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Biriyya () was a Palestinian Arab village in the Safad Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on May 2, 1948, by The Palmach's First Battalion of Operation Yiftach. It was located northeast of
Safad Safed (), also known as Tzfat (), is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of up to , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and in Israel. Safed has been identified with (), a fortified town in the Upper Gal ...
. Today the Israeli moshav of Birya includes the village site.


History

The village was on a hill 1.5 kilometres northeast of
Safad Safed (), also known as Tzfat (), is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of up to , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and in Israel. Safed has been identified with (), a fortified town in the Upper Gal ...
.Khalidi, 1992, p.440 It is believed to have been built on the site of the Roman village of ''Beral'' or ''Bin'', which was later also a Jewish town. Ishtori Haparchi, however, thought the village to have been the ''Beri'' of rabbinic literature.


Ottoman era

In the 1596 tax record, Biriyya was a village 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 Jira ( Liwa' of Safad) with a
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 ...
population of 38 families and 3 bachelors, and a
Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
population of 16 families and 1 bachelor; a total estimated population of 319 persons. The villagers paid taxes on crops such as
wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...
,
barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...
, and
olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'' ("European olive"), is a species of Subtropics, subtropical evergreen tree in the Family (biology), family Oleaceae. Originating in Anatolia, Asia Minor, it is abundant throughout the Mediterranean ...
s and other types of produce and owned beehives, vineyards, and a press that was used for processing olives. Total taxes paid was 3,145
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 ...
.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 175 A map from Napoleon's invasion of 1799 by
Pierre Jacotin Pierre Jacotin (1765–1827) was the director of the Surveying, survey for the ''Carte de l'Égypte (Description de l'Égypte)'', the first triangulation-based map of Egypt, Syria and Palestine. The maps were drafted in 1799–1800 during Napole ...
showed the place, named as "Beria", while in 1838 ''Biria'' was noted as a village in the Safad region. In 1875
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 ...
found Biriyya to have about 150 Muslim inhabitants. In 1881, the PEF's '' Survey of Western Palestine'' (SWP) described Biriyya as having "good stone houses, containing about 100 Muslims, surrounded by arable cultivation, and several good springs near the village". A population list from about 1887 showed ''Biria'' to have about 355 Muslim inhabitants.


British Mandate era

In 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 ...
conducted by the British Mandate authorities, ''Biria'' had a population of 128, all Muslims,Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Safad, p
41
/ref> increasing in the 1931 census to 170, still all Muslims, in a total of 38 houses.Mills, 1932, p
105
/ref> In the 1945 statistics it had a population of 240 Muslims with a total of 5,579 dunums of land. A total of 328 dunums were used for cereals, 53 dunums for irrigation for use in the orchards, while 25 dunums were built-up (urban) land. The villagers sold their products at the market in nearby Safad.


1948 war and aftermath

On April 7, 1948, it was reported that 20 Arabs had been killed near Mount Canaan, outside Safad. On May 1, 1948, the Palmach's First Battalion captured Biriyya.Morris, 2004, p.
220
/ref> The occupation of Safad and eastern Galilee was completed in May 1948 during Operation Yiftach. In 1992 the village site was described: "About fifteen houses remain and are inhabited by the residents of the settlement of
Biriyya Biriyya () was a Palestinian people, Palestinian Arab village in the Safad Subdistrict, Mandatory Palestine, Safad Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on May 2, 1948, by The Palmach's First Bat ...
, the settlement has been expanded to include the village site. In addition to the inhabited houses, four are semi-deserted or used for storage. Stones from destroyed houses can be found in some of the walls around the settlement. Many old almond, olive, fig, and eucalyptus trees are scattered throughout the site, mingled with trees that have been planted more recently."


See also

* Depopulated Palestinian locations in Israel * Birya affair


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


External links


Welcome To Biriyya

Biriyya
Zochrot *Survey of Western Palestine, Map 4
IAAWikimedia commons


from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center
Biriyya
Dr. Khalil Rizk. {{Palestinian Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Palestine War Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War District of Safad