Yafa an-Naseriyye

Infobox Israel municipality
name=Yafa an-Naseriyye


imgsize=
hebname=יפיע
arname=يافة الناصره
meaning=Jaffa of Nazareth
founded=
type=lc
typefrom=1960
stdHeb=
altOffSp=Yafi
altUnoSp=Yafa
district=north
population=16,900
popyear=2006
area_dunam=4087
mayor=

Yafa an-Naseriyye ( _ar. يافة الناصره, "Jaffa of Nazareth", also Yafa, Yafia or Yafi _he. יפיע ) is an Arab local council located in the Lower Galilee, Israel. It forms part of the metropolitan area of Nazareth, also an Arab locality. Declared a local council in 1960, Yafa had a population of 16,200 in 2005, approximately 70% of whom are Muslim and 30% Christian.

Yafa has been identified as the ancient town of Japhia, mentioned in the Book of Joshua as a border town of Zebulun. Local medieval tradition holds that Zebedee and his two sons, James and John lived in Yafa.cite journal|title=From Haifa to Nazareth|author=Edgar Johnson Goodspeed|journal=The Biblical World|volume=Vol. 16, No. 6|year=December 1900|pages=pp. 407-413|url=http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0190-3578(190012)16%3A6%3C407%3AFHTN%3E2.0.CO%3B2-8]

A substantial portion of Yafa's population today are the descendents of internally displaced Palestinians from the neighbouring village of Ma'alul which was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. People from Ma'alul participated in the local elections in Yafa under the banner of the "Ma'alul refugees' party" with platform also focused on issues of interest or concern to wider population as a way of attracting political support from local parties.cite web|title=Palestinian Internally Displaced Persons inside Israel:Challenging the Solid Structures|author=Nihad Bokae'e|date=February 2003|publisher=Badil|url=http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:pAyzZrWxCJEJ:www.badil.org/Publications/Monographs/Palestinian.IDPs.pdf]

See also

* List of Arab localities in Israel
* Lower Galilee
* Nazareth

References

* [http://www.fotw.net/flags/il-lcyfa.html Yafi] at Flags of the World