Al-Zahiriyya al-Tahta

Al-Zahiriyya al-Tahta (Arabic: الظاهرية التحته, romanized: al-Ẓāhiriyya al-Ṭaḥṭā) was a Palestinian Arab village in the Safad Subdistrict. The village was on a descent at the southwestern part of Safad, a town 1 kilometer (0.62 mi) east of the village. Possibly named after the Mamluk sultan al-Zahir Baybars (r. 1260–1277), the village was incorporated into the Safad Sanjak of the Ottoman Empire in 1517, and its entirely Muslim population paid fixed taxes, as well as taxes on winter pastures, an olive oil or grape syrup press and beehives during the 16th century. By the late 19th century, the population grew to 335 inhabitants, all Muslims. The population remained about the same in the last years of British Mandatory rule. The village lands spanned 6,773 dunums, nearly half of which were used to grow grains, the residents living on 28 dunums. Al-Zahiriyya al-Tahta was depopulated during the 1948 Palestine War when its inhabitants fled shortly after the capture of Safed by Jewish paramilitary forces.