Taytaba

Taytaba was a village built on rocky terrain, situated atop the summit of a volcanic hill overlooking Wadi Taytaba, a tributary of Wadi Waqqas to the southeast. A network of secondary roads connected it to surrounding villages, as well as to the main road leading to Safad.

In 1596, Taytaba was listed as a village in the Nahiya of Jira, part of the Liwa’ (District) of Safad, with a population of 434. The villagers paid taxes on goats and beehives. By the late 19th century, Taytaba had developed into a stone-built village with approximately 200 inhabitants, who cultivated orchards to the west of the village.

In modern times, the village houses were constructed from mudbrick and stone. All residents were Muslims, and the village included a mosque in its southern corner, as well as a boys’ elementary school established during the British Mandate period. Agriculture was the villagers’ primary source of livelihood. In 1944/1945, a total of 5,175 dunums were allocated to cereal crops, while 585 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards.

To the east of the village was Tell al-Tasarif, which contained the remains of an ancient tomb. To the north lay a burial ground believed to date back to prehistoric times.

Occupation and Ethnic Cleansing of the Village

The earliest recorded incident involving Taytaba occurred in February 1948. According to The New York Times, on February 12, a British patrol approached Taytaba, which was known to be sheltering armed Arab volunteers. The Arab forces reportedly launched an attack, prompting the British to send reinforcements before withdrawing. No casualties were reported.

Two days later, on February 15, a Haganah raiding unit, which had previously carried out a massacre in the nearby village of Sa'sa', attacked Taytaba, according to a report published by the Associated Press. No further details were provided.

The exact date of Taytaba’s occupation is uncertain. It may have been captured alongside the villages of ‘Amuqa and Qaddita during the final stages of Operation Yiftach in May 1948. Alternatively, it may have withstood occupation until Operation Hiram in late October 1948. However, the former is considered more likely, as The History of the War of Independence indicates that, at the start of Operation Hiram, the front lines extended northward from Meiron to Qadas, placing them just west of Taytaba. This suggests that the village was either depopulated or forcibly emptied sometime between the fall of Safad on May 11 and the conclusion of Operation Yiftach on May 25.

Palestinian historian Nafez Nazzal also noted that nearly all of Taytaba’s residents fled in early May, following the violent events in the village of ‘Ayn al-Zaytoun.

The Village Today

The ruins of destroyed stone houses are scattered throughout the site. A number of olive trees still stand amid wild grasses and thorny vegetation. Forests now cover part of the surrounding land, while the remainder is used as grazing land by residents of the nearby Israeli settlement of Dalton

Israeli Settlements on Village Lands

There are no Israeli settlements directly on the lands of Taytaba. However, the agricultural settlement of Dalton, established in 1950, is located nearby to the east.

Source: All That Remains by Walid Khalidi.