Taibe (
Arabic: الطيبة,
romanized: Al-Taybeh;
Hebrew: טַּיִּבָּה), meaning "The goodly",[2] or colloquially al-Tayiba al-Zu'biyya (الطيبة الزعبية) after its main clan, is a
MuslimArab village in northeastern
Israel on the
Issachar Plateau. It falls under the jurisdiction of
Gilboa Regional Council. In 2022 it had a population of 1,986.[1]
History
Remains from the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Crusader, and Mamluk periods have been found.[3][4]
Biblical identification
Historical geographer
Yeshayahu Press thought the site to be the biblical
Hapharaim mentioned in
Joshua 19:19 in connection with the tribe of
Issachar, by a reversion of its name from what sounded like Afrin ("demons") to a euphemistic sound (lit. "the goodly"), as was common in other Arabic place-names.[5]
Bronze Age to Byzantine period
It has been proposed that Taibe was Tubi, listed among the places paying tribute to
Thutmose III.[6]
North east of the village
sarcophagus remains have been found. This area apparently functioned as a graveyard during the
Roman and
Byzantine eras.[7]
In 2021, archaeologist announced the discovery of an engraved stone from the late
5th century from the frame of an entrance door of a church, with a mosaic
Greek inscription. The inscription reads “Christ born of
Mary."This work of the most God-fearing and pious bishop [Theodo]sius and the miserable Th[omas] was built from the foundation. Whoever enters should pray for them”. According to archaeologist Dr. Walid Atrash, Theodosius was one of the first Christian bishops and he served as the regional archbishop. This church was the first evidence of the Byzantine church’s existence in Taybeh.[8][9][10]
Crusader period
During the
Crusader period there was a castle here called (Le) Forbelet (in medieval Arabic: 'Afrabala).[11] It was probably
Hospitaller and dependent on nearby
Belvoir.[11]Yaqut (1179–1229) noted about the village, which he called Afrabala: "A place in the Jordan Ghaur (or low-land), near
Baisan and
Tabariyyah."[12]
In July 1182 the castle was the background of the pitched large-scale Battle of Forbelet between
Baldwin IV and
Saladin.[13] The castle was sacked by
Saladin in 1183, and occupied by the
Muslims besieging Belvoir in 1187-88.[11] Parts of the castle
keep's basement still survive, as do other installations from the Crusader period.[3][11] Recent excavations indicate that new buildings were constructed alongside the partially destroyed Crusader castle in
Mamluk and Ottoman times.[14]
Ottoman period
Taibe was incorporated into the
Ottoman Empire in 1517 with all of Palestine, and in 1596 it appeared in the
tax registers under the name of Tayyibat al-Ism as being in the Nahiya of Shafa of the Liwa of
Lajjun. It had a population of 13
Muslim households and paid taxes on wheat, barley, summer crops, and goats or beehives; a total of 5,300
Akçe.[15]Pierre Jacotin named the village Taibeh on his map from 1799.[16]
In 1870–1871 an Ottoman census listed the village as Tayiba-i Zu'bi, after its resident clan, in the nahiya (sub-district) of Shafa al-Shamali.[17] In 1875, the French explorer
Victor Guérin visited the village and described it as poor, but formerly an important city,[18] while in 1882 the
Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine described Taibe as: "A straggling village, of moderate size, lying on flat ground, and containing several good stone houses. There is one in the middle of the village, belonging to the Sheikh, which is larger than the rest."[6]
British Mandate
In a
census conducted in 1922 by the
British Mandate authorities, Taibeh had a population of 220, all Muslim,[19] while at the time of the
1931 census, At-Taiyiba had 43 occupied houses and a population of 186 Muslims.[20]
In the
1945 statistics Taibe had a population of 280 Muslims counted with 150 Jews at
Moledet)[21] with 7,127
dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.[22] Of this, 7,103 dunams were used for cereals,[23] while 22 dunams were built-up land.[24]
State of Israel
Since 1948 Taibe has been part of the state of Israel. To mark Israel's 60th anniversary in 2008, the dome of the local mosque was painted in the Israeli colors, blue and white.[25][26]
Nearly all the residents of Taibe are members of the Zuabi family, one of the larger
48-Palestinian clans.[27]
^Grossman, David (2004). Arab Demography and Early Jewish Settlement in Palestine. Jerusalem: Magnes Press. p. 256.
^Guérin, 1880, pp.
126–127 as translated by Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, pp.
126 -127: "This village, poor and miserable, is now nothing but a wretched relic of an important city, situated on the slope of a hill whose summit was surrounded by a fortress. This was formerly constructed of very fine
basaltic blocks, cut and dressed with care ; a ditch cut in the rock and now three-fourths filled up surrounded it, at least on the south and west. There remain of this stronghold several thick parts of the wall, and within
vaulted magazines which now serve the
fellahin for refuge : rude dwelling-houses have also been built within the inclosure. One of these houses, more considerable than the others, and partly constructed of good basaltic stones taken from the ruins of the fort, occupies the top of the acropolis, which I regard as ancient, although allowing that it may have received attention from the Mohammedans or the Crusaders. As for the city, which extended to the north and east of the castle, it now, with the exception of a few
courses still upright, presents nothing but a heap of ruins.'
^Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Baisan, p.
31