Hittin

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Battle of Hattin, from a medieval manuscript

Hittin is a depopulated Palestinian village in Israel, located approximately 8 km West of Tiberias. The village was captured by Israeli forces during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, and was abandoned. It is currently in ruins.

Hittin was located on the northern slopes of the double hill of Hattin (the "Horns of Hattin"), near the site of the Battle of Hattin, where Saladin defeated the Crusaders in 1187. According to local legend the village was established by Saladin after the battle. To the east, between the village and Tiberias lies the Arbel Valley, in which sat the Jewish villages of Arbel and Kfar Hittaya in the Roman period. The latter's name was preserved in Hittin's name.

By travelers' evidence, it seemed that the village was settled throughout the 19th century, and its inhabitants managed to use the fertile valley to grow many kinds of fruits, including olives, vines, oranges, lemons and figs. A census held in 1883 show the village to hold some 1,350 villagers, most of which were Muslims, but minorities of Greek-Catholic Christians and Jews also sat in the village.

Early in the 20th Century some of the land of the village, in the eastern part of the Arbel Valley was sold to Jewish funds, on which new settlement were established in 1910 (Mitzpah) and 1924 (Hittin). Disputes between the Arabs of Hittin and the Jews of both settlements were often, and in 1929 Palestine riots some of the inhabitants of Hittin joined forces with Arabs from other nearby villages to attack Hittin, an attack that was repelled with the aid of British Police. Jewish Hittin was abandoned in 1933, and in 1936 was re-settled and re-named to Kfar Hittim

Under the British Mandate several censuses were held, in which a growth in the village population was shown - from 880 inhabitants in 1922 to 931 in 1931 and 1190 in 1945.^[1]

In the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, Hittin was taken by forces of the Israeli 7th brigade during Dekel Operation, in July 16th and 17th. The inhabitants of the village either deported or fled, and the village was left depopulated and in ruins. On its lands the villages of Arbel and Kfar Zetim were founded in 1949 and 1950, recpectively.

Next to the site of the village, there is a holy place, called Nabi Shoaib. The site is believed to be the burial site of Jethro, and is sacred to the Druze, who celebrate there the Shoaib Festival each April.