al-'Ubaydiyya

Al-‘Ubeidiya was situated on a small, rounded hill located on the western bank of the Jordan River, approximately 2.5 kilometers south of Lake Tiberias (Sea of Galilee), and about one kilometer south of the point where the Wadi al-Mujass flows into the Jordan River. A secondary road connected it to the village of Samakh, located on the southern shore of Lake Tiberias.

It is plausible that al-‘Ubeidiya was established on the ruins of the Canaanite town of Beit Shams. The American biblical scholar Edward Robinson, during his mid-19th-century travels in Palestine, accepted al-‘Ubeidiya as one of several villages situated south of the Tiberias plain. The authors of the 1881 book Survey of Western Palestine described al-‘Ubeidiya as a village inhabited by approximately 200 Muslim residents, built on a rounded hill near the Jordan River.

Given the village’s location at a sharp bend of the river, its shape conformed to the topography, extending along a north-south axis parallel to the Jordan River bank and forming a narrow rectangular shape at its southern end.

The village’s houses were mostly built of mud bricks, with reed roofs covered by a layer of clay. Al-‘Ubeidiya contained a water-powered mill, operated by water channeled through an elevated canal. Agriculture formed the economic backbone of the village. Its cultivated lands extended between the village site and the road connecting it to Samakh. The majority of the agricultural area was dedicated to cereal and vegetable farming, while date palms were abundant in the lands north of the village.

In 1944–1945, a total of 1,349 dunums were allocated for cereal cultivation, and 1,014 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards. The village population was entirely Muslim.

During the Ottoman era, a primary school was established in al-‘Ubeidiya, which remained operational throughout the British Mandate period.

Occupation and Depopulation

Israeli historian Benny Morris notes that the residents of al-‘Ubeidiya left the village in March 1948, moving to the Nazareth area. He attributes their departure to feelings of isolation and fear of harm due to an anticipated Jewish attack.

The western Galilee region experienced several scattered raids by the Haganah in March 1948, including an early-month assault on the nearby village of al-Manara, only a few kilometers away. It is therefore probable that al-‘Ubeidiya was either directly attacked or preemptively evacuated by its residents in fear of a similar assault.

By early May 1948, Jewish residents near the southern shore of Lake Tiberias pressured for the establishment of new settlements near al-‘Ubeidiya. Morris reports that representatives were sent to meet with officials of the Jewish National Fund to inform them that al-‘Ubeidiya had been emptied of its Arab inhabitants and to propose the establishment of two settlements on lands adjacent to the village.

The Village Today

The most prominent remains of the village are parts of the walls of the canal that supplied water to the mill. The site also contains ruins of houses, heaps of stones, the foundations of collapsing walls, and terraces. Palm trees grow amidst the ruins.

The surrounding lands are largely cultivated by Israeli farmers, mostly planted with cotton.

Zionist Settlements on Village Lands

No Israeli settlements were established directly on the village lands of al-‘Ubeidiya. However, there are several settlements east of the village site, the closest being Beit Zera (grid reference 204232), founded in 1926, approximately one kilometer from al-‘Ubeidiya.