Sataf

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Sataf
Sataf15.jpg
Remains of Sataf village
Sataf is located in Mandatory Palestine
Sataf
Sataf
Arabic صطاف
Name meaning from a personal name[1]
Subdistrict Jerusalem
Coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Palestine grid 162/130
Population 540 (1945)
Area 3,775 dunams
Date of depopulation July 13–14, 1948[2]
Cause(s) of depopulation Military assault by Yishuv forces

Sataf (Arabic: صطاف, Hebrew: סטף) was a Palestinian Arab village in the Jerusalem Subdistrict depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. It is located 10 km west of Jerusalem, with Sorek riverbed ("Wadi al-Sarar") bordering the east.

Two springs, "Ein Sataf" and "Ein Bikura" flow from the site into the riverbed, below.

History

Remains and agricultural traces of a 4,000 BCE Chalcolithic village were discovered at the site. Remains were also found from the Byzantine era. The first mention of the site is from the Mamluk era.[3]

Ottoman era

In the late Ottoman era, in 1863, Victor Guérin found a village of one hundred and eighty people. He further noted that their houses were standing on the slopes of a mountain, and that the mountainside was covered by succcssives terraces.[4] An Ottoman village list of about 1870 counted 38 houses and a population of 115, though the population count included only men.[5]

In 1883, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine described Setaf as "a village of moderate size, of stone houses, perched on the steep side of a valley. It has a spring lower down, on the north."[6]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Sataf had a population of 329; 321 Muslims and 8 Christians.[7] All the Christians were Roman Catholics.[8] In the 1931 census it had 381 inhabitants; 379 Muslim and 2 Christian, in a total of 101 houses.[9]

In 1945 the population of Sataf was 540, all Muslims,[10] and the total land area was 3,775 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[11] Of this, 928 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 465 for cereals,[12] while 22 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[13]

A monastery is located south of Wadi al-Sarar called Habis Monastery, also known as Monastery of St. John in the Wilderness.

1948 war and aftermath

On July 13-14, 1948 the Arab village was depopulated by the Har'el Brigade, during "Operation Dani".[14]

A short time after the 1948 War, a small group of Jewish immigrants from North Africa settled for a few months in the village area. In the 1980s the Jewish National Fund began the restoration of ancient agricultural terraces, and the area around the springs has been turned into an Israeli tourist site. A forest around the site was also planted by the Jewish National Fund.[15]

In 1992, Sataf was described as: "Many half-destroyed walls still stand, and some still have arched doorways. The walls of a few houses with collapsed roofs are almost intact....The area around the village spring, which is located to the east next to the ruins of a rectangular stone house, has been turned into an Israeli tourist site. A Jewish family has settled on the west side of the village, and have fenced in some of the village area."[14]

  • The Jabal Across from Sataf. Photo taken on September 1st, 1945.

  • Ein Sataf, 2009

  • Ein Bikura, 2009

  • Sataf Reconstruction

  • Agriculture in Sataf, 2009

  • Remains of Sataf village

References

  1. ↑ Palmer, 1881, p. 326
  2. ↑ Morris, 2004, p. xx, village #354. Also gives cause of depopulation
  3. ↑ Ancient Agriculture: Sataf - A Reconstruction
  4. ↑ Guérin, 1869, pp. 3-4
  5. ↑ Socin, 1879, p. 160
  6. ↑ Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. 22
  7. ↑ Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Jerusalem, p. 14
  8. ↑ Barron, 1923, Table XVI, p. 45
  9. ↑ Mills, 1932, p. 43
  10. ↑ Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 25
  11. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 58
  12. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 104
  13. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 154
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Khalidi, 1992, p. 317
  15. ↑ Sataf from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center

Bibliography

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  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. (p. 96)
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External links

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