Beit Safafa (, ; lit. "House of the summer-houses or narrow benches") is a

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

town along the Green Line, with the vast majority of its territory in

East Jerusalem East Jerusalem (, ; , ) is the portion of Jerusalem that was Jordanian annexation of the West Bank, held by Jordan after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, as opposed to West Jerusalem, which was held by Israel. Captured and occupied in 1967, th ...

and some northern parts in

West Jerusalem West Jerusalem or Western Jerusalem (, ; , ) refers to the section of Jerusalem that was controlled by Israel at the end of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. As the city was divided by the Green Line (Israel's erstwhile border, established by ...

. Since the 1949 agreements, the neighborhood had been divided by the Green Line. Until 1967, the East Jerusalem part remained under Jordanian rule while the northern parts came under Israeli rule. Beit Safafa covers an area of 1,577

dunam A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; ; ; ), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area analogous in role (but not equal) to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amo ...

s. In 2010, Beit Safafa had a population of 5,463. Walaja Barrier 2011

History

During the Crusader era, the village was known as ''Bethafava'' or ''Bethsaphase''.Pringle, 1997, pp
28
29 Baldwin I granted the village as a

fief A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...

to the

Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic military order. It was founded in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and had headquarters there ...

s sometime before September 1110. A tower in the village is dated to the Crusader period. In the 1360–1370, part of the revenue from Beit Safafa went to the

Madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , ), sometimes Romanization of Arabic, romanized as madrasah or madrassa, is the Arabic word for any Educational institution, type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whet ...

''Al-Manjakiyya''
com.
on the

Haram esh-Sharif Al-Aqsa (; ) or al-Masjid al-Aqṣā () and also is the compound of Islamic religious buildings that sit atop the Temple Mount, also known as the Haram al-Sharif, in the Old City (Jerusalem), Old City of Jerusalem, including the Dome of the R ...

in Jerusalem.

Ottoman era

The village was incorporated into the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

in 1517 with all of Palestine, and in 1596 it appeared in the tax registers as being in the ''

Nahiya A nāḥiyah ( , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiyeh, 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 divisi ...

'' of Quds of the '' Liwa'' of Quds. It had a population of 41

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

households who paid taxes on wheat, barley, olives, grapes or fruit trees, and goats or beehives; a total of 11,800

akçe The ''akçe'' or ''akça'' (anglicized as ''akche'', ''akcheh'' or ''aqcha''; ; , , in Europe known as '' asper'') was a silver coin mainly known for being the chief monetary unit of the Ottoman Empire. It was also used in other states includi ...

. 1/4 of the revenue went to a

waqf A (; , plural ), also called a (, plural or ), or ''mortmain'' property, is an Alienation (property law), inalienable charitable financial endowment, endowment under Sharia, Islamic law. It typically involves donating a building, plot ...

. In 1838

Robinson Robinson may refer to: People and names * Robinson (name) Fictional characters * Robinson Crusoe, the main character, and title of a novel by Daniel Defoe, published in 1719 Geography * Robinson projection, a map projection used since the 19 ...

noted ''Beit Sufafa'' as a Muslim village in the ''Beni Hasan'' district, west of Jerusalem.

Victor Guérin Victor Guérin (; 15 September 1821 – 21 September 1890) was a French people, French intellectual, explorer and amateur archaeologist. He published books describing the geography, archeology and history of the areas he explored, which included ...

visited the village in 1863, and described it as having some thirty houses, some solidly built and very old. An Ottoman village list from about 1870 showed that Beit Safafa had a population of 169, with a total of 41 houses, though the population count included men, only. In 1883, the

Palestine Exploration Fund The Palestine Exploration Fund is a British society based in London. It was founded in 1865, shortly after the completion of the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem by Royal Engineers of the War Department. The Fund is the oldest known organization i ...

's "Survey of Western Palestine", described it as "a small village in flat open ground, with a well to the north". In 1896 the population of ''Bet Safafa'' was estimated to be about 180 persons.

British Mandate era

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 ...

, Beit Safafa had a population of 716, all Muslim,Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Jerusalem, p
14
/ref> which increased to 997 Muslims and 24 Christians in the 1931 census.Mills, 1932. p
39
/ref> In the 1945 statistics the population was 1,410; 1,370 Muslims and 40 Christians,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p
24
/ref> and the land area was 3,314

s, according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 2,814 dunams were Arab owned, 391 were Jewish owned, and 109 was public property.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p
56
/ref> Of this, 1,030 dunams were for plantations and irrigable land, 1,149 for cereals, while 71 dunams were built-up areas.

