. There was definite indication of a Jewish presence in Shefa-ʻAmr in the 18th century. In the census taken by
Moses Montefiore Sir Moses Haim Montefiore, 1st Baronet, (24 October 1784 – 28 July 1885) was a British financier and banker, activist, philanthropist and Sheriff of London. Born to an Italian Sephardic Jewish family based in London, aft ...
in 1839 there were numbered 107
Sephardic Jews Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefa ...
living in Shefa-ʻAmr. Their condition worsened with the departure of Muhammad Ali Pasha, during which time Shefa-Amr was nearly emptied of its Jewish citizens, who had opted to move to
Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...
and to
Tiberias Tiberias ( ; he, טְבֶרְיָה, ; ar, طبريا, Ṭabariyyā) is an Israeli city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's F ...
. In 1850 and 1887, some 42 Jewish families from
Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to A ...
settled in Shefa-ʻAmr, but by 1920 all Jews had left the city. A map by
Pierre Jacotin Pierre Jacotin (1765–1827) was the director of the survey for the '' Carte de l'Égypte (Description de l'Égypte)'', the first triangulation-based map of Egypt, Syria and Palestine. The maps were surveyed in 1799-1800 during the campaign in ...
from Napoleon's invasion of 1799 showed the place, named as ''Chafa Amr''.
James Finn James Finn (1806–1872) was a British Consul in Jerusalem, in the then Ottoman Empire (1846–1863). He arrived in 1845 with his wife Elizabeth Anne Finn. Finn was a devout Christian, who belonged to the London Society for Promoting Christia ...
wrote in 1877 that "The majority of the inhabitants are Druses. There are a few Moslems and a few
Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ� ...
; but n 1850there were thirty Jewish families living as agriculturists, cultivating grain and olives on their own landed property, most of it family inheritance; some of these people were of Algerine descent. They had their own synagogue and legally qualified butcher, and their numbers had formerly been more considerable." However, "they afterwards dwindled to two families, the rest removing to aifaas that port rose in prosperity." Conder and Kitchener, who visited in 1875, was told that the community consisted of "2,500 souls—1,200 being Moslems, the rest Druses, Greeks, and Latins."Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I
p. 272
/ref> The town's Druze community dwindled considerably in the 1880s as its members migrated east to the
Hauran The Hauran ( ar, حَوْرَان, ''Ḥawrān''; also spelled ''Hawran'' or ''Houran'') is a region that spans parts of southern Syria and northern Jordan. It is bound in the north by the Ghouta oasis, eastwards by the al-Safa field, to the s ...
plain to avoid conscription by the Ottoman authorities. A population list from about 1887 showed that Shefa-Amr had about 2,750 inhabitants; 795 Muslims, 95 Greek Catholics, 1,100 Catholic, 140 Latins, 175 Maronites/Protestants, 30 Jews and 440 Druze.


British rule

The
British Mandate of Palestine British Mandate of Palestine or Palestine Mandate most often refers to: * Mandate for Palestine: a League of Nations mandate under which the British controlled an area which included Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan. * Mandatory P ...
was established in 1920. At the time of the
1922 census of Palestine The 1922 census of Palestine was the first census carried out by the authorities of the British Mandate of Palestine, on 23 October 1922. The reported population was 757,182, including the military and persons of foreign nationality. The divis ...
, Shefa-Amr had a population of 2,288 inhabitants: 1,263 Christians, 623 Muslims, and 402 Druze. Of the Christians, 1,054 were
Melkite The term Melkite (), also written Melchite, refers to various Eastern Christian churches of the Byzantine Rite and their members originating in the Middle East. The term comes from the common Central Semitic root ''m-l-k'', meaning "royal", a ...
s, 94 Anglicans, 70 Roman Catholics, 42 Greek Orthodox and three Maronite. By the 1931 census, Shefa-Amr had 629 occupied houses and a population of 1,321 Christians, 1,006 Muslims, 496 Druze, and one Jew. A further 1,197 Muslims in 234 occupied houses was recorded for "Shafa 'Amr Suburbs".Mills, 1932,
p. 96
(PDF)
Statistics compiled by the Mandatory government in the 1945 statistics showed an urban population of 1,560 Christians, 1,380 Muslims, 10 Jews and 690 "others" (presumably Druze) and a rural population of 3,560 Muslims.Department of Statistics, 1945, p
15
/ref>


