01In brief
Arab al-'Arida was an Arab locality listed in the Gilboa District section of a June 30, 1948 Intelligence Service report. The report groups it with Arab Safa beside a shared population figure of 600 and records it as fully evacuated on May 20, 1948. Through ditto marks, it attributes to Arab al-'Arida the preceding entry's destination: "To Transjordan (originally from Transjordan)."
02History
Arab al-'Arida appears in the Gilboa District section of a report titled "Migration of Eretz Yisrael Arabs between December 1, 1947 and June 1, 1948," issued by the Intelligence Service (Arab Section) on June 30, 1948.[1] In the report's list of village populations during normal times, Arab al-'Arida is grouped together with a neighboring locality, Arab Safa, against a combined figure of 600 residents; the document's layout does not assign that number separately to Arab al-'Arida alone.[1]
The report's Gilboa District evacuation table records Arab al-'Arida as fully evacuated on May 20, 1948.[1] Its cause and destination cells use ditto marks to repeat the preceding Arab Safa entry: "Beit Shean and Gesher front" and "To Transjordan (originally from Transjordan)." The wording thus characterizes the locality's residents as originally from Transjordan, but only as part of the report's account.[1]
03Historiographical Note
This article's account is necessarily limited to the cited wartime Intelligence Service report. Within that document, the population figure of 600 is shared with Arab Safa rather than assigned independently to Arab al-'Arida, while the evacuation cause and destination are conveyed by ditto marks.[1] These features warrant treating the details as the report's account rather than as independently corroborated facts.
The approved-source research for this entry did not identify additional contemporary documentation. The name may have alternate spellings or may refer to more than one location, leaving the locality's precise identification unresolved.
Sources
- 1Internet Archive, Intelligence Service, Migration of Eretz Yisrael Arabs (1948), English translation, accessed on September 26, 2026.
IsraelPedia Question & Answers
What was Arab al-'Arida?
Arab al-'Arida was an Arab locality listed in the Gilboa District section of an Intelligence Service report dated June 30, 1948. The report groups it together with a neighboring locality, Arab Safa, and records a combined population of 600 residents during normal times.
When was Arab al-'Arida recorded as evacuated, and where did its residents go?
According to the Intelligence Service report, Arab al-'Arida was fully evacuated on May 20, 1948. The report attributes the evacuation to the Beit Shean and Gesher front and records the destination as Transjordan, with the residents characterized as originally from Transjordan. These details are conveyed through ditto marks repeating the preceding Arab Safa entry rather than being independently stated for Arab al-'Arida.
How reliable is the historical record on Arab al-'Arida?
The historical record on Arab al-'Arida is limited to a single wartime Intelligence Service report. The population figure of 600 is shared with Arab Safa rather than assigned independently to Arab al-'Arida, and key details such as the evacuation cause and destination are conveyed by ditto marks. No additional contemporary documentation has been identified, the name may have alternate spellings, and the locality's precise identification remains unresolved.