After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War

In the wake of the

1948 Arab-Israeli War Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...

, the village was divided in two. The southern part was in the Jordanian-annexed West Bank, while the northern part, originally in no man's land, was transferred to

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

with the signing of

1949 Armistice Agreements The 1949 Armistice Agreements were signed between Israel and Egypt,''A Possible Peace Between Israel and Palestine:,''
Columbia University Press, 2007 p.70:'sovereignty over the part of the village of Beit Safafa that lay in the West Bank.' After the war, a section of the Jaffa-Jerusalem railway remained under Jordanian control. Following the 1949 Armistice Agreements, it was agreed that Jordan would transfer control of this section of the track to Israel, in order to enable

Israel Railways Israel Railways Ltd. (, ''Rakevet Yisra'el'') is the state-owned principal railway company responsible for all inter-city, commuter, and freight rail transport in Israel. Israel Railways network consists of of track. All its lines are standar ...

to restart rail service to Jerusalem. As a result, the area south of the railway line was part of the Jordanian-controlled West Bank and the railway line itself and the area to the north, was part of Israeli-controlled

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. Service on the line resumed on August 7, 1949. During the period when the neighborhood was divided, a two-foot high barbed wire fence was erected down the middle of the main street with

Arab Legion The Arab Legion () was the police force, then regular army, of the Emirate of Transjordan, a British protectorate, in the early part of the 20th century, and then of the Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, an independent state, with a final Ar ...

naires and Israeli soldiers guarding on each side. In 1961, the Jordanian census showed a population of 1,025 in Beit Safafa.

After the Six-Day War

After the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...

in 1967, the whole of Beit Safafa has been under

Israeli occupation Israel has occupied the Golan Heights of Syria and the Palestinian territories since the Six-Day War of 1967. It has previously occupied the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt and southern Lebanon as well. Prior to 1967, control of the Palestinian terr ...

, and the fence between the east and the west part was taken down. Residents of the Israeli side had Israeli citizenship while those on the south side were given, like East Jerusalem residents, Jerusalem ID cards and residency, while retaining Jordanian citizenship. Also following the 1967 war, Palestinian Christians with Israeli citizenship from

Nazareth Nazareth is the largest Cities in Israel, city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. In its population was . Known as "the Arab capital of Israel", Nazareth serves as a cultural, political, religious, economic and ...

Jaffa Jaffa (, ; , ), also called Japho, Joppa or Joppe in English, is an ancient Levantine Sea, Levantine port city which is part of Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel, located in its southern part. The city sits atop a naturally elevated outcrop on ...

, and Jerusalem moved to Beit Safafa, expanding the small community, and several Jewish families moved in as well. According to ARIJ, Israel has expropriated land from Sharafat and Beit Safafa for the construction of three

Israeli settlement Israeli settlements, also called Israeli colonies, are the civilian communities built by Israel throughout the Israeli-occupied territories. They are populated by Israeli citizens, almost exclusively of Israeli Jews, Jewish identity or ethni ...

s: *1,529 dunams have been taken for

Gilo Gilo () is an Israeli settlement in south-western East Jerusalem, with a population of 30,000, mostly Jewish inhabitants. Although it is located within the Jerusalem Municipality, it is widely considered a settlement, because as one of the five ...

,Beit Safafa & Sharafat Town Profile
p. 14 *166 dunams have been taken for Har Homa, *285 dunams have been taken for Giv’at Hamatos

Education

Beit Safafa has three schools: Beit Safafa Elementary School, Beit Safafa High School and al-Salam School, a school for special needs children. Beit Safafa schools follow both the Israeli

Bagrut Te'udat Bagrut (, ''lit.'' "graduation certificate", Arabic: شهادة بجروت) is a certificate that attests that a student has successfully passed Israel's high school matriculation examination. Bagrut is a prerequisite for higher education ...

curriculum and the Palestinian Tawjihi curriculum. In 1997, the Hand in Hand School for Bilingual Education was founded in Beit Safafa. The school, supported by the Israeli Ministry of Education and the

Jerusalem Municipality The Jerusalem Municipality (), the seat of the Israeli municipal administration, consists of a number of buildings located on Jaffa Road in the city of Jerusalem. History British Mandate town hall (1930) Jerusalem's old town hall was bui ...