State of Israel

In 1948 Shefa-Amr was captured by the
Israeli Army The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branch ...
during the first phase of
Operation Dekel Operation Dekel ( he, מבצע דקל , Mivtza Dekel, Operation Palm Tree), was the largest offensive by Israeli forces in the north of Palestine after the first truce of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It was carried out by the 7th Armoured Briga ...
, from 8 to 14 July. The Druze population actively cooperated with the IDF. The Muslim quarter was heavily shelled and thousands of inhabitants fled to Saffuriyeh. Following the fall of Nazareth some of the refugees were allowed to return to their homes. The population was placed under strict martial law. In November 1949 a group of notables from Shefa-Amr gave the IDF a list of over 300 illegal residents in the town. The military rule lasted until 1966. On 16 May 2004, Whehebe Moheen, a man in his sixties, murdered Manal Najeeb Abu Raed, his widowed daughter-in-law, wife of his son, and mother of his two granddaughters. Manal had lost her husband to cancer two years earlier, and was living in the couple's home, in the Druze village of Daliat El Carmel, near Haifa. Following this event there was conflict between the families of the victim and of the killer. The final reconciliation took place on 27 February 2009, when about 300 family members, dignitaries and residents of the mixed city of Shefa-Amr and Daliyat al-Carmel participated in the reconciliation ritual. They gathered, along with Christian and Muslim dignitaries, including mayors of the two towns involved,
Knesset The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (wit ...
members (Druze and Muslim), the religious leader of Israel's Druze community, and a sizable contingent of Druze religious leaders from many villages in northern Israel. Following the speeches, the dignitaries signed the ''sulha'' (reconciliation) agreement, and after the document was declared officially endorsed, the killer's family handed the leader of the ''sulha'' committee, Sheikh Muafak Tarif, a bag containing the blood money (''diya'') compensation, and Tarif handed the bag to cousins of the murdered woman. The bag contained 200,000 NIS (about US$50,000), about half what a "normal" conciliation payment would be, but the killer's family refused to bring more money, claiming that they had no resources, and were not prepared to make themselves bankrupt because of a "crazy" uncle. On 4 August 2005, an Israeli soldier who was
absent without leave Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or post without permission (a pass, liberty or leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with unauthorized absence (UA) or absence without leave (AWOL ), which ...
, Eden Natan-Zada, opened fire while aboard a bus in the city, killing four Arab residents and wounding twenty-two others. After the shooting, Natan-Zada was overcome by nearby crowds,
lynched Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, punish a convicted transgressor, or intimidate people. It can also be an ex ...
and beaten with rocks. According to witnesses, the bus driver was surprised to see a ''
kippah A , , or , plural ), also called ''yarmulke'' (, ; yi, יאַרמלקע, link=no, , german: Jarmulke, pl, Jarmułka or ''koppel'' ( yi, קאפל ) is a brimless cap, usually made of cloth, traditionally worn by Jewish males to fulfill the ...
''-wearing Jewish soldier making his way to Shefa-Amr via public bus, so inquired of Natan-Zada whether he was certain he wanted to take his current route. The four fatalities were two sisters in their early twenties, Hazar and Dina Turki, and two men, bus driver Michel Bahouth and Nader Hayek. In the days following the attack, 40,000 people attended mass funeral services for the victims. The sisters were buried in an Islamic cemetery and the men were buried in the Christian Catholic cemetery. The wounded were taken to
Rambam Hospital Rambam Health Care Campus ( he, רמב"ם - הקריה הרפואית לבריאות האדם) commonly called Rambam Hospital, is a teaching hospital in the Bat Galim neighborhood of Haifa, Israel founded in 1938, 10 years before the establishme ...
in Haifa. The Shefa-Amr municipality established a monument to commemorate the victims.


