Al-Ras al-Ahmar was a Palestinian Arab village in the Safad Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War on October 30, 1948, by the Israeli 7th Armored Brigade during Operation Hiram. It was located 8.5 km north of Safad.

History Remains found in the village indicate that it was populated during the Byzantine era.

Ottoman era Incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517 with the rest of Palestine, in 1596 it appeared under the name of Ras al-Ahmar in the tax registers as part of the nahiya (subdistrict) of Jira in the Safad Sanjak. It had an all Muslim population, consisting of 54 households and 22 bachelors; an estimated 418 persons. They paid taxes on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, vineyards, "kirsanna", goats and beehives, in addition to occasional revenues and an olive oil or grape syrup press; the taxes totalled 5,500 akçe. Half of the revenues went to a Waqf.Hütteroth 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

In 1838 er-Ras al-Ahmar was noted as a village located in the Safad district.Robinson and Smith, vol 3, 2nd appendix, p. 134Robinson and Smith, vol 3, p. 370

Algerian followers of Abdelkader El Djezairi have been defeated by the French in Algeria, and sought refuge in another part of the Ottoman Empire. They were settled in various locations in Ottoman Syria, including Al-Ras al-Ahmar.Abbasi, 2007 (Hebrew). Non-Hebrew version in The Maghreb Review, 28(1), 2003, pp. 41-59.

In 1875 Victor Guérin found that the village was situated 844 meters above sea level, and contained 150 Muslims.Guérin, 1880, pp. 444-5

In 1881 the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described the village "Well-built stone houses. containing 350 Algerian Moslems, situated on high hill, with gardens down the slopes. There is a perennial supply of good water in Wâdy Râs el Ahmar."Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 199

A population list from about 1887 showed Ras el Ahmar to have about 690 Muslim inhabitants.Schumacher, 1888, p. 189

British Mandate era In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Al-Ras al-Ahmar had a population of 405; all Muslims,Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Safad, p. 41 increasing slightly in the 1931 census to 447; 6 Christians and 441 Muslims, in a total of 92 houses.Mills, 1932, p. 109

In the 1945 statistics, al-Ras al-Ahmar had a population of 620, all Muslims, and a land area of 7,934 dunams. Of this, 1,008 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 4,728 were used for cereals,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 120 while 61 dunams were classified as built-up, or urban area.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 170 An elementary school for boys was founded during this period.

1948, aftermath Ras al-Ahmar was on the border between the territories allotted to the Arab and to the Jewish state under the 1947 UN Partition Plan.

In March 1948, a British medical officer reported that the village of Al-Ras al-Ahmar was completely unprepared for war.Morris, 2004, p. 30

The fall of Safad and the expulsion of its Arab inhabitants in May 1948, "severely undermined" the morale of surrounding villages, including Al-Ras al-Ahmar, according to Haganah Intelligence sources. They reported that the villagers "had decided to abandon their villages if the Arabs of Safad surrender."Morris, 2004, p. 226

In October 1948 Operation Hiram took place, where the operational orders to the Israeli troop were "to occupy the whole of the Galilee”. On the 30 October 1948, the 71st Battalion from the 7th Armored Brigade took Ras al-Ahmar, together with Rehaniya, Alma and Dayshum.Morris, 2004, pp. 473-474 Word of the Jish and Safsaf massacres had apparently spread to Ras al-Ahmar, as the village was largely empty when the 7th Brigade arrived.Morris, 2004, pp. 482-483

By mid-June, 1949, the village lands of Al-Ras al-Ahmar were settled by Jewish immigrants as part of the policy of Judaisation of Northern Israel.Morris, 2004, pp. 381 -382: By mid-June 1949, [Yehoshua] Eshel wrote, the whole northern border area had been Judaised through the ‘absorption settlements’-moshavim and development towns – such as at Tarshiha, Suhmata, Deir al Qasi, Tarbikha, Meirun, Sammu’i, Safsaf, Ras al Ahmar’.

In 1992 it was noted about "Some houses still remain. One house has a front stairway, and a covered garage that apparently was added by the Israelis who live there. Another house has two high, arched windows. The site also contains stone rubble from destroyed houses, and a few fig trees and cactuses. The nearby settlement cultivates some of the surrounding land and uses the rest for grazing."

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Bibliography

External links Palestine Remembered: Welcome To al-Ras al-Ahmar al-Ras al-Ahmar, Zochrot Survey of Western Palestine, map 4: IAA, Wikimedia commons al-Ras al-Ahmar, from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center al-Ras al-Ahmar, Dr. Khalil Rizk , Saturday, 27.12.2008, Zochrot