Biriyya

Biriyya
بيريّا
Etymology: A well[1]
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Biriyya (click the buttons)
Biriyya is located in Mandatory Palestine
Biriyya
Biriyya
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 32°58′47″N 35°29′52″E / 32.97972°N 35.49778°E / 32.97972; 35.49778
Palestine grid197/265
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictSafad
Date of depopulationMay 2, 1948[4]
Area
[3]
 • Total5,579 dunams (5.579 km2 or 2.154 sq mi)
Population
 (1945)
 • Total240[2][3]
Cause(s) of depopulationMilitary assault by Yishuv forces
Current LocalitiesBirya

Biriyya (Arabic: بيريّا) 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 1.5 kilometres (0.9 mi) northeast of Safad. Today the Israeli moshav of Birya includes the village site.

  1. ^ Palmer, 1881, pp. 61, 69
  2. ^ Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 9
  3. ^ a b Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 69
  4. ^ Morris, 2004, p. xvi, village #54. Also gives the cause of depopulation.