Al-Nabi Yusha'
| Al-Nabi Yusha' | |
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Nebi Yusha shrine in 2009
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 Al-Nabi Yusha'
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| Arabic | النبي يوشع |
| Name meaning | "the prophet Joshua" |
| Subdistrict | Safad |
| Coordinates | 33°06′46.18″N 35°33′21.94″E / 33.1128278°N 35.5560944°ECoordinates: 33°06′46.18″N 35°33′21.94″E / 33.1128278°N 35.5560944°E |
| Palestine grid | 202/279 |
| Population | 70 (1945) |
| Area | 3,617 dunams |
| Date of depopulation | May 16, 1948 |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Military assault by Yishuv forces |
| Current localities | Ramot Naftali |
Al-Nabi Yusha' (Arabic: النبي يوشع was a small Palestinian village in the Galilee situated 17 kilometers to the northeast of Safad, with an elevation of 375 meters above sea level. It became part of the Palestine Mandate under British control from 1923 until 1948, when it was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The village was surrounded by forest land overlooking the Hula Valley.
During the late eighteenth century, a family known as al-Ghul built the shrine for Nabi Yusha’ ("Prophet Joshua"), which included a mosque and a building for visitors, as an act of devotion. This family, also called the "servants of the shrine," numbered about fifty and were the first to settle the site. They cultivated the surrounding land, and the place subsequently evolved into a village.Victor Guérin visited the area in 1863, and noted that the people living at Al-Nabi Yusha' were Shia ("Metawali")
The population of the village was Shi'a Muslim. At the end of World War I it was under French control, and the 1920 boundary agreement between Britain and French placed it in Lebanon. At the time of the census conducted by the French in 1921, the villagers were granted Lebanese citizenship. However the Boundary Commission established by the 1920 agreement shifted the border, leaving the village in Palestine. Transfer of control to the British authorities was not complete until 1924.
During the Mandate period, the British built a police station in the village. The people of al-Nabi Yusha’, all of whom were Shia Muslims, held an annual mawsim (pilgrimage) and festival on the fifteenth of the month Sha'aban (the eighth month of the Islamic calendar). The mawsim was similar to that of the Nabi Rubin festival in southern coast of Palestine.
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