Kafr 'Inan - History

History

During the period of Roman and Byzantine rule in Palestine, it was a Jewish village known as Kfar Hananya (or Kfar Hanania), that served as a center for pottery production in the Galilee. An archaeological site in the village revealed shafts and bases of columns, caves, a pool, and a burial ground. Archaeological surveys determined that most of the cooking ware in the Galilee between the 1st century BCE and the beginning of the 5th century CE was produced in Kafr 'Inan. An Aramaic inscription initially dated to the 6th century, and recently redated to Abbasid or Umayyad period, was found on a kelila (a type of chandelier) found in the synagogue.

Rabbinic literature mentions the village in relation to the production of pottery; in the Tosefta, there is a reference to, "those who make black clay, such as Kefar Hananya and its neighbors." Ancient sepulchres believed to be the burial sites of rabbis were located in the village, including those of Halafta (buried with his wife and children), Jacob and Eliezer. Ya'akov ben Netan'el, who visited the village in the 12th century during the period of Crusader rule, writes about the ruins of a synagogue quarried into the hill. Potential references to the village include a mention of the "widow of Ben al-'Anani" in a 12th century Genizah document and to Kfar Hanan in the 13th century. In 1211, Samuel ben Samson travelled from Tiberias and Kefar Hanania before stopping in Safed. In the 14th century, another traveller transcribes the village's name as Kefar Hanin.

It is during the rule of the Ottoman Empire over Palestine that the form Kafr ʿInān (Kafr 'Anan) first appears. The village is listed in 1596, as forming part of the nahiya (subdistrict) of Jira under the Liwa of Safad, with a population of 259. It paid taxes on goats, beehives and on its press, which was used either for olives or grapes.

In the late 19th century, the village was described as being built of stone and having 150-200 Muslim residents. The arable land in the village comprised gardens and olive trees. The village houses, made of stone with mud mortar, were bunched close together and were separated by semi-circular, narrow alleys. Many new houses were constructed during the last years of the British Mandate of Palestine. Springs and domestic wells supplied the villagers´drinking water. Olives and grain were the main crops. Grain was grown in the nearby flat zones and valleys. In 1944-45 a total of 1,740 dunums was used for the cultivation of cereals, 1,195 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards and most of these (1,145 dunums) were planted with olive trees.