This page is subject to the extended confirmed restriction related to the Arab-Israeli conflict.Ein al-Zeitun[a], was a Palestinian Arab village, located 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) north of Safed in the Upper Galilee.

Ein al-Zeitun was located on the western slope of Wadi al-Dilb, next to the highway leading to Safed, 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) north of the city.

[6] Under the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century, Ein al-Zeitun was a town in the nahiya ("subdistrict") of Jira, part of Sanjak Safad, with a mixed population of Muslims and Jews.

"[11] Victor Guérin, who visited in 1875, found a village with two springs, surrounded by slopes covered in olives, figs, walnuts and vegetables.

[12] In 1881, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Ain al Zeitun as a stone-built village on top of a hill north of Safad.

[19] According to Ilan Pappé, the Jewish troops followed a policy of massacres in villages close to Arab urban centres, in order to precipitate the flight of the people in the cities and towns nearby.

[citation needed] One man, Rashid Khalil, was killed after a group of the village's inhabitants attempted to return to Ein al-Zeitun.

Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi, describing the place in 1992, found that: The rubble of destroyed stone houses is scattered throughout the site, which is otherwise overgrown with olive trees and cactuses [cacti].

[23] Oral histories from Ein al-Zeitun provided Elias Khoury with material for his 1998 book Bab al Shams (Gate of the Sun), which was filmed in 2004.