Dallata

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title: "Dallata" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["arab-villages-depopulated-during-the-1948-arab–israeli-war", "district-of-safad"] topic_path: "geography/israel" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallata" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox settlement"]

FieldValue
nameDallata
native_nameدلاّتة
native_name_langar
etymologyfrom personal name
pushpin_mapMandatory Palestine
pushpin_mapsize200
coordinates
grid_namePalestine grid
grid_position197/269
subdivision_typeGeopolitical entity
subdivision_nameMandatory Palestine
subdivision_type1Subdistrict
subdivision_name1Safad
established_title1Date of depopulation
established_date1Not known
established_title2Repopulated dates
area_footnotes
unit_prefdunam
area_total_dunam9072
population_as_of1945
population_total360
blank_name_sec1Cause(s) of depopulation
blank3_name_sec1Current Localities
blank3_info_sec1Dalton
::

| name = Dallata | native_name = دلاّتة | native_name_lang = ar | settlement_type = | etymology = from personal name | pushpin_map = Mandatory Palestine | pushpin_map_caption = Location within Mandatory Palestine | image_map = | map_caption = A series of historical maps of the area around Dallata (click the buttons) | pushpin_mapsize = 200 | coordinates = | grid_name = Palestine grid | grid_position = 197/269 | subdivision_type = Geopolitical entity | subdivision_name = Mandatory Palestine | subdivision_type1 = Subdistrict | subdivision_name1 = Safad | established_title1 = Date of depopulation | established_date1 = Not known | established_title2 = Repopulated dates | area_footnotes = | unit_pref = dunam | area_total_dunam = 9072 | population_as_of = 1945 | population_total = 360 | blank_name_sec1 = Cause(s) of depopulation | blank3_name_sec1 = Current Localities | blank3_info_sec1 = Dalton

Dallata () was an Arab village, located on a hilltop 6 km north of Safad. Constructed upon an ancient site, it was known to the Crusaders as Deleha. Dallata was included in the late 16th century Ottoman census and British censuses of the 20th century. Its inhabitants were primarily agriculturalists, with some involved in carpentry or trade.

Dallata was depopulated during the 1948 Palestine war on around May 10, 1948 by the Palmach's First Battalion of Operation Yiftach. Following the establishment of Israel, the Israeli locality of Dalton was established about 1 km southwest of the village site.

History

Dallata was located on the upper slope of a hill, built on the ruins of an ancient occupied site. Excavations have found remains of settlements and agricultural installation from the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age. Tombs had been located in the vicinity.

An excavation carried out in 2006 on a location halfway between the center of Dallata and the new Israeli settlement of Dalton, found alluvial soil that contained worn Late Roman and Byzantine potsherds. Among the findings from Dallata is a marble column inscribed with Hebrew and Aramaic blessings, though only the ends of the lines remain. This column might have been part of a chancel screen within a synagogue.

The village was referred to by the Crusaders as Deleha. Mamluk remains have also been found.

Ottoman era

In 1517, the village was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire with the rest of Palestine, and in 1596 the village appeared in the tax registers as being in the nahiya (subdistrict) of Jira (part of Safad Sanjak), with an estimated population of 127. The inhabitants paid taxes on wheat, barley, olives, goats, beehives, vineyards, and a press for processing grapes or olives; a total of 4,416 Akçe. All the inhabitants were Muslim.

In 1662, it was mentioned as a place of Jewish graves, while in 1838, Dallata was noted as a village located in the Safad district.

In 1875 Victor Guérin visited, and noted that all the inhabitants were Muslim. In 1881, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) noted the village had about 100 Muslim residents. There were a few gardens around the village, and water was supplied from a well and a birket. The villagers worked primarily in agriculture throughout its history, and some worked in carpentry and trade. A population list from about 1887 showed Dallata to have about 355 Muslim inhabitants.

The 2006 excavation found a structure dating to the Late Ottoman Period.

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Dallatha had a population of 204, all Muslims, increasing in the 1931 census to 256, still all Muslims, in a total of 43 houses.

