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Al-Manshiyya, Safad

A depopulated village in the Safad Subdistrict of Mandatory Palestine

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMar 3, 2026
Entity authorityQ4702801 ↗
Source-derived summary

Al-Manshiyya (Arabic: المنشية) was a Palestinian Arab village in the Safad Subdistrict (located 30 km northeast of Safad) that was depopulated by the Palmach's First Battalion of Operation Yiftach during the 1948 War on May 24, 1948.

Al-Manshīyya was a modern agricultural estate belonging to Emir Fāʿūr, sheikh of the Faḍl tribal confederacy in the Golan, cultivated by local Ghawārina Marsh Arabs and settled fellahin.

In discussing the Diocletianic boundary-stone toponym Mamsia, Marom argues that the British Mandate–period estate name al-Manšīya likely reflects a later folk-etymological reshaping of an older form, mediated through the adjacent microtoponym Marsīna al-Šarqiya (c. 400 m to the northwest).

In 1948 it had a population of 140. 1948 was also the year the village was destroyed and depopulated. It is now mainly deserted with multiple abandoned buildings.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Al-Manshiyya, Safad” as a depopulated village in the Safad Subdistrict of Mandatory Palestine. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Al-Manshiyya, Safad and depopulated.

Editorial reviewA strong orientation record where physical form, institutional use and historical geography need to be read together. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1948—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Al-Manshiyya, Safad and depopulated providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Al-Manshiyya, Safad”, the useful work is to connect “a depopulated village in the Safad Subdistrict of Mandatory Palestine” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4702801. Authority coordinates are 33.226, 35.607. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1948.

Critical limits

Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Al-Manshiyya, Safad”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Al-Manshiyya, Safad primary sources, Al-Manshiyya, Safad archive and Al-Manshiyya research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Al-Manshiyya, Safad”?
  2. What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
  3. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Al-Manshiyya, Safad” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.