, offers a bilingual curriculum in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

and

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

, with joint classes for Israelis and Palestinians. In 2012, 530 Palestinian and Israeli children were enrolled in the school. In 2012, Bakehila, an organization founded by

Erel Margalit Erel Margalit (; born 1 January 1961) is an Israeli high-tech and social entrepreneur. He is the founder and Executive Chairman of the Jerusalem-based venture capital firm Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP) and the founder of two non-profit organi ...

Jerusalem Venture Partners Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP) is an international Venture capital in Israel, venture capital firm founded in 1993. The fund specializes in investments in Startup company, startup companies, focusing on digital media, enterprise software, semic ...

to aid children from underprivileged neighborhoods, opened an educational enrichment center in Beit Safafa.

Urban development plans

In 2012, an urban development plan approved by the Jerusalem Municipality announced a project to build four new roads in Beit Safafa. In early 2013, the

began construction of an eight-lane highway that would bisect Beit Safafa. Israeli author David Grossman wrote that the plan was adopted without public scrutiny and would harm the character of the neighborhood.David Grossman
'The highway, the village and the road not taken,'
at Haaretz 26 June 2013. The residents claimed that the plan was illegal and construction commenced without warning. After petitioning the local courts and the

Israeli Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Israel (, Hebrew acronym Bagatz; ) is the Supreme court, highest court in Israel. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all other courts, and in some cases original jurisdiction. The Supreme Court consists of 15 jud ...

, the residents succeeded in halting the project.Will this Arab neighborhood in Jerusalem be divided?
/ref> Naomi Tzur, deputy mayor of Jerusalem and holder of the urban planning portfolio, said that the residents were "taking advantage of the political situation to turn a local concern into an international story. When the residents of Beit Hakerem conducted their fight over their part of Begin Highway, the international media wasn't interested. This is simply a residents' fight against its municipality for better compensations and better infrastructure, and it's a perfectly justifiable fight and part of democracy." In June 2013, the Supreme Court ruled that the 1-mile stretch of highway crossing Beit Safafa would cause unacceptable damage to the residents' quality of life. Beit Safafa's lawyers say the construction of an acoustically insulated tunnel that puts the road underground and protects the area's geographic integrity might be an acceptable solution.

Archaeology

Several winepresses have been found at Beit Safafa, which have been dated back to the

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

. In a salvage dig in Beit Safafa, archaeologists discovered fifty graves dated first century BC-first century CE, of which 41 were excavated. In 2013, an archaeological survey-excavation was conducted on the site by Alex Wiegmann on behalf of the

Israel Antiquities Authority The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA, ; , before 1990, the Israel Department of Antiquities) is an independent Israeli governmental authority responsible for enforcing the 1978 Law of Antiquities. The IAA regulates excavation and conservatio ...

(IAA).

Excavators and Excavations Permit for Year 2013
Survey Permit # A-6898

Notable people

Sayed Kashua Sayed Kashua (, ; born 1975) is an author and journalist. He is a Palestinian people, Palestinian citizen of Israel, born in Tira, Israel. He is known for his books and humorous columns in Hebrew and English. Early life Kashua was born in Tira, ...

References

Bibliography

* * * * (p
30
* * * p
215
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 17
IAAWikimedia commons

Beit Safafa and Sharafat (Fact Sheet)

Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem The Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem (ARIJ; ) is a Palestinian NGO founded in 1990 with its main office in Bethlehem in the West Bank. ARIJ is actively working on research projects in the fields of management of natural resources, water m ...

(ARIJ)
Beit Safafa & Sharafat Town Profile
ARIJ
Beit Safafa & Sharafat aerial photo
ARIJ
The Mashrabiya House, Beit Safafa
ARIJ
Cadastral map of Beit Safafa region
1933, 1:10,000, Eran Laor Cartographic Collection, The

National Library of Israel The National Library of Israel (NLI; ; ), formerly Jewish National and University Library (JNUL; ), is the library dedicated to collecting the cultural treasures of Israel and of Judaism, Jewish Cultural heritage, heritage. The library holds more ...

{{Authority control Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem