Al-Sanbariyya was a Palestinian village in the Safad Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on May 1, 1948, by Palmach's First Battalion under Operation Yiftach. It was located 31.5 km northeast of Safad, near Wadi Hasibani.
History North of the village, a column with an inscription mentioning the Roman Emperor Julian (331–363 CE) was found.Khalidi, 1992, p. 494
In 1875, Victor Guérin traveled in the region, and noted that "debris of a small village" ... "is referred to me as Kharbet Sembezieh".Guérin, 1880, p. 351
In 1881, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described it as "a few ruined Arab houses".Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 121
British Mandate era In the 1931 census of Palestine, during the British Mandate for Palestine, the village had a population of 83; 77 Muslims and 6 Christians, in a total of 20 houses.Mills, 1932, p. 110
In the 1945 statistics, the village had a population of 130 Muslims, with a total land area of 2,532 dunams.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 71 Of this, 539 dunams were allocated for plantations and irrigable land, 1,739 for cereals,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 121 while 6 dunams were classified as non-cultivable areas.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 171
1948, aftermath A complaint to Mapam said that "...I spoke to a number of members from Ma'ayan Baruch and nearby kibbutzim and I got the impression that there exists the possibility that there is a desire to destroy the villages and [the Arabs'] houses so that it will be impossible for the Arabs to return to them. A week ago a representative of the JNF (possibly Yosef Nahmani) came to visit. He saw that in the village of al Sanbariya ...several houses were still standing, albeit without roofs. He told the secretariat of the kibbutz to destroy the houses immediately and he said openly that this will enable us to take the village's lands, because the Arabs won't be able to return there. I am sorry to say the kibbutz agreed immediately without thinking about what they were doing."Morris, 2004, p. 357
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External links Welcome To al-Sanbariyya al-Sanbariyya, Zochrot al-Sanbariyya, Villages of Palestine Survey of Western Palestine, Map 2: IAA, Wikimedia commons