Occupation date: 29th of October 1948. The massacre of 70 blind folded men, also three cases of rape,
including the rape of 14 years old girl. The girl was raped while getting water for the soldiers.
The village has been mostly destroyed with the exception of few houses (some are inhabited by Jewish settlers). Its villagers fled to Lebanon after the Safsaf massacre in October 1948, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Some made it to Syria: Nahr El-Bared, Burj Al-Barajneh, Badawi, Ein Al-Helweh, Sabra/Shatila, Ghoro- Ba’labak, Wihdat (Amman-Jordan), Ein Elma, Burj Al-Shamali, Tal Al-Za’atar, Yarmouk (Syria), and Homs (Syria).
The Romans referred to the village by safsofa. Safsaf had an elementary school for boys founded during the British Mandate period. There was one mosque and the shrine of al-Ajami located in the southern borders of Safsaf. Nowadays, we can see in Safsaf an Israeli settlement named ha-Shahar and Bar Yochay. In 1596 the population was (138), in the 19th century (100), in 1931 (662) and in 1945 (910). The Arab’s land ownership was 5,344 dunums, Jewish 0 dunums, and public 2,047 dunums.
Source:palestineremembered.com
