Ed-Dahi (, ) 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 northeastern

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 ...

. Located on

Givat HaMoreh Givat HaMoreh (, ) is a hill in northern Israel on the northeast side of the Jezreel Valley. The highest peak reaches an altitude of , while the bottom of the Jezreel Valley is situated at an altitude of . North of it are the plains of the Lower ...

(Jebel Dahi in Arabic) overlooking

Afula Afula () is a city in the Northern District of Israel, often known as the "Capital of the Valley" due to its strategic location in the Jezreel Valley. As of , the city had a population of . Afula's ancient tell (settlement mound) suggests habit ...

, it falls under the jurisdiction of

Bustan al-Marj Regional Council The Bustan al-Marj Regional Council (, ''Mo'atza Azorit Bustan al-Marj'') is a regional council in northern Israel. Its territory lies adjacent to the Jezreel Valley and north of Afula, and includes four Arab villages: Villages * Ed-Dahi * Kaf ...

. The village is situated at an altitude of 550 meters above sea level. As of it had a population of .

History

Ed-Dahi was named after Dahia Bin Khalifa al-Kalbei, who according 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 ...

ic tradition, was a friend of the Islamic prophet

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

. Dahia, an ambassador of Muhammad, attempted to convert Byzantine emperor

Heraclius Heraclius (; 11 February 641) was Byzantine emperor from 610 to 641. His rise to power began in 608, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, the Exarch of Africa, led a revolt against the unpopular emperor Phocas. Heraclius's reign was ...

. According to local tradition, Dahia was killed and buried in the site of the village.Dahei
Bustan al-Marj Regional Council.

Ottoman era

In 1870–1871 an Ottoman census listed the 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 ...

'' (sub-district) of Shafa al-Shamali. 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 here a small village, consisting of fifteen "miserable" houses, surrounded by gardens and bordered by cactus hedges. In 1882 the PEF's ''Survey of Western Palestine'' (SWP) described it as "a little

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

of stone cabins, on the saddle west of the conical peak of ''Jebel ed Duhy''. Straggling olives exist on the north and west. The water supply is from a

well A well is an excavation or structure created on the earth by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...

lower down the hill, on the north."

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 authorities His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

, al-Dahi had a population of 84, all

Muslims 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 ...

,Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Nazareth, p
38
/ref> increasing slightly in the 1931 census to 87, still all Muslim, in a total of 16 houses. In the 1945 statistics the population was 110, all Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p
8
/ref> while the total land area was 8,038

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, according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 19 dunams were for plantations and irrigable land, 2,979 for cereals, while 10 dunams were classified as built-up areas.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p
159
/ref>

State of Israel

In February 2016

announced that its offices would move from Afula to Ed-Dahi. Council chairman Ahmed Zoabi noted "The offices are now located in one of the four villages of the council and this is important". In September 2017, the regional council completed its road-paving project.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * *

External links

Welcome To al-Dahi
*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 9
IAAWikimedia commons
{{Authority control Arab villages in Israel Populated places in Northern District (Israel)