Blanchegarde
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Tel es-Safi, 2008
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 Tell es-Safi
Tell es-Safi in Mandatory Palestine
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| Arabic | تلّ الصافي |
| Name meaning | The clear, or bright mound. (Name dates from the 12th century) |
| Also spelled | Tall al Safi |
| Subdistrict | Hebron |
| Coordinates | 31°41′59.23″N 34°50′48.77″E / 31.6997861°N 34.8468806°ECoordinates: 31°41′59.23″N 34°50′48.77″E / 31.6997861°N 34.8468806°E |
| Palestine grid | 135/123 |
| Population | 1,290 (1945) |
| Area | 27,794 dunams |
| Date of depopulation | 9–10 July 1948 |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Military assault by Yishuv forces |
Tell es-Safi (Arabic: تل الصافي, Tall aṣ-Ṣāfī, "the white hill"; Hebrew: תל צפית, Tel Tzafit) was a Palestinian village, located on the southern banks of Wadi 'Ajjur, 35 kilometers (22 mi) northwest of Hebron that was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war on orders of Shimon Avidan, commander of the Givati Brigade.
Archaeological excavations show that the site was continuously inhabited since the 5th millennium BCE. On the Madaba Map, the name is Saphitha, while the Crusaders called it Blanche Garde. It is mentioned by Arab geographers in the 13th and 16th centuries. Under the Ottoman Empire, it was part of the district of Gaza. In modern times, the houses were built of sun-dried brick. The villagers were Muslim and cultivated cereals and orchards.
Today Tell es-Safi is an Israeli national park encompassing an archaeological site thought to have been the Philistine city of Gath mentioned in the Bible. The remains of the Crusader fort and the Arab village can also be seen on the tell.
Tell es-Safi sits on a site 300 feet (91 m) above the plain of Philistia and 700 feet (210 m) above sea level, and its white-faced precipices can be seen from the north and west from several hours distant. Tell es-Safi is situated between the Israeli cities of Ashkelon and Beit Shemesh and is one of the country's largest Bronze and Iron Age sites.
Excavations at Tell es-Safi since 1996 indicate that the site was settled, "virtually continuously from the Chalcolithic until the modern periods."
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Wikipedia