'Arab al-Safa

The village extended over a wide area south of the village of Masil al-Jizl and Wadi al-Shaykh Mahmud, and overlooked a broad, open area to the east of the Jordan. A secondary road linked it to the Baysan-Jericho highway that ran 5 km to the west of it, and dirt paths connected it to neighboring villages on the Jordan. In the late nineteenth century, the French traveler Guérin passed through Arab al-Safa, where he reported finding several ancient tombs. Like many villages in Baysan sub-disctrict, Arab al-Safa was originally a summer camping site for nomadic Bedouin that later became a permanent settlement when the Bedouin adopted a sedentary way of life.

Several springs flowed in village lands near the Jordan. The village houses, built of cane and mud, and the tents of some villagers were scattered on both sides of the secondary road that led to the Baysan-Jericho road. Agriculture was the main source of livelihood for the predominantly Muslim population. Their arable lands lay to the east of the village, most notably in the zawr  on the Jordan. Their crops included grain and vegetables. Palm trees were planted in the southeast, near a spring. In 1944 a total of 7,449 dunums was allotted to cereals. Other lands, particularly those of the katar (bad lands) and the nearby swamps, were nonarable.