Geography

Shefa-Amr is located in the North District of Israel at the entrance to the
Galilee Galilee (; he, הַגָּלִיל, hagGālīl; ar, الجليل, al-jalīl) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon. Galilee traditionally refers to the mountainous part, divided into Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and Lower Gali ...
. It is located from the Mediterranean Sea and from each of three cities, Haifa,
Acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial and US customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet), which is exactly equal to 10 square chains, of a square mile, 4,840 square ...
and Nazareth, where many of the inhabitants are employed. The city is located on seven hills, which gives it the name "Little Rome". The elevation of the city and its strategic location as the connection between the valleys and mountains of Galilee made it more than once the center of its district, especially in the period of Uthman, the son of Zahir al-Umar, who built a castle in it, and towers around it. The bay of Haifa with the sea stretching between Haifa and Acre and the high mountains of Galilee and the valleys surrounding the city could be seen from high points in the city.


Politics and local government

Ibraheem Nimr Hussein, a former mayor of Shefa-Amr, was chairman of the Committee of Arab Mayors in Israel (later the Arab Follow-Up Committee) from its inception in 1975. In 1981 an
NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
to promote health care in the Arab community was set up in Shefa-Amr. It called itself ' - the Arab National Society for Health Research and Services. In 1982, following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, Mayor Ibrahim Nimr Husayn formed the "Supreme Follow-Up Committee" based on a committee that had been formed following
Land Day Land Day ( ar, يوم الأرض, ''Yawm al-ʾArḍ''; he, יוֹם הַאֲדָמָה, ''Yom HaAdama''), March 30, is a day of commemoration for Arab citizens of Israel and Palestinians of the events of that date in 1976 in Israel. In 1976, ...
. It consisted of 11 heads of local councils as well as Arab Members of Knesset. By the 1990s the committee, meeting in Nazareth, had expanded and become a mini-parliament representing Palestinians in the Galilee. According to Ynetnews, in January 2008, Mayor Ursan Yassin met with officials of the Israeli state committee on the celebrations for the 60th anniversary of independence, and announced that Shefa-Amr intended to take part in the celebrations. In 2011, 7,000 Christians, Druze and Muslims held a solidarity march in support of Christians in Iraq and
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...
who were suffering from religious persecution.


Demographics

In 1951, the population was 4450, of whom about 10% were internally displaced persons from other villages. During the early 1950s, about 25,000 dunams of the land of Shefa-Amr were expropriated by the following method: the land was declared a closed military area, then after enough time had passed for it to have become legally "uncultivated", the Minister of Agriculture used his powers to "ensure that it was cultivated" by giving it to neighboring Jewish majority communities. Some of the land was owned by Jews. Another 7,579 dunams were expropriated in 1953–4. The total land holdings of the village fell from 58,725 dunams in 1945 to 10,371 dunams in 1962. According to CBS, in 2012 the religious and ethnic makeup of the city was mostly
Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
s (consisting of 59.2% Muslim, 26.5% Christian, and 14.3% Druze). Shefa-Amr is home to the fourth-largest Arab Christian community in Israel, and are mostly Greek-Melkite Catholics. According to CBS, in 2012 there were 38,300 registered citizens in the city. 40.4% of the population was not over 19 years old, 14.9% between 20 and 29, 21.1% between 30 and 44, 17.8% from 45 to 64, and 5.7% 65 or older. Population in Shefa-Amr over the years: ImageSize = width:500 height:220 PlotArea = left:70 right:40 top:20 bottom:20 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify Colors = id:gray1 value:gray(0.9) DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:0 till:41024 ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5000 start:0 gridcolor:gray1 PlotData = bar:1955 color:gray1 width:1 from:0 till:5400 width:15 text:5400 textcolor:red fontsize:8px bar:1961 color:gray1 width:1 from:0 till:7200 width:15 text:7200 textcolor:red fontsize:8px bar:1972 color:gray1 width:1 from:0 till:11600 width:15 text:11600 textcolor:red fontsize:8px bar:1983 color:gray1 width:1 from:0 till:16900 width:15 text:16900 textcolor:red fontsize:8px bar:1995 color:gray1 width:1 from:0 till:24500 width:15 text:24500 textcolor:red fontsize:8px bar:2005 color:gray1 width:1 from:0 till:32800 width:15 text:32800 textcolor:red fontsize:8px bar:2006 color:gray1 width:1 from:0 till:33500 width:15 text:33500 textcolor:red fontsize:8px bar:2009 color:gray1 width:1 from:0 till:35300 width:15 text:35300 textcolor:red fontsize:8px bar:2012 color:gray1 width:1 from:0 till:38343 width:15 text:38343 textcolor:red fontsize:8px bar:2017 color:gray1 width:1 from:0 till:41024 width:15 text:41024 textcolor:red fontsize:8px


