PLace

al-'Ulmaniyya

Place
al-'Ulmaniyya — العُلْمانِيَّة
District
Galilee
Subdistrict
Safad
Average Elevation
75 m
Distance from Safad
14.5 km
Population
Year Arab Total
1931 * 432 432
1944/45 260 260
Land Ownership (1944/45) in dunums
Year Arab Public Total
1944/45 1169 1169
Land Use (1944/45) in dunums
Use Arab Total
Non-Cultivable & Built-up (Total)
Use Arab Total
Non-Cultivable 25 25
Built-up 9 9
34 34 (3%)
Cultivable (Total)
Use Arab Total
Cereal 1135 1135
1135 1135 (97%)
Number of Houses (1931)
100
*

The village was located in the southwestern part of the al-Hula Plain, near the western shore of Lake al-Hula. A secondary road linked it to a highway leading to Safad. In 1596, al-'Ulmaniyya was a village in the nahiya of Jira (liwa' of Safad) with a population of fifty-five. It paid taxes on a number of crops, including wheat and barley. Produce and property such as goats, beehives, water buffalos, and orchards were also taxed. In modern times al-'Ulmaniyya was oriented north-to-south. Some of its houses belonged to the 'Arab al-Zubayd Bedouin, who lived about 1.5 km from the village center. The population of al-'Ulmaniyya was predominantly Muslim. Water for domestic use was provided by nearby springs. Agriculture, especially grain cultivation, was the mainstay of its economy. In 1944/45 1,135 dunums of their land was allocated to cereals. The villagers also raised livestock. There were traces of earlier habitation in the village, and to the northwest were artificial caves that had been cut into the rock.

Israeli historian Benny Morris provides two accounts of the depopulation of al-'Ulmaniyya. The first states that the villagers left in the wake of a Haganah 'retaliatory strike' (actually a massacre) on the nearby village of al-Husayniyya on 18 January 1948. The other account, based on Israeli military intelligence, states that they evacuated their village three months later, on 20 April,just after the beginning of Operation Yiftach (see Abil al-Qamh, Safad sub-disctrict). This is said to have occurred either in response to a direct attack or to the threat of an attack. The two reports are not necessarily incompatible, however, and may imply that the first evacuation was partial or temporary. But the second displacement was most likely final, since practically the whole of eastern Galilee was depopulated during Operation Yiftach.

There are no Israeli settlements on village lands. However, the settlement of Yesud ha-Ma'ala (207273), established in 1883, is 2.5 km southeast of the village.

The site is thickly wooded with eucalyptus trees, making it difficult to discern any remains ofthe village. Work is proceeding on street construction for Lake aI-Hula's nature preservation area. Some of the surrounding lands are cultivated, but most have either been made part of the preservation area or are marshland.

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