View source for Sa'sa'

{{About|the Palestinian village||Sasa (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name                    = Sa'sa'
| native_name             = سعسع
| native_name_lang        = ar
| settlement_type         = 
<!-- images, nickname, motto -->
| image_skyline           = סאסא והר אדיר - נוף בכביש הגבול-JNF009506.jpeg
| imagesize               = 250px
| image_caption           = Sa'sa', 1939
| etymology               = from personal name<ref>Palmer, 1881, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp00conduoft#page/93/mode/1up 93], see also p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp00conduoft#page/70/mode/1up 70]</ref>
<!-- maps and coordinates -->
| pushpin_map             = Mandatory Palestine | pushpin_map_caption     = Location within [[Mandatory Palestine]] | image_map               = {{Historical map series|default=2|date1=1870s|date2=1940s|date3=modern|date4=1940s with modern overlay|width=225}} | map_caption             = A series of historical maps of the area around Sa'sa' (click the buttons)
| pushpin_mapsize         = 200
| coordinates             = {{coord|33|01|43|N|35|23|40|E|type:city_region:PS|display=inline,title}}
| grid_name               = [[Palestine grid|Palestine&nbsp;grid]]
| grid_position           = 187/270
<!-- location -->
| subdivision_type        = [[Geopolitical entity]]
| subdivision_name        = [[Mandatory Palestine]]
| subdivision_type1       = [[Districts of Mandatory Palestine|Subdistrict]]
| subdivision_name1       = [[Safad Subdistrict, Mandatory Palestine|Safad]]
<!-- established -->
| established_title1      = Date of depopulation
| established_date1       = 30 October 1948<ref>Morris, 2004, p.  [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PR16 xvi], village #60. Also gives causes of depopulation.</ref>
| established_title2      = Repopulated dates
<!-- area -->
| area_footnotes          = <ref name=Hadawi71/>
| unit_pref               = dunam
| area_total_dunam        = 14,796
<!-- population -->
| population_as_of        = 1945
| population_total        = 1,130<ref name=1945p11>Department of Statistics, 1945, p. [http://users.cecs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/yabber/census/VSpages/VS1945_p11.jpg   11]</ref><ref name=Hadawi71>Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945''. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p.  [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20I/Safad/Page-071.jpg 71]</ref>
<!-- blank fields (section 1) -->
| blank_name_sec1         = Cause(s) of depopulation
| blank_info_sec1         = Military assault by [[Yishuv]] forces
| blank1_name_sec1        = Secondary cause
| blank1_info_sec1        = Expulsion by [[Yishuv]] forces
| blank3_name_sec1        = Current Localities
| blank3_info_sec1        = [[Sasa, Israel|Sasa]]<ref>Morris, 2004, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PR21 xxi], Settlement #51, established January 1949.</ref>
}}
'''Sa'sa'''' ({{langx|ar|سعسع}}, {{langx|he|סעסע}}) was a [[Palestinian people|Palestinian]] village, located 12 kilometres northwest of [[Safed]], that was depopulated by [[Israel]]i forces during the [[1948 Arab-Israeli war]]. The village suffered [[Sa'sa' massacre|two massacres]] committed by [[Haganah]] forces: one in mid-February 1948 and the other at the end of October the same year.<ref name="Khalidi, 1992, p. 495">Khalidi, 1992, p. 495</ref><ref>Pappé, 2006, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=yjeXQVmGrwcC&pg=PT87 77] ff.</ref><ref>Benvenisti, 2000, p. [https://archive.org/details/sacredlandscapeb00benvrich/page/153 153]</ref> Its place has been taken since 1949 by [[Sasa, Israel|Sasa]], an [[Israel]]i [[kibbutz]].

==History==
Sa'sa' was built on the site of a [[Ancient Near East#Bronze Age|Bronze Age]] (early second millennium B.C.) settlement whose remains (walls, tombs, cisterns, and olive and wine presses), have been unearthed.{{dubious|NEVER just from one period; this type of findings usually of later date. Jewish Roman-Byzantine village here too; conveniently forgotten? |date= June 2024}} One village house had foundations which has been dated back to fourth century by archaeologists.<ref name="Khalidi, 1992, p. 495"/> Architectural fragments of a [[synagogue]] from the [[History of Israel#Late Roman and Byzantine periods |Late Roman and/or Byzantine period]] were excavated at the site.<ref>{{cite web |title= Sasa |website= The Bornblum Eretz Israel Synagogues website |publisher= Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee |url=https://synagogues.kinneret.ac.il/synagogues/sasa/ |access-date= 4 June 2024}}</ref>

The Arab geographer [[Abū 'Ubayd 'Abd Allāh al-Bakrī]] (d.1094) reported that one passed through Sa'sa' when travelling from [[Dayr al-Qasi]] to [[Safad]].<ref name="Khalidi, 1992, p. 495" /> A house excavated in 2003 yielded ceramics dated to the fourteenth–fifteenth centuries CE, in the [[Mamluk Egypt| Mamluk period]].<ref>Bron, 2006, [http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=449&mag_id=111 Sasa]</ref>

===Ottoman period===
In 1516 Sa'sa', with the rest of Palestine, came under the control of the [[Ottoman Empire]]. Shortly afterwards Sa'sa' was made a checkpoint where travellers were charged a [[Road toll (historical)|toll]] and [[Tariff|tariffs]] were collected on various goods. The first records of these  levies are from 1525/6.<ref>Cohen and Lewis, 1998, pp. 57, 58</ref>

In 1596 Sa'sa' was classified as a village in the ''[[nahiya]]'' ("subdistrict") of Jira, part of ''[[Liwa (Arabic)|liwa']]'' ("district") of Safad, with a population of 457. It paid taxes on [[wheat]], [[barley]], [[olive]]s and fruits, as well as on [[goat]]s, [[beehive]]s, and [[vineyard]]s.<ref>Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 176. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 495</ref> According to these [[Defter|tax records]] all the villagers were [[Muslim]].<ref name="Petersen">Petersen, 2001, p. [https://www.academia.edu/21620272/Gazetteer_6._S-Z 274]</ref> In the eighteenth century Sa'sa' is mentioned as one of the fortified villages of [[Galilee]] controlled by [[Zahir al-Umar]]'s son, Ali. After the defeat of Zahir al-Umar in 1775, Ali continued to resist the Ottoman authorities and defeated an army sent against him at Sa'sa'.<ref>Cohen, 1973, p. 93, 97. Cited in Petersen, 2001, p. [https://www.academia.edu/21620272/Gazetteer_6._S-Z 274]</ref>

Excavations in 1972 on the west side of the hill revealed the remains of a large rectangular structure (15m x 41m) with 2m thick walls made out of rubble stone with [[ashlar]] facing. At the south-west corner of the building there was a solid semi-circular tower (diameter 7m). The main part of the structure is a rectangular hall divided into two rows of five [[Bay (architecture)|bays]]. There was a central row of four piers and two half-piers which would probably have supported a cross-vaulted roof. In a later phase an outer skin (2m wide) was added, making the wall a total of 4m thick. At the same time the round tower was converted into a square plan. According to the excavators, the place was occupied for a "fairly long" period, and suggest that it was probably part of the fortress built by Ali, (son of [[Zahir al-Umar]]) in the eighteenth century.<ref>Gibson and Braun, 1972. Cited in Petersen, 2001, p. [https://www.academia.edu/21620272/Gazetteer_6._S-Z 274]</ref> The design of the building is compatible with other fortresses of the period, like [[Khirbat Jiddin|Qalat Jiddin]] and [[Dayr Hanna]].<ref name="Petersen" />

In 1875, [[Victor Guérin]] found it to be a Muslim village  with about 350 inhabitants.<ref>Guérin, 1880, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/descriptiongogr00gugoog#page/n111/mode/1up 93]-94</ref>

In 1881, the [[Palestine Exploration Fund|PEF]]'s ''[[PEF Survey of Palestine|Survey of Western Palestine]]'' (SWP)   described Sa'sa' as a village with a population of 300, built on a slight hill that was surrounded by vineyards and olive and fig trees.<ref>Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp01conduoft#page/200/mode/1up 200]. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p.495</ref>

A population list from about 1887 showed  ''Sa'sa''' to have about 1,740 inhabitants, all Muslim.<ref>Schumacher, 1888, p. [https://archive.org/stream/quarterlystateme19pale#page/n216/mode/1up  191]</ref>

Pottery vessels from the [[Rashaya al-Fukhar]] workshops, dating to the late Ottoman and early Mandate eras have been found here.<ref>Berger, 2017, [http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=25322&mag_id=125 Sasa]</ref>

===British Mandate era===
In the [[1922 census of Palestine]] conducted by the [[Mandate for Palestine|British Mandate authorities]],  ''Sa'sa''  had a population of 634; all [[Muslim]],<ref name="Census1922">Barron, 1923,  Table XI, Sub-district of Safad, p. [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n43/mode/1up   41]</ref>  increasing in the [[1931 census of Palestine|1931 census]] to  840, still all  Muslims,  in  a total of 154 houses.<ref name="Census1931">Mills, 1932,  p. [https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas 110]</ref>

The village had a small market-place in the village center with a few shops, as well as a [[mosque]] and two elementary schools, one for girls and one for boys.<ref name="Khalidi, 1992, p. 495"/>

In  the [[Village Statistics, 1945|1944/45 statistics]] the village had a population of 1,130 Muslims<ref name=1945p11/> and a total land area of 14,796 dunams.<ref name=Hadawi71/>  Of this, 4,496 [[Dunam|dunums]] were  used  for cereals; 1,404 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards,<ref>Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945''. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p.   [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20II/Safad/Page-121.jpg 121]</ref> while 48 dunams were built-up (urban) area.<ref>Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi,  1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20III/Safad/Page-171.jpg 171]</ref>

===1948 war===
{{Further|1948 Palestine war|Sa'sa' massacre}}
{{Nakba}}

During the [[1948 Palestine war]], Sa'sa' was the site of [[Sa'sa' massacre|two massacres]] committed by Israeli forces.

On the night of 14-15 February 1948, [[Yigal Allon]], commander of the [[Palmach]] in the north, ordered an attack on Sa'sa'. The order was given to [[Moshe Kelman]], the deputy commander of Third Battalion. The order read: "You have to blow up twenty houses and kill as many warriors as possible".<ref name="Pappe, 2006, p 77">Pappe, 2006, p.  [https://books.google.com/books?id=yjeXQVmGrwcC&pg=PT87 77]</ref><ref name=Khalidi496>Khalidi, 1992, p. 496</ref> According to [[Ilan Pappé|Pappé]], the quote says which said "warriors"  should be read "villagers".<ref name="Pappe, 2006, p 77"/> Khalidi,  referencing  "The History of the Haganah" by [[Ben-Zion Dinur]], say they referred to the massacre as "one of the most daring raids into enemy territory."<ref name=Khalidi496/> A [[Palmach]] unit entered the village during the night and, without resistance, planted explosives against some of the houses. Historians estimate 60 villagers were killed and 16-20 houses demolished.{{refn|Benny Morris, 1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War, 2008, "killing some sixty villagers and destroying twenty houses."}}<ref>Benvenisti, 2000, [https://archive.org/details/sacredlandscapeb00benvrich p. 107]</ref>

[[File:Sa'Sa'.jpg|thumb|Sa'Sa' February 1948]]

A second massacre occurred after the surrender of the village on 30 October. Historian [[Saleh Abdel Jawad]] writes that "many villagers" were killed.{{refn|Jawad, S.A. (2007). Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War. In: Benvenisti, E., Gans, C., Hanafi, S. (eds) Israel and the Palestinian Refugees. Beiträge zum ausländischen öffentlichen Recht und Völkerrecht, vol 189. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-68161-8_3. "30 October [...] Indiscriminate killings occur. Many villagers, including cripples, are massacred after the surrender of the village."}}{{refn|Khalidi 1992, "The second massacre was perpetrated on 30 October, at the time that the village was occupied, during Operation Hiram"}}

Currently, there are few remains of the Palestinian village of Sa'sa', with the exception of the village [[mosque]], which has now been converted into the kibbutz cultural center.

In 1992, the [[Palestinian people|Palestinian]] historian [[Walid Khalidi]] described the remains of the village: "Some of the old olive trees remain, and a number of walls and houses still stand. Some of the houses are presently used by kibbutz [[Sasa, Israel|Sasa]]; one of them has an arched entrance and arched windows. A large portion of the surrounding land is forested, the rest is cultivated by Israeli farmers."

==See also==
*[[Ancient synagogues in the Palestine region]] - covers entire [[Palestine region]]/[[Land of Israel]]
**[[Ancient synagogues in Israel]] - covers the modern [[State of Israel]]
*[[Depopulated Palestinian locations in Israel]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|25em}}

==Bibliography==
{{Refbegin}}
*{{cite book | editor =Barron, J.B.  | title = Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922|url=https://archive.org/details/PalestineCensus1922  | publisher = Government of Palestine | year = 1923 }}
*{{cite journal|last=Berger|first=Uri|date= 2017-10-16 |url=http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=25322&mag_id=125|title=Sasa |publisher=Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel |number=129}}
*{{cite journal|last=Bron|first=Hendrik (Enno) |date= 2006-12-10 |url=http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=449&mag_id=111|title=Sasa l Report|publisher=Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel |number=118}}
*{{cite journal|last=Bron|first=Hendrik (Enno) |date= 2013-04-02 |url=http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=2225&mag_id=120 |title=Sasa, Final report l Report|publisher=Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel |number=125}}
*{{cite book|title=Sacred Landscape: The Buried History of the Holy Land Since 1948|url=https://archive.org/details/sacredlandscapeb00benvrich|url-access=registration|first=M.|last=Benvenisti|author-link=Meron Benvenisti|others=Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta (translator)|year=2000|publisher=[[University of California Press]]|isbn=0-520-92882-2}}
*{{cite book | last= Cohen|first=Amnon | title = Palestine in the Eighteenth Century: Patterns of Government and Administration |location=Jerusalem | publisher = Hebrew University | year = 1973 }} Cited in Petersen, (2001)
*{{cite book | last1= Cohen|first1=Amnon | last2= Lewis |first2=B. |author-link2=Bernard Lewis | title = Population and Revenue in the Towns of Palestine in the Sixteenth Century | publisher = Princeton University Press | year = 1978 | isbn = 0-691-09375-X}} 
*{{cite book|last1=Conder|first1=C.R.|author-link1=Claude Reignier Conder|last2=Kitchener|first2=H.H.|author-link2=Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener|year=1881|url=https://archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp01conduoft|title=The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology|location=London|publisher=[[Palestine Exploration Fund|Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund]]|volume=1}} (p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp01conduoft#page/256/mode/1up 256])
*{{cite book|title=Village Statistics, April, 1945 |url=http://web.nli.org.il/sites/nli/Hebrew/library/Pages/BookReader.aspx?pid=856390|author=Department of Statistics|year=1945|publisher=Government of Palestine}} 
*Gibson, S and Braun, E. (1972) Sa'sa', HA, 63-64, pp 11–12 (in Hebrew). Cited in Petersen, 2002
*{{cite book|last=Guérin|first=V.|author-link=Victor Guérin|title=Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine|url=https://archive.org/details/descriptiongogr00gugoog|volume=3: Galilee, pt. 2|year=1880|publisher= L'Imprimerie Nationale|location=Paris|language=fr}} 
*{{cite book |last=Hadawi |first=S. |author-link=Sami Hadawi |title=Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine|url=http://www.palestineremembered.com/Articles/General-2/Story3150.html |year=1970|publisher=Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center}}
*{{cite book | last1= Hütteroth|first1=W.-D.|author-link1=Wolf-Dieter Hütteroth  |first2=K. | last2=Abdulfattah |author-link2=Kamal Abdulfattah | title = Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=wqULAAAAIAAJ  | year = 1977 | publisher = Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft|isbn= 3-920405-41-2}}
*{{cite book|title=All That Remains:The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_By7AAAAIAAJ |first=W.|last=Khalidi|author-link=Walid Khalidi|year=1992|location=[[Washington D.C.]]|publisher=[[Institute for Palestine Studies]]|isbn=0-88728-224-5}} 
*{{cite book | editor = Mills, E. | title = Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas |url=https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas | publisher = Government of Palestine | location = Jerusalem | year = 1932}}
*{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C  |first=B.|last=Morris |author-link=Benny Morris |year=2004 |title=The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited|isbn=978-0-521-00967-6 |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}
*{{cite book|last=Nazzal|first=Nafez|year=1978|title=The Palestinian Exodus from Galilee 1948|publisher=The Institute for Palestine Studies}} (Sa'sa' pp.&nbsp;46, 95)
*{{cite book|last=Palmer|first=E.H.|author-link=Edward Henry Palmer|year=1881|url=https://archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp00conduoft|title=The Survey of Western Palestine: Arabic and English Name Lists Collected During the Survey by Lieutenants Conder and Kitchener, R. E. Transliterated and Explained by E.H. Palmer|publisher=[[Palestine Exploration Fund|Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund]]}} 
*{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yjeXQVmGrwcC |first=I.|last=Pappé |author-link=Ilan Pappé |year=2007 |others=(reprint) |title=The ethnic cleansing of Palestine |isbn=978-1-78074-056-0 |publisher=Oneworld Publications Limited}}
*{{cite book|last=Petersen |first=Andrew |title=A Gazetteer of Buildings in Muslim Palestine (British Academy Monographs in Archaeology)|url=https://www.academia.edu/21620272 |volume =1  |year=2001|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=978-0-19-727011-0}} 
*{{cite book|last1=Robinson|first1=E.|author-link1=Edward Robinson (scholar)|last2=Smith|first2=E.|author-link2=Eli Smith|year=1841|url=https://archive.org/details/biblicalresearch03robiuoft |title=Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838| location=Boston|publisher=[[Crocker & Brewster]]|volume=3}} (pp. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/368/mode/1up 368]-369)
*{{cite journal | last = Schumacher | first =G.| author-link = Gottlieb Schumacher | title = Population list of the Liwa of Akka |  journal = Quarterly Statement - Palestine Exploration Fund | volume = 20 | pages = 169–191 | url = https://archive.org/details/quarterlystateme19pale | year = 1888}} 
*{{cite journal|last=Smithline|first=Howard |date= 1997 |title=Sasa, West l Report|publisher=Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel |number=16}}
*{{cite journal|last1=Syon|first1=Danny|last2=Nagar|first2=Yossi |date= 2014-09-08 |url=http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=10584&mag_id=121 |title=Sasa, Final report l Report|publisher=Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel |number=126}}
{{Refend}}

== External links ==
*[http://www.palestineremembered.com/Safad/Sa'sa'/index.html Palestine Remembered - Sa'sa']
*[http://www.zochrot.org/en/village/49344 Sa'sa'],  [[Zochrot]]
*Survey of Western Palestine, map 4: [http://www.iaa-archives.org.il/zoom/zoom.aspx?folder_id=93&type_id=6&id=8367 IAA], [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Survey_of_Western_Palestine_1880.04.jpg Wikimedia commons]
*[http://www.alnakba.org/villages/safad/sasa.htm Sa'sa'], the [[Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center]]
*{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20040607152728/http://www.jalili48.com/pub/EN_ShowGallary.asp?GName=What_Remained_of_the_destroyed&SuName=Sa3sa3 Sa3sa3]}}, Dr. Moslih Kanaaneh
*[http://www.villagesofpalestine.com/Sasa.htm Sa’sa’], Dr. Khalil Rizk.

{{Palestinian Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Palestine War}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:District of Safad]]
[[Category:Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War]]