al-Jalama

The village was located on the northern slope of Mount Carmel, approximately two kilometers east of the Arab town of Isfiya. Al-Jalama was classified as a "farm" in the Palestine Index Gazetteer. The main Haifa–Nazareth road passed about 100 meters north of the village.

Directly below Al-Jalama was Khirbat Asafna, the site of the ancient village. Between 1964 and 1971, archaeological excavations were conducted there by the University of Missouri, supported by the Corning Glass Company. These excavations revealed that the site was intermittently inhabited from the 1st century CE to the 4th century CE. The primary significance of the site, according to researchers, lay in its glass manufacturing facility, which reached its peak during the 4th century CE.

Ruins at the village site (June 1987) [Al-Jalama]

Occupation of the Village and Its Ethnic Cleansing

Most of the villages near Al-Jalama were occupied shortly after the fall of Haifa, or slightly before. Among the instructions issued to the Haganah brigades under Plan Dalet was the assignment of securing the road between Haifa and Al-Jalama to the Carmeli Brigade, according to the History of the Haganah. This likely took place during the last week of April and early May 1948, when Zionist forces occupied several villages in Haifa’s hinterland, such as Balad al-Shaykh. It is probable that the residents of Al-Jalama were displaced during that same period.

The Village Today

The area is now occupied by a military camp, surrounded by eucalyptus trees.

Zionist Settlements on Village Lands

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