Ein al-Zeitun

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.

Villages around Safad, 1945
Old mosque of Ein al-Zeitun, 2007 [ 23 ]