Ein as-Sahla (, ) is an

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

village in

Haifa District Haifa District () is an administrative district surrounding the city of Haifa in Israel. The district is one of the seven administrative districts of Israel, and its capital is Haifa. The district land area is 864 km2 (299.3 mi2). D ...

, Israel. The village is located in the

Wadi Ara Wadi Ara (, ) or Nahal 'Iron (), is a valley and its surrounding area in Israel populated mainly by Arab citizens of Israel, Arab Israelis. The area is also known as the "Triangle (Israel), Northern Triangle". Wadi Ara is located northwest of t ...

area of the northern Triangle. The village has about 2,000 residents. Since 1996, it has been under the jurisdiction of the Basma local council. The vast majority of the residents in Ein as-Sahla adhere to

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

History

Flint tools from the

Epipalaeolithic In archaeology, the Epipalaeolithic or Epipaleolithic (sometimes Epi-paleolithic etc.) is a period occurring between the Upper Paleolithic and Neolithic during the Stone Age. Mesolithic also falls between these two periods, and the two are someti ...

(possibly Kebarrian) and

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

eras have been found here, as has pottery

sherd This page is a glossary of archaeology, the study of the human past from material remains. A B C D E F ...

s from the

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

and

Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

eras.

Ottoman

According to oral tradition of the residents, the founder of the Kabha clan moved from

Bayt Jibrin Bayt Jibrin or Beit Jibrin ( lit. 'House of the Powerful') was an Arab village in the Hebron Subdistrict of British Mandatory Palestine, in what is today the State of Israel, which was depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. It was ...

to Ya'bad in the 18th century. Some of the clan members left Ya'bad in the mid-19th century searching for sources of living, and they found a spring with pastures for their cattle and bought the lands around it and established

Barta'a Barta'a (Hebrew: בַּרְטַּעָה) is an Arab village located in the northern triangle area and Nahal Iron, which is split by the Green Line separating Israel from the West Bank. This division resulted in the separation of the village int ...

. Ein as-Sahla was established as a daughter village of Barta'a in the 19th century.

British Mandate era

During the British Mandate rule, the village was within the boundaries of

Ar'ara Ar'ara (, ; lit. "Juniper tree")Palmer, 1881p.144/ref> is an Arab town in the Wadi Ara region in northern Israel. It is located southwest of Umm al-Fahm just northwest of the Green Line, and is part of the Triangle. In , the population was . ...

1948 and after

During the

1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, also known as the First Arab–Israeli War, followed the 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine, civil war in Mandatory Palestine as the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. The civil war becam ...

the village and the surrounding area came under

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

i control.The Politics of Partition; King Abdullah, The Zionists, and Palestine 1921–1951 Avi Shlaim Oxford University Press Revised Edition 2004 pp. 299, 312 In March 1949

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

ian forces replaced the Iraqi forces in Wadi Ara. On 3 April 1949 Israel and Jordan signed an armistice agreement, in which Israel would receive the Wadi Ara area. After Israeli independence, the population of the village increased and

martial law Martial law is the replacement of civilian government by military rule and the suspension of civilian legal processes for military powers. Martial law can continue for a specified amount of time, or indefinitely, and standard civil liberties ...

was implemented, which led to the settlement becoming a separate village in 1963. In 1973 the first mosque, named Abu Bakr Al-sidik, was built and in 1989 the second one, named Al-Huda Mosque, was built. Ein as-Sahla lacked municipal status after the establishment of Israel and was under the administration of ''

mukhtar A mukhtar (; ) is a village chief in the Levant: "an old institution that goes back to the time of the Ottoman rule". According to Amir S. Cheshin, Bill Hutman and Avi Melamed, the mukhtar "for centuries were the central figures". They "were ...

s'' (village headmen) appointed by the Interior Ministry. In 1992, the Interior Ministry established the Nahal Iron regional council, which included Ein as-Sahla and seven other villages. The locals objected to this administrative arrangement, and sought independent municipal status for each village. To allay local concerns, the Interior Ministry established an investigative committee to examine other options, and in 1996, decided to split the regional council into two local councils,

Ma'ale Iron Ma'ale Iron (, ''lit.'' Iron Heights; ) is an Arab citizens of Israel, Arab Local council (Israel), local council in Israel's Haifa District and is a part of the Wadi Ara region in the Triangle (Israel), Triangle. The town consists of the five vill ...

and Basma, which includes Ein as-Sahala.

Education

Ein as-Sahla has five

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

s and an

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

with 19 classes.

Geography

Ein as-Sahla occupies Mount Al-Khataf, which overlooks

. In the middle of the village there is a spring which gives it its name "Spring of the Plain". The village has a neighbourhood on the foot of the hill which has 350 residents. The village is surrounded by nature, which attracts tourists. The only established entrance to the village is through

Sports

Ein as-Sahla has a local football club called "Hapoel Ein Sahla", participating in

Liga Bet Liga Bet () is the fourth tier of the Israeli football league system. It is divided into four regional divisions. History League football started in Israel in 1949–50, a year after the Israeli Declaration of Independence. However, the financial ...

. The club has an adult and a youth team and they host matches in a soccer fields located in

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

Welcome To Khirbat 'Ayn al-Sahla
*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 8
IAAWikimedia commons
{{Haifa District Arab localities in Israel Triangle (Israel) Wadi Ara