Rehaniya

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Rihania had a population of 211; all Muslims,[3] increasing slightly in the 1931 census to 222, still all Muslims, in a total of 53 houses.[4]

In the 1945 census by the Mandate, the population was 290 people (all Muslims)[5][6] and the land area was 6,137 dunums.[7] 271 dunums of land were irrigated or used for orchards; 4,725 dunums were allocated to cereal farming,[8] while 89 dunams were built up (urban) land.[9]

In 1948, during Operation Hiram (29–31 October), the villagers surrendered to the advancing Israeli army and were allowed to remain in the village. In November 1949, a plan to evict the villagers, as well as those from five other villages along the border with Lebanon, was presented to the Israeli cabinet. The proposals were strongly supported by the IDF, but the plan was vetoed by the Foreign Ministry who were worried about the possible international response.[10] The village remained under Martial Law until 1966.

Due to the village's location on the border of Lebanon, it maintained active ties with villages across the border. In 1953, due to increased tensions between the community and the state, authorities engaged in a security campaign, surrounding the village and conducting house searches. The contraband found convinced the authorities that the villagers had to be evicted. The decision was made to evict the villagers to Kfar Kama, another Circassian village. This caused great consternation among two communities - the first was the Galilee regional council, who saw in the increase in the Muslim population of Kfar Kama ’uncalled for and unwanted new residents in the region’[11] who protested the increase in the population of Muslims in the lower Galilee, the second were the villagers of Kfar Kama themselves, angered by what they saw as a "slight on their honour and about 40 prepared to emigrate to Turkey."[12] Faced with this opposition, the authorities decided to relent.

Historical plaque in Rehaniya

Entrance to Rehaniya

The villagers of Rihaniya faced expulsion yet again in 1955, when "after villagers were suspected of assisting Lebanese gangs that had carried out an attack on a bus in Meron and had placed mines in Alma, Israel. A considerable number of Bedouin tents had also been established around Rihaniyya and according to Ha’aretz, it was ‘beyond any doubt’ that they were used as a base for smuggling activities and were included in the intelligence networks of neighbouring countries. A top secret report on the village written in 1956 indicated that its residents were considered unfriendly, the security services had great difficulty recruiting collaborators among the villagers, and enemy intelligence could comfortably operate among them. Altogether Rihaniyya’s border location made it difficult to supervise. About 20 per cent of the 70 male residents of Rihaniyya were suspected of giving shelter to infiltrators and smuggling"[13]