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Isfiya (, ), also known as Usfiya
Jerusalem Post is a Druze-majority village in northern Israel, governed by a local council. It also includes Christians, Muslims and a few Jews households. Located on Mount Carmel, it is part of the Haifa District. In its population was 12,136. In 2003, the local council was merged with nearby Daliyat al-Karmel to form Carmel City. However, the new city was dissolved in 2008 and the two villages resumed their independent status.
In 1930, remains of a 5th-century Jews town, Husifah or Huseifa, were unearthed in Isfiya. Among the finds are a synagogue with a mosaic floor bearing Jewish symbols and the inscription "Peace upon Israel".Avi-Yonah and Makhouly, 1934, pp. 118–131 A cache of 4,500 gold coins were found dating from the Roman Empire period. Druze Jewish Virtual Library
A rock-cut burial cave containing pottery coffins, eight Ossuary, numerous Oil lamp, as well as pottery, glass vessels, and several bronze objects was unearthed on HaHoresh Street. One of the ossuaries bears a Greek language inscription indicating it belongs to Maia, the daughter or wife of a man named Saul.
Isfiya was one of only two villages remaining on Mount Carmel after the expulsion of Ibrahim Pasha in 1841. Seventeen other villages disappeared. The village's survival was attributed partly to "the exceptional valour" of the inhabitants, partly to buying protection from a local Galilee chief, Aqil Agha.Tristram, 1865, p. 112
In 1859, the English consul Rogers estimated the population to be 400, who cultivated 20 feddans of land.Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 282 In 1863, H.B. Tristram visited the village, which he described as Druze and Christian, with a Christian sheikh.Tristram, 1865, pp 111- 114 Tristam noted that the women's clothing in this village were much like those of al-Bassa, being either "plain, patched or embroidered in the most fantastic and grotesque shapes".Weir, 1989, p. 80, citing Tristram, 1865, p. 68 In 1870, the French explorer Victor Guérin found that the village had six hundred inhabitants, almost all Druze, with the exception of sixty, who belonged to the "Schismatic Greeks". Gardens were grown all around the village. Some houses seemed very old and dated, Guérin surmised, from the Middle Ages or even earlier, from the time of the Crusades.Guérin, 1875, pp. 248-249
In 1881 the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine described it as standing "on the highest part of the Carmel Drainage divide, and the highest house was therefore the trigonometrical station on the ridge. It is a moderate-sized village of stone houses, with a well on the south-west. The inhabitants are all Druses. .. Corn-land and olives surround the land."Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, pp. 281 -282 A population list from about 1887 showed that Isfiya had about 555 inhabitants; 480 Druze and 75 Catholic Christians.Schumacher, 1888, p. 178 When a Jewish moshava was established at Mutallah (Metula) north of Safed in 1896, the Druze population resisted eviction until receiving a reasonable compensation in 1904; some relocated to Isfiya, including the Wahb family.Falah 1975, p. 45.
In the 1945 statistics the population of Isfiya consisted of 1,790; 180 Muslims, 300 Christians and 1,310 classified as "others", that is, Druze,Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 14 while the land area was 46,905 , according to an official land and population survey.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 48 Of this, 1,103 dunams were designated for plantations and irrigable land, 17,357 for cereals,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 90 while 74 dunams were built-up (urban) areas.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 140
During the 1936-39 Arab revolt in Palestine, the villagers initially supported a local rebel group led by Yusuf Abu Durra. However, after local leaders were abducted and murdered, the notables turned to the British, who destroyed the group. A Druze self-defense force was established that received arms from the British and sometimes coordinated its activities with local Jewish forces.[19]
The economy of Isfiya is consistently growing as more tourists are visiting regularly, and more businesses are being opened.
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