Yarda, Safad
# Yarda, Safad

Yarda was a Palestinian hamlet in the Safad Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1947–1949 Palestine war. It was located 10.5 km northeast of Safad. The area is now part of Israel.

## History

Khirbat Waqqas was located west-northwest of Yarda, and is recognised as the place the Canaanites referred to as Hazor. Victor Guérin found at Kh. Waqqas in 1875: 'Near a small enclosure, in the centre of which is a broken column consecrated to a santon, are shown the remains of an edifice oriented east and west, once probably a church. It was ornamented with monolithic columns in ordinary limestone, some broken pieces of which are still lying about. Other similar fragments are found in the neighbouring houses. Here and there I remarked cut stones, which no doubt belonged to this monument. A little to the south, a hillock is also covered with ruins of houses.' In 1881, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) found at Kh. Wakkas only cattle-sheds.

Yarda itself was located at a place called Kh el Loziyeh in the late Ottoman era. In 1881, the SWP found here: "Caves and ruined cattle sheds".

### British Mandate era

In the 1931 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Yarda had a population of 13 Muslims, in a total of 3 houses.

In the 1945 statistics, the population was 20 Muslims, who owned 1,367 dunams of land. Of this, 1,359 dunams were used for cereals, while 8 dunams were classified as un-cultivable area.

### Post 1948

After Yarda became depopulated, Ayyelet ha-Shahar took over some of the village land, while in 1949 Mishmar ha-Yarden was also settled on village land.

In 1992 the village site was described: "The truncated walls of some houses still stand, as well as those of a khan, or caravansary. The site is strewn with stones from crumbled houses. A portion of the land is used as pasture."

