'Akbara

The village of Akbara was spread across both sides of a deep valley that stretched from north to south, passing through a south-facing slope. Beyond the valley, there was a hill facing the village. A dirt road connected Akbara to the nearby city of Safad. To the southeast of the village was the site of Khirbat al-‘Aqiba, which corresponds to the location of the Roman village Akbari in 1904. According to the Salnameh of the Vilayet of Beirut (1322 AH / 1904 CE, p. 194; D 6/2:183), this site was an inhabited village in the late 19th century. It was built of stone, and most of its residents were Muslims.

In 1944, a total of 2,222 dunums were cultivated with grains, while 199 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards. Excavations at the nearby khirba revealed ruins including the foundations of ancient buildings, carved stones, and wine presses.

Occupation and Ethnic Cleansing of the Village

In the spring of 1948, Zionist forces launched morale-damaging attacks on the villages surrounding the cities of Safad and Tiberias in preparation for a larger assault. Due to its proximity—just 2.5 kilometers from Safad—Akbara was selected for such an operation. On May 9, units from the First Palmach Battalion attacked Akbara as part of a strategy to create the impression among the Arabs of Safad that they were about to be encircled and would soon lose the ability to resist or escape.

The operational orders given to these units alleged that the village was being used either as a base for Syrian spies infiltrating the area to assist in the defense of Safad or as a launching point for attacks on Jewish convoys. The assault on Akbara was carried out within the scope of Operation Yiftach.

Israeli historian Benny Morris, citing Israeli military sources, claimed that most of the villagers had already fled by the time of the attack, likely influenced by the massacre and expulsion of the residents of ‘Ayn al-Zaytoun, located 3 kilometers north of Safad, which had occurred just days earlier. Those who remained reportedly offered limited resistance. It is not clear whether there were casualties, but Morris does mention that the invading units demolished several village houses.

Some of the villagers fled to al-Qrayya and al-Sammu‘i, to the west of Akbara. The events in Akbara contributed to a significant drop in morale among the residents of Safad, which was attacked the following day. According to press reports (e.g., New York Times, May 12, 1948), Safad fell on May 11.

Twenty-five years later, Palestinian historian Nafez Nazzal interviewed villagers who stated that the fall of ‘Ayn al-Zaytoun and the Deir Yassin massacre (in the Jerusalem district) prompted the residents to flee. At the time of the attack, a group of 15 to 20 defenders tried to resist but were eventually overwhelmed and withdrew to the village outskirts. The Israeli units did not stay long in the village, but they destroyed some houses and part of the mosque, and seized livestock.

Most of the villagers took refuge in al-Faradiyya and al-Sammu‘i until those villages were also captured. A number of villagers briefly returned to Akbara to retrieve food and personal belongings during this period. Most of them still expected to return permanently.

Post-War Situation

After the war, Akbara was used for a time as a detention center by Israeli authorities to hold people who had been expelled from their villages elsewhere in the Galilee. In early June 1949, residents from three villages in the Safad district—al-Ja‘una, al-Khisas, and Qaddita—were forcibly placed onto trucks and unloaded onto a barren hill exposed to the sun near Akbara.

According to Benny Morris, the exact fate of these people and of the village itself is unclear. However, he states simply that living conditions in this area, referred to as “the cemetery”, where displaced persons from Qaddita, al-Khisas, and al-Ja‘una were gathered, remained poor for several years.

The Village Today

The original inhabitants of Akbara were replaced by internally displaced refugees from the villages of Qaddita and Dallata, both located a few kilometers north of Safad. Since 1980, these refugees have been gradually resettled in a newly planned and constructed village named Akbara, located about half a kilometer from the original site.

One of the conditions for resettlement was that each family had to agree to specific stipulations. As of today, fifteen of the original village houses remain standing, in addition to the school building. In 1977, the village of Akbara was administratively annexed to the city of Safad.

Zionist Settlements on Village Lands

There are no Israeli settlements established on the lands of the original village.