Isfiya

In Year its population was 12,136Isfiya. 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. • Illustration — The outskirts of Isfiya

• Name — Isfiya • Native Name — * he • عسفيا • Type — Local council • Translit Lang1 — Hebrew • Translit Lang1 Type1 — ISO 259 • Translit Lang1 Info1 — ʕisp̄íyaˀ • Pushpin Map — Israel haifa#Israel • Pushpin Label Position — left • Pushpin Caption — Location within Israel • Grid Name — Grid position • Grid Position — 156/236 PAL • Subdivision Type — Country • Subdivision Name — Israel • Subdivision Type2 — District • Subdivision Name2 — Haifa District • Subdivision Type3 — Subdistrict • Subdivision Name3 — Haifa • Unit Pref — dunam • Population Footnotes — reference • Population Total — Isifya • Population As Of — Year • Population Density Km2 — auto • Custom Label Sec1 — Name meaning • Custom Data Sec1 — The devious (road) Isfiya, also known as Usfiya, is a Druze-majority village in northern Israel, governed by a local council. It also includes Christians, Muslims and a few Jewish households. Located on Mount Carmel, it is part of the Haifa District. In Year its population was 12,136Isfiya. 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. • Illustration — The outskirts of Isfiya

Isfiya was built on the ruins of an ancient settlement. A building, dating from the second–fourth centuries CE has been excavated, together with ceramics and coins dating from the period. • Illustration — Treasure of Huseifa (Usifiyeh), from 24 BCE to 50 CE. A rock-cut burial cave containing pottery coffins, eight ossuaries, numerous oil lamps, as well as pottery, glass vessels, and several bronze objects was unearthed on HaHoresh Street. One of the ossuaries bears a Greek inscription indicating it belongs to Maia, the daughter or wife of a man named Saul.

In 1930, remains of a 5th-century Jewish 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". A cache of 4,500 gold coins were found dating from the Roman period.

Crusader remnants have been found in the village. Isfiya was mentioned as part of the domain of the Sultan during the hudna between the Crusaders based in Acre and the Mamluk sultan al-Mansur (Qalawun) declared in 1283.

The Druze came to the village in the early eighteenth century. The inhabitants made their living from olive oil, honey and grapes. 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. In 1859, the English consul Rogers estimated the population to be 400, who cultivated 20 feddans of land. In 1863, H.B. Tristram visited the village, which he described as Druze and Christian, with a Christian sheikh. 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". 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. In 1881 the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine described it as standing "on the highest part of the Carmel watershed, 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." A population list from about 1887 showed that Isfiya had about 555 inhabitants; 480 Druze and 75 Catholic Christians. 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.

• Illustration — Isfiya old city. In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Isfiya had a population of 733; 590 Druze, 17 Muslims and 126 Christians; the Christians broken down by denomination were six Orthodox, six Roman Catholics, 107 Greek Catholics (Melkites), and seven Maronites. At the time of the 1931 census, Isfiya had 251 occupied houses and a population of 742 Druzes, 187 Christians, and 176 Muslims; a total of 1,105. These counts included the smaller localities Damun Farm, Shallala Farm and al-Jalama. 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, while the land area was 46,905 dunams, according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 1,103 dunams were designated for plantations and irrigable land, 17,357 for cereals, while 74 dunams were built-up (urban) areas. 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.

Volunteers from Isfiya fought in the IDF during the War of 1948. Since 1956 conscription of Druze men became mandatory. Isfiya was connected to water in 1960 and to electricity in 1963. In 2022, the area of Isfiya was increased from 7,000 to 10,900 dunam.

Isfiya has a mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csa). The average annual temperature is 18.7 °C, and around 689 mm of precipitation falls annually.

• Illustration — View from the Maronite Church of Isfiya. 77.1% of the population is Druze, 13.6% is Christian and 9.1% is Muslim. A few Jewish families also live there. The Christian population is mostly Melkite Catholic, with a few Maronite households.

The tomb of Abu Abdallah is located in Isfiya. Abu Abdullah was one of three religious leaders chosen by Caliph Al-Hakem in 996 CE to proclaim the Druze faith. He is said to have been the first Druze religious judge (qadi). The Druze make an annual visit to this shrine on November 15.

Isfiya and Daliyat al-Karmel joined Yokneam Illit and the Megiddo Regional Council to develop the Mevo Carmel Jewish-Arab Industrial Park to benefit from the existing high-tech ecosystem. The economy of Isfiya is consistently growing as more tourists are visiting regularly, and more businesses are being opened.

In the 2022 election, 70 percent of voters in Isfiya voted for the parties of the center-left coalition led by Yair Lapid, while 24 percent voted for the Arab parties and 4 percent voted for the parties of the right-wing coalition led by Benjamin Netanyahu.

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