Economy

According to CBS, in 2012 there were 12,494 salaried and 1062 self-employed workers in the city. The mean monthly wage in 2012 for a salaried worker in the city was ILS 5,412. Salaried males had a mean monthly wage of ILS 6,312 versus ILS 3,904 for females. The mean income for the self-employed was ILS 7,381. 235 people received unemployment benefits and 3,971 received an income guarantee.


Education and culture

In 2012, there were 24 schools serving a student population of 9,459: 15 elementary schools with 5,360 students and 13 high schools with 4,099 students. In 2012, 53.7% of twelfth grade students earned a matriculation certificate. In the eastern part of the city,
Mifal HaPayis Mifal HaPais ( he, מפעל הפיס) is the national lottery of Israel. Most gambling is illegal in Israel. The only bodies licensed to provide betting services are Mifal HaPais and The Israeli Sports Betting Council. In 2012, Mifal HaPais's annua ...
built a public computer center, a public library, a large events hall and more. Shefa-Amr is also home to Tamrat El Zeitoun, an elementary school (about 150 students) notable for serving Muslim, Christian, and Druze together and being the only Arabic language
Waldorf school Waldorf education, also known as Steiner education, is based on the educational philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy. Its educational style is holistic, intended to develop pupils' intellectual, artistic, and practical ...
. In collaboration with Waldorf educators at
Harduf Harduf ( he, הַרְדּוּף, ''lit.'' Oleander) is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located in the Lower Galilee, it falls under the jurisdiction of Jezreel Valley Regional Council. In it had a population of . History The kibbutz was establi ...
the school developed a language curriculum accommodating the differences between written and spoken Arabic. The school celebrates the festivals from all three religions. The Beit Almusica conservatory was founded in 1999 by musician Aamer Nakhleh in the center of Shefa-ʻAmr. It offers a year-round programs of music studies in various instruments, and holds music performances and concerts. Every year Shefa-ʻAmr holds a music festival known as the "Fort Festival." Arab children from all over the country compete in singing classic Arabic songs and one is chosen as "Voice of the Year." The Ba'ath choir, established by Raheeb Haddad, performs all over the country and participates in many international events. Singer Reem Talhami performs all over the Arab world.
Oud , image=File:oud2.jpg , image_capt=Syrian oud made by Abdo Nahat in 1921 , background= , classification= * String instruments *Necked bowl lutes , hornbostel_sachs=321.321-6 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded with a plectrum , ...
player and violinist Tayseer Elias, on the Beit Almusica staff, is a composer, conductor and musicologist who also lectures at
Bar-Ilan University Bar-Ilan University (BIU, he, אוניברסיטת בר-אילן, ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academi ...
. Butrus Lusia, a painter, specializes in icons for Christian churches. The first plays in Shefa-Amr were performed in the 1950s by the Christian scouts. Since the 1970s, many theaters have opened. among them the sons of Shefa-ʻAmr theater, Athar theater, house of the youth theater, Alghurbal Al Shefa-Amry theater and Al Ufok theater. The largest theater in the city is the Ghurbal Establishment, a national Arab theater. Sa'eed Salame, an actor, comedian and pantomimist, established a 3-day international pantomime festival that is held annually. Shefa-Amr is known for its
mastic Mastic may refer to: Adhesives and pastes *Mastic (plant resin) *Mastic asphalt, or asphalt, is a sticky, black and highly viscous liquid * Mastic cold porcelain, or salt ceramic, is a traditional salt-based modeling clay. *Mastic, high-grade con ...
-based ice cream, ''bozet Shefa-'Amr''.The Nakhleh Coffee Company is the leading coffee producer in Israel's Arab community. New restaurant-cafes opened in parts of the old city and encouraged nightlife, being patronised by the youth of Shefa-ʻAmr. The Awt Cafe started holding musical nights where local singers and instruments players including
oud , image=File:oud2.jpg , image_capt=Syrian oud made by Abdo Nahat in 1921 , background= , classification= * String instruments *Necked bowl lutes , hornbostel_sachs=321.321-6 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded with a plectrum , ...
and others perform for the audience.


