Al-Butayha
| Al-Butayha | |
|---|---|
 Al-Butayha
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| Arabic | البطيحة |
| Subdistrict | Safad |
| Coordinates | 32°54′58.57″N 35°37′22.36″E / 32.9162694°N 35.6228778°ECoordinates: 32°54′58.57″N 35°37′22.36″E / 32.9162694°N 35.6228778°E |
| Palestine grid | 208/257 |
| Population | 650 (1945) |
| Area | 16690 dunams |
| Date of depopulation | May 4, 1948 |
| Current localities | Almagor |
Al-Butayha (Arabic: البطيحة) was a Palestinian Arab village in the Safad Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on May 4, 1948 by the Palmach's First Battalion during Operation Matateh. It was located 13 km southeast of Safad, quarter of a mile east of the Jordan River, a little northeast of the northern tip of the Sea of Galilee. Many of the inhabitants were forced into Syria.
In 1945, the village had a population of 650.
Al-Butayha was situated in a hilly area next to the border with Syria, approximately 0.25 km east of the Jordan River and 2 km from Lake Tiberias. The name means "marshland" in Arabic, in reference to the vast stretch of land in the area. In 1459 the village was visited by the Arab geographer al-Qalqashandi.
It was classified as a hamlet by the Palestine Index Gazetteer. By 1944/45 the village was counted with Arab al-Shamalina, and together they occupied an area of 16,690 dunums, with 3,842 dunums allocated to cereal farming, 238 dunums under irrigation or used for orchards, while 12,610 dunams were classified as non-cultivable land.
On May 4, 1948, the village was attacked by the forces of Haganah’s during Operation Matateh ('Operation Broom'), part of Operation Yiftach, an offensive to clear all Arab settlement from an area north of Lake Tiberias and west of the Jordan River. Their orders were to "destroy any points of assembly for invading forces from the east”.
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