Abil al-Qamh

The village was built in a hilly area north of the Hula Plain, slightly east of the main road running north to al-Mutilla, approximately 3 km away, and south to Safad. It was about one kilometer from the Lebanese border and remained part of Lebanon until 1923, when it was annexed to Palestine under the British Mandate. The first part of the village’s name is derived from a Semitic root meaning "meadow," so its name can be interpreted as "Wheat Meadow." The site had been inhabited since around 2900 BCE and remained so for at least two millennia. This site was once the location of a city captured by Thutmose III in 1468 BCE. During King David’s reign, it became a fortified site that was later taken by the Arameans. Assyrian inscriptions mention Abl Bet Ma’araka among the cities they conquered in 733 or 734 BCE. The name Abl al-Qamh appears again much later in the Dictionary of Countries by the Arab geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi (died 1229). In 1996, Abl al-Qamh was a village in the Tabnine subdistrict of Safad district, with a population of 140. The villagers paid taxes on various crops such as wheat, barley, and olives, in addition to other products and livestock including goats, beehives, and vineyards.

In the late 19th century, Abl al-Qamh was located near a stream, surrounded by agricultural land. The village had a church and nearby ancient ruins. In modern times, the village had a triangular layout conforming to the folds of the hill on which it was built. The houses were constructed of stone and mud, or stone and cement, or just cement. The population consisted of 130 Muslims and 100 Christians. Agriculture was the backbone of the village economy. In 1944/1945, a total of 2,535 dunams were allocated to grains, and 299 dunams were irrigated or used for orchards. The wheat fields surrounding the village were known for their fertile soil and benefited from abundant water resources. This abundance sometimes led locals to refer to the village as "Abl al-Miyah," meaning "Water Tower." In addition to other ruins near the village, there was an archaeological site east of the village near the Kfar Giladi settlement (site number 203094), containing rock-cut tombs, flint tools, and grave markers.

Occupation and Ethnic Cleansing

Despite an Israeli intelligence report issued in late June 1948 stating that the village was evacuated on May 10, 1948, the responsibility for occupying Eastern Galilee during this period was assigned to the Palmach as part of Operation Yiftach.

Operation Yiftach was executed according to Plan Dalet and was organized and engineered by Palmach commander Yigal Allon. The Palmach forces launched Operation Yiftach from mid-April to late May 1948 with the objective of capturing Eastern Galilee before the end of the British Mandate on May 15. They succeeded in occupying the entire area and expelling its inhabitants. The First Palmach Battalion was the spearhead of this operation. Palestinian residents of Eastern Galilee who did not flee despite the attacks and threats were forcibly expelled as their villages and towns fell into occupation. All Palestinian villages in Eastern Galilee were emptied of their inhabitants, and many were destroyed. Safad, the largest city in the district, was also evacuated of its residents.

The Zionist forces began Operation Yiftach with an attack on the village of Nabi Yusha, located midway between Safad and Abl al-Qamh. When the British withdrew from the area surrounding Nabi Yusha on April 15, the police station there came under the control of units of the Arab Liberation Army and other fighters. On April 17, Zionist forces attacked Nabi Yusha, captured it, and took control of the police station, which they used as the command center for the operation. The Jewish settlement of Degania became an important military base and one of the launching points for gas attacks carried out by Zionist forces against Syria at that time.

Operation commander Yigal Allon openly expressed his desire to expel the local population. Israeli historian Benny Morris writes that Allon later wrote: "We considered it necessary to cleanse the interior of the Galilee and establish a link between the Jewish territories throughout the Upper Galilee." According to Morris, this was justified on security grounds. The complete cleansing of Eastern Galilee from all Arab forces and residents was viewed as the simplest and best way to ensure border security. Allon recommended in a report to the Haganah General Staff dated April 22 that the Bedouin camps between the Jordan River on one side and Mount Joseph and the Sea of Galilee on the other be evacuated. By then, Operation Yiftach was already underway.

Allon achieved his goals through a combination of direct military assaults and psychological warfare. He invented a series of rumors to frighten the Eastern Galilee residents into fleeing. Jewish mukhtars (village leaders) were gathered and advised “in friendship” to save themselves by leaving, as massive reinforcements had arrived and villages in the Hula Plain were about to be cleared. As a result, approximately 18% of the population of the Galilee’s finger area fled during Operation Yiftach.

One of the primary objectives of Operation Yiftach was to capture Safad, the largest and most populous center in northeastern Palestine. In the spring of 1948, Zionist forces paved the way for the assault on Safad and the city of Tiberias by launching sweeping raids on the surrounding villages. These raids severely weakened the morale of the residents of the two cities targeted for occupation. The village of Akbara was chosen in early May 1948 as a warning to the people of Safad. On May 9, under operational orders, units of the First Palmach Battalion attacked Akbara to instill fear among the Arabs of Safad that they were about to be surrounded and that resistance would be futile. The final assault on Safad was launched on May 10–11, 1948. Following the fall of Safad, several villages in the district were abandoned by their residents due to panic, according to eyewitness accounts.

After Safad was captured on May 11, 1948, the units participating in Operation Yiftach were ordered to advance northwards to cut off all routes through which Lebanese and Syrian forces might enter Palestine before May 15. According to the History of the Haganah, the First Palmach Battalion advanced to the village of Qadas and its neighboring village al-Malikiyya on the night of May 14–15. Qadas fell into their hands by morning. However, Lebanese units crossed the border later that day and launched a major counterattack that forced the battalion to withdraw from Qadas. Nevertheless, the Lebanese advance was halted there due to heavy losses and Israeli raids on targets within Lebanese territory. By May 25, Operation Yiftach was concluded.

The Village Today

The village site is now overgrown with grass and wild plants. A grove of trees stands in the northeastern corner of the site, while stones from the destroyed houses are scattered around. The surrounding lands are used as pasture for livestock.

Zionist Settlements on Village Lands

In 1952, Israel established the settlement of Bu’val (site number 206294) on the village lands. Bu’val is located about 15 km from the village site, near the borders of the lands of the village of al-Zuq al-Fawqani.