Qaddita

The village was situated on the slope of a hill and faced southeast. Its name could have been a corruption of the Syriac word kaddisha, 'sacred.' A secondary road linked it to a highway going to Safad. In 1596, Qaddita was a village in the nahiya of Jira (liwa' of Safad) with a population of 149. It paid taxes on a number of crops, including wheat and barley, as well as on other types of produce and property, such as goats, beehives, and vineyards. In the late nineteenth century, Qaddita was a village built of stone and mud; the slope on which it was located was partially covered by gardens and fig trees. The village's population, estimated at 200, lived in 'ten houses' It seems likely that at least one or two of these 'houses' were clusters of one-room dwellings centered around enclosed courtyards; such a house could shelter a number of related families. In modem times Qaddita extended in a northwest-southeast direction, following the contours of the land. Its houses, made of stone, were grouped closely together. Its entire population was Muslim. Its economy was based on animal husbandry and crop cultivation, the most important crops being grain and fruits such as grapes, figs, and pomegranates. In the 1942/43 season 77 dunums of village land were planted with olive trees. In 1944/45 a total of 1,452 dunums was allotted to cereals; 150 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards.