Biriyya () was a Palestinian Arab village in the Safad Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on May 2, 1948, by The Palmach's First Battalion of Operation Yiftach. It was located northeast of Safad. Today the Israeli moshav of Birya includes the village site.
History The village was on a hill 1.5 kilometres northeast of Safad.Khalidi, 1992, p.440 It is believed to have been built on the site of the Roman village of Beral or Bin, which was later also a Jewish town. Ishtori Haparchi, however, thought the village to have been the Beri of rabbinic literature.Ishtori Haparchi, Kaftor wa-Ferach vol. 2, (3rd edition, published by ed. Avraham Yosef Havatzelet), chapter 11, Jerusalem 2007, p. 53 (note 14) (Hebrew)
Ottoman era In the 1596 tax record, Biriyya was a village in the nahiya of Jira (Liwa' of Safad) with a Muslim population of 38 families and 3 bachelors, and a Jewish population of 16 families and 1 bachelor; a total estimated population of 319 persons. The villagers paid taxes on crops such as wheat, barley, and olives and other types of produce and owned beehives, vineyards, and a press that was used for processing olives. Total taxes paid was 3,145 akçe.Petersen, 2005, p. 131 Note that Petersen only counts families, and not bachelorsHütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 175Note that Rhode, 1979, p. 6 writes that the register that Hütteroth and Abdulfattah studied was not from 1595/6, but from 1548/9
A map from Napoleon's invasion of 1799 by Pierre Jacotin showed the place, named as "Beria",Karmon, 1960, p. 166 . Note 15: the area north of Safad was not surveyed by Jacotin, but drawn based on an existing map of d'Anville. while in 1838 Biria was noted as a village in the Safad region.Robertsen and Smith, 1841, vol. 3, 2nd appendix, p. 134
In 1875 Victor Guérin found Biriyya to have about 150 Muslim inhabitants.Guérin, 1880, p. 438 In 1881, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Biriyya as having "good stone houses, containing about 100 Muslims, surrounded by arable cultivation, and several good springs near the village".Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p.196. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 440
A population list from about 1887 showed Biria to have about 355 Muslim inhabitants.Schumacher, 1888, p. 189
British Mandate era In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Biria had a population of 128, all Muslims,Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Safad, p. 41 increasing in the 1931 census to 170, still all Muslims, in a total of 38 houses.Mills, 1932, p. 105
In the 1945 statistics it had a population of 240 Muslims with a total of 5,579 dunums of land. A total of 328 dunums were used for cereals, 53 dunums for irrigation for use in the orchards,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 118 while 25 dunums were built-up (urban) land.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 168
The villagers sold their products at the market in nearby Safad.
1948 war and aftermath
On April 7, 1948, it was reported that 20 Arabs had been killed near Mount Canaan, outside Safad. On May 1, 1948, the Palmach's First Battalion captured Biriyya.Morris, 2004, p. 220 The occupation of Safad and eastern Galilee was completed in May 1948 during Operation Yiftach.
In 1992 the village site was described: "About fifteen houses remain and are inhabited by the residents of the settlement of Biriyya, the settlement has been expanded to include the village site. In addition to the inhabited houses, four are semi-deserted or used for storage. Stones from destroyed houses can be found in some of the walls around the settlement. Many old almond, olive, fig, and eucalyptus trees are scattered throughout the site, mingled with trees that have been planted more recently."
See also Depopulated Palestinian locations in Israel Birya affair
References
Bibliography
External links Welcome To Biriyya Biriyya, Zochrot Survey of Western Palestine, Map 4: IAA , Wikimedia commons Biriyya, from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center Biriyya, Dr. Khalil Rizk.