Safsaf
| Safsaf | |
|---|---|
 Safsaf
|
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| Arabic | صفصاف |
| Name meaning | "the Osier willow" |
| Also spelled | Safsofa |
| Subdistrict | Safad |
| Coordinates | 33°00′41.81″N 35°26′44.37″E / 33.0116139°N 35.4456583°ECoordinates: 33°00′41.81″N 35°26′44.37″E / 33.0116139°N 35.4456583°E |
| Palestine grid | 192/268 |
| Population | 910 (1945) |
| Area | 7,391 dunams |
| Date of depopulation | 29 October 1948 |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Military assault by Yishuv forces |
| Secondary cause | Fear of being caught up in the fighting |
| Current localities | Kfar Hoshen,Bar Yohai |
Safsaf (Arabic: صفصاف, the weeping willow, also known in Roman times as Safsofa) was a Palestinian village located 9 kilometres northwest of Safed, present-day Israel. Its villagers fled to Lebanon after the Safsaf massacre in October 1948, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
The village was called Safsofa in Roman times.
In the early sixteenth century CE, Safsaf was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire, and by 1596, it was a village in the nahiyah ("subdistrict") of Jira, part of Sanjak Safad. It had a population of 138, and it paid taxes on several agricultural items including wheat, barley, olives and fruits, as well as other types of produce, such as beehives and goats.
In 1875 Victor Guérin described it as a village with fifteen Muslim families.
In 1881 the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine described Safsaf as a small village situated on a plain, with a population of about 100. They also noted that "ornamented stones of a preexisting public building" had been built into the doorway of the village mosque. The villagers cultivated olive and fig trees and vineyards.
Safsaf became a part of the British Mandate in 1922. During this time, the village lay on the eastern side of the Safad-Tarshiha highway and extended in a northeast-southwest direction. All the residents of Safsaf were Muslims. A mosque and several shops were located in the village center, and an elementary school was established during this period. Agriculture was the main economic activity, and it was both irrigated from springs and rainfed. Fruits and olives were cultivated on the land north of the village.
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