Lazzaza (, transliterated as Lazzâza) was a Palestinian Arab village of 230 in the northern Hula Valley next to the Hasbani River, located northwest of Safad.Khalidi, 1992, p.469. Beit Hillel subsequently expanded onto the land.
History In 1881, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Lazzaza, while under Ottoman rule, as a village of 70 people built of adobe bricks and situated on a plain near a river.Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 89. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p.469.
British Mandate era It was incorporated into the British Mandate of Palestine in 1922. Under the British, Lazzaza had an elementary school, in which 26 students were enrolled in 1945. The residents, mostly Muslims, took advantage of the village's fertile lands, and agriculture became the basis of its economy. The primarily cultivated crops were onions, corn, and fruits, but the beehives were also kept, in addition to some livestock. Some of Lazzaza's inhabitants also fished in the Hasbani River.
In the 1931 census of Palestine the population of Lazaza was 176, all Muslims, in a total of 39 houses.Mills, 1932, p. 108
In the 1945 statistics, Lazzaza was counted with the nearby Jewish settlement of Beit Hillel which together constituted a population of 330; 230 were Muslims of Lazzaza, the remaining 100 were Jewish of Beit Hillel.
Types of land use in dunams in the village in 1945:Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 119Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 169
Land Usage Arab Jewish Irrigated and plantation 235 805 Cereal 95 119 Cultivable 330 924 Urban 27 18 Non-cultivable 20 0
The land ownership of the village before occupation in dunams: Owner Dunams Arab 377 Jewish 942 Public 267 Total 1,586
1948, aftermath The Arabs of Lazzaza fled their village during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War on May 21, 1948. The village was not attacked by Israeli forces, and the probable cause of its depopulation was a "whispering campaign" devised by Palmach commander Yigal Allon during Operation Yiftach, in which rumor would spread about massive Jewish reinforcements approaching the Galilee. According to Walid Khalidi, "only a few scattered houses remain on the village site", and that the residents of Beit Hillel cultivate the surrounding fields.
See also Depopulated Palestinian locations in Israel
References
Bibliography
External links Welcome to Lazzaza Lazzaza, Zochrot Lazzaza, Dr. Khalil Rizk. Survey of Western Palestine, map 2: IAA, Wikimedia commons Lazzaza, from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center