Landmarks and religious sites

*A fort was built in 1760 by Zahir al-Umar to secure the entrance to Galilee. The fort was built on the ruins of a Crusader fort called "Le Seffram". The ground floor of the fort stabled the horses, the first floor above ground was for Zahir's residential quarters. Zahir's fort is considered the biggest fort remaining in the Galilee. After the establishment of the state, the fort was used as a police station. After a new station was built in the "Fawwar" neighbourhood, the fort was renovated and converted to a youth center, which has since closed down. *"The Tower" or "al Burj" is an old Crusader fort located in the southern part of the city. *The old market of Shefa-Amr was once the bustling heart of the city. Now all that remains is one coffee shop where elderly men gather every day to play backgammon and drink coffee. According to the mayor of Shefa-Amr, Nahed Khazem, the government provided a budget for improving and reviving the old market and developing the area around the fort as a tourist attraction. *The Shfaram Ancient Synagogue is an old synagogue on the site of an even older structure. It is recorded as being active in 1845. A Muslim resident of the town holds the keys. The synagogue was renovated in 2006. The tomb of Rabbi
Judah ben Baba Judah ben Bava was a rabbi in the 2nd century who ordained a number of rabbis at a time when the Roman government forbade this ceremony. The penalty was execution for the ordainer and the new rabbis. The rabbis ordained by Rabbi Judah ben Bava inc ...
, a well-known rabbi from the 2nd century who was captured and executed by the Romans, is still standing and many Jewish believers come to visit it. *Byzantine period tombs are located in the middle of the city. They were the graves of the 5th and 6th-century Christian community. The tomb entrances are decorated with sculptures of lions and Greek inscriptions which make mention of
Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and relig ...
. *In the center of the city, where the Sisters of Nazareth convent now stands, was a 4th-century church, St. Jacob's. This church is mentioned in the notes of Christian church historians, although the original church has been replaced by the monastery. Some marble columns remain, similar to those used to build the earliest churches. * St. Peter & St. Paul Church is located in one of the town's peaks near the fort, it has a high bell tower and a large purple dome. The church was built by Otman, who made a promise to build it if his fort was finished successfully. The walls of the church began to weaken, and in 1904 the entire church building was reinforced and renovated. This is the main church of the local Greek Catholic community. *The Mosque of Ali Ibn Abi Talib (Old Mosque) was constructed near the castle in the days of Sulayman Pasha


