Danna

The village was located on the upper northeastern slope of Wadi Danna, a tributary of Wadi al-Bira. It may have been built on the site of the ancient village of Tana‘am, which dates back to the Roman period. A secondary road connected it to the main Afula-Baysan road. Additionally, the Iraq Petroleum Company’s oil pipeline passed through the village lands on its way to Haifa.

In 1996, Danna was a village in the Safa subdistrict (Lajjun District), with a population of 28. The village paid taxes to the Ottoman Empire on several agricultural products, including wheat and barley, as well as other products such as goats and beehives. The Swiss traveler Johann Ludwig Burckhardt (referred to as “Jurckhart”), who passed through the region in the early 19th century, mentioned the village but did not provide a description.

By the late 19th century, Danna was situated on a hillside surrounded by arable lands. To the west, there was a spring and a water reservoir. Its houses were constructed of stone and mud, and the village had a rectangular shape, with its longer sides oriented north-south. During the British Mandate period, the village expanded with new houses built of stone and brick along the road leading to the neighboring village of Kafr’a. During this period, Danna was classified as a farm according to the Geographical Dictionary of Palestine. It contained a few small shops and a mosque that housed the shrine of Sheikh Daniyal. The village spring supplied water to its residents, who were all Muslims, mostly engaged in rain-fed agriculture.

In 1944-1945, a total of 5,097 dunums was allocated for cereal cultivation, and 14 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards. Grasses and leafy plants grew on the slopes and peaks of the surrounding mountains, serving as grazing grounds for livestock.

Occupation and Ethnic Cleansing

The residents of Danna were expelled on 28 May 1948, the same day the Israeli army transferred the remaining inhabitants of the nearby city of Baysan to Nazareth. The Golani Brigade was responsible for occupying the Baysan Valley and carrying out these expulsions.

Israeli historian Benny Morris states that the destruction of the village began in September 1948. A leader of a neighboring kibbutz objected to demolishing Danna, arguing that the village might allow some of its lands to be allocated for settlement purposes. This suggests that some villagers either remained in Danna or returned after expulsion, but their subsequent fate is unknown.

The Village Today

Today, grasses, thorns, brambles, and cactus grow around the rubble at the village site. Dense vegetation grows in the nearby valley and around the spring. The surrounding lands are utilized by Israeli farmers.

Zionist Settlements on Village Lands

There are no Israeli settlements on the lands of the village.