In the 1945 statistics it had a population of 360, all Muslims, while 36 dunams were classified as built-up (urban) land. The village had a small school which had an enrollment of 37 students in 1945.

1948, and aftermath

Dallata was depopulated in the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine. The Israeli historian Benny Morris writes that the date and cause of the depopulation is unknown, Esber gives the depopulation date as 10 May 1948, and the causes twofold: "Direct mortar attacks on civilians, siege, shooting at fleeing Arabs", and "Terror raids, house demolitions, sniping, hostage-taking, looting, destruction of crop and livestock".

In 1950 after the 1948 war, the settlement of Dalton was established by the Israelis about 1 km southwest of the village site, on village land.

The Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi described the village remains in 1992: "All that remains are the debris of the houses scattered across the site, partly covered by grass, shrubs, and trees. A few stone terraces on village land are still intact, and some olive trees still grow. About 1 km south of the site lies the Israeli settlement of Dalton."

In 2000, a 117-page book was published about Dallata. Included in it was ten pages on the families of the village, listing the father and sons and where they were living in 2000.

References

Bibliography

  • {{cite book |last1=Hütteroth |first1=W.-D.|author-link1=Wolf-Dieter Hütteroth |last2=Abdulfattah|first2=K. |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 }}
  • (pp. 5-6)

References

  1. Palmer, 1881, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp00conduoft#page/71/mode/1up 71]
  2. According to Morris, 2004, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PR16 xvi], village #40.
  3. Department of Statistics, 1945, p. [http://cs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/yabber/census/VSpages/VS1945_p09.jpg 9]
  4. 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-069.jpg 69].
  5. Khalidi, 1992, p. 443
  6. Bron, 2009, [http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=1284&mag_id=115 Dalton, Survey]
  7. Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp01conduoft#page/206/mode/1up 206]
  8. link. (2012-02-22)
  9. Dauphin, 1998, p. 650
  10. (2023-03-20). "XXXVIII. Dalton, Dallata". De Gruyter.
  11. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 177. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 443
  12. 21 households and 2 bachelors, according to Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 177
  13. Note that Rhode, 1979, p. [https://www.academia.edu/2026845/The_Administration_and_Population_of_the_Sancak_of_Safed_in_the_Sixteenth_Century 6] {{Webarchive. link. (2019-04-20 writes that the register that Hütteroth and Abdulfattah studied was not from 1595/6, but from 1548/9)
  14. including [[Jose the Galilean]], his son [[Rabbi Ishmael]]; Hottinger, 1662, p. [https://archive.org/details/cippihebraicisi00browgoog/page/n74/mode/1up 66]
  15. Robinson and Smith, vol 3, p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/356/mode/1up 356]
  16. Robinson and Smith, vol 3, 2nd appendix, p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/134/mode/1up 134]
  17. Guérin, 1880, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/descriptiongogr00gugoog#page/n483/mode/1up 443]-444
  18. Conder & Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp01conduoft#page/197/mode/1up p.197]. Quoted in Khalidi, p. 443
  19. Schumacher, 1888, p. [https://archive.org/stream/quarterlystateme19pale#page/n214/mode/1up 189]
  20. Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Safad, p. [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n43/mode/1up 41]
  21. Mills, 1932, p. [https://web.archive.org/web/20111201210326/http://www.archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas 105]
  22. with a total of 9072 [[Dunam]]s of land. Of this, 3,651 was allocated to [[cereal]], 302 were used for orchards,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-118.jpg 118]
  23. 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-168.jpg 168]
  24. Khalidi, 1992, pp. 443-4
  25. while [[Walid Khalidi]] assumes it was occupied some time after the fall of the district capital of [[Safed]], 10–11 May 1948. According to Khalidi, the indirect evidence points to the village being seized during [[Operation Yiftach]], and, in that case, it was probably one of the villages attacked in the latter stages of the operation, like neighboring [[‘Ammuqa
  26. Esber, 2008, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=NXMPAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA391 391]
  27. Hummayd 2000, pp. 40–49. Cited in Davis, 2011, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=wlKjZwMwz0wC&pg=PA251 251]

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arab-villages-depopulated-during-the-1948-arab–israeli-wardistrict-of-safad