Safad al-Battikh
Safad al-Battikh is a municipality in Nabatiye Governorate, in the Bint Jbeil District of southern Lebanon, about from Beirut. The village is situated in the north eastern outskirts of the town of Tebnine, in the heart of the Lebanese Shia Muslim community of Jabal Amel. The village is above sea level.
History
In the 1596 Ottoman tax records, the village, named صفد البطيخ, was located in the Ottoman nahiya of Tibnin under the Liwa of Safad, with a population of 10 households and 2 bachelors, all Muslim. The villagers paid a fixed tax-rate of 25% on agricultural products, such as wheat, barley, fruit trees, goats and beehives, in addition to "occasional revenues" ; a total of 2,200 akçe.In 1856 it was named Safed on Kiepert maps of [Palestine and Jerusalem|Kiepert's map of Palestine]/Lebanon published that year, while in 1875, Victor Guérin passed by and noted: "to my left, on a high hill, the small village of Safed el-Bathikha, inhabited by both Métualis and Christians."
In 1881, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described the village : "A village, built of stone, containing about 100 Metawileh and fifty Christians, situated on hill-top, surrounded by arable land. The water supply is from several perennial springs and ten cisterns in the village."
Modern era
The current Bint Jbeil province was created in 1922 by French colonials.In 2009, there were 125 members of the Lady of the Assumption parish of the Melkite [Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Tyre|Melkite Church] in the village.