Qaytiyya

Qaytiyya was a Palestinian Arab village in the Safad Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1948 War on May 19, 1948, by the Palmach's First Battalion of Operation Yiftach. It was located 28 km northeast of Safad, bordering both the Hasibani and the Dan Rivers.

Qaytiyya
Qeitiya[1]
Village
Etymology: El Keitîyeh, el Keitîyeh, from personal name[2]
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Qaytiyya (click the buttons)
Qaytiyya is located in Mandatory Palestine
Qaytiyya
Qaytiyya
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 33°11′59″N 35°36′46″E
Palestine grid207/289
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictSafad
Date of depopulationMay 19, 1948/June 1948[1]
Population
 (1945)
 • Total940[3][4]
Cause(s) of depopulationWhispering campaign
Secondary causeExpulsion by Yishuv forces
Current LocalitiesKfar Blum,[5] possibly Beit Hillel[5]

History

In 1881, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described El Keitîyeh, while under Ottoman rule, as a village of 80 Muslims built of adobe and surrounded by streams: occupied during spring and harvest.[6] bordering both the Hasibani and the Dan Rivers.

British Mandate era

In the 1931 census of Palestine, under of the British Mandate in Palestine, Qeitiya had a population of 824 Muslims, in a total of 163 houses.[7]

In the 1945 statistics, Qeitiya had a population of 940 Muslims,[3] and the total land area was 5,390 dunums.[4] Of this, 19 dunums were for citrus and bananas, 4,465 for plantations and irrigable land, 44 for cereals,[8] while 93 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[9]

1992, aftermath

In 1992 the village site was described: "Only a few stones from the old village are still visible. The surrounding land is cultivated, except for a small section that contains stone rubble and is overgrown with thorny plants and eucalyptus trees."[5]

References
  1. Morris, 2004, p. xvi, village #12. Also gives causes of depopulation.
  2. Palmer, 1881, p. 23
  3. Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 10
  4. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 71
  5. Khalidi, 1992, p. 486
  6. Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 88
  7. Mills, 1932, p. 109
  8. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 120
  9. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 170

Bibliography
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