Notable people

*
Karimeh Abbud Karimeh Abbud or Karimeh Abboud (18 November 1893 – 27 April 1940; ar, كريمة عبّود), was a Palestinian professional photographer and artist who lived and worked in Palestine in the first half of the twentieth century. She was one of ...
(1893–1940), photographer and artist * Ghassan Alian (born 1972), first non-Jewish commander of the
Golani Brigade The 1st "Golani" Brigade ( he, חֲטִיבַת גּוֹלָנִי) is an Israeli military infantry brigade that is subordinated to the 36th Division and traditionally associated with the Northern Command. It is one of the five infantry brigade ...
*
Hamad Amar Hamad Amar ( ar, حمد عمار, he, חָמַד עַמַאר; born 5 November 1964) is an Israeli Druze politician who currently serves as a member of Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu since 2022, previously serving from 2009 to 2019 and again from ...
(born 1974), Member of the
Knesset The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (wit ...
*
Mansour F. Armaly Mansour F. Armaly (February 25, 1927 – August 19, 2005) was a Palestinian-American physician who researched the modern medical treatment of glaucoma. Early life and education Armaly was born in Shefa Amr, Palestine (region), Palestine. He rece ...
(1927–2005), physician who studied glaucoma * Zahi Armeli (born 1957), former footballer * Mohammad Barakeh (born 1955), Member of the Knesset *
Emile Habibi Emile Shukri Habibi ( ar, إميل حبيبي, he, אמיל חביבי, 28 January 1922 – 2 May 1996) was a Palestinian-Israeli
(1922–1996), Christian Palestinian writer and communist politician *
Salah-Hassan Hanifes Salah-Hassan Hanifes ( ar, صالح حسن خنيفس, he, סאלח-חסן ח'ניפס; 1 March 1913 – 16 March 2002) was a Druze Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Progress and Work between 1951 and 1959. Biography ...
(1913–2002), Member of the Knesset *
Iyad Shalabi Iyad Shalabi (or Eyad Shalaby, ar, إياد شلبي, he, איאד שלבי; born 16 July 1987) is an Arab-Israeli Paralympic swimmer. Career Representing Israel at the 2020 Summer Paralympics, Shalabi won a gold medal in swimming at the 10 ...
(born 1987), who represented Israel at the
2020 Summer Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, was an international multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the International Paraly ...
, where he won a gold medal in swimming


See also

*
Arab localities in Israel Arab localities in Israel include all population centers with a 50% or higher Arab population in Israel. East Jerusalem and Golan Heights are not internationally recognized parts of Israel proper but have been included in this list. According to ...
*
People from Shefa-'Amr A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of prop ...


References


Bibliography

* *
Abu Shama Abū Shāma Shihāb al-Dīn al-Maḳdisī (10 January 1203 – 13 June 1267) was an Arab historian. Abū Shāma was born in Damascus, where he passed his whole life save for one year in Egypt, a fortnight in Jerusalem and two pilgrimages to the � ...
(d.1268) (1969): ''Livre des deux jardins'' ("The Book of Two Gardens").
Recueil des Historiens des Croisades {{italic title The ''Recueil des historiens des croisades'' (trans: ''Collection of the Historians of the Crusades'') is a major collection of several thousand medieval documents written during the Crusades. The documents were collected and publis ...
, Cited in Petersen (2001). * * * * Cited in Petersen, (2001)
p. 271-3
* * * * * * * *Heyd, Uriel (1960): ''Ottoman Documents on Palestine, 1552-1615'', Oxford University Press, Oxford. Cited in Petersen (2001) * Herzog, C. and S. Gazit, ''The Arab-Israeli Wars'', Vintage books, 2005. * * * (pp
366-367
* * * * Vilnai, Z., "Shefa-'Amr, Between the past and the present", Jerusalem 1962. * * * * * *Rogers, Mary Eliza, (1865):
Domestic Life in Palestine
' (Also cited in Petersen, 2001) * * * * * *, s.v.


External links

*

*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 5
IAA
Wikimedia commons Wikimedia Commons (or simply Commons) is a media repository of free-to-use images, sounds, videos and other media. It is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation. Files from Wikimedia Commons can be used across all of the Wikimedia projects in ...
{{Authority control Arab localities in Israel Arab Christian communities in Israel Cities in Northern District (Israel) Historic Jewish communities Ancient Jewish settlements of Galilee Druze communities in Israel