page_title: Sha'ab, Israel
section_title: British Mandate era
hierarchical_section_title: Sha'ab, Israel / History / British Mandate era
caption_attribution_description: English: The Palestinian Arab village of Sha'ab being demolished by British forces during the 1936 Arab revolt.
context_page_description: Sha'ab is an Arab town and local council in the Northern District of Israel. It has an area of 5,442 dunams of land under its jurisdiction. In 2018 its population was 6,941.
context_section_description: In the  1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Sha'ab had a population of 1,206; 1,166 Muslims and 40 Christians, where the Christians were 15 Orthodox and 25 Melkites. The population increased slightly in the  1931 census to 1,297;  1,277 Muslims, 19 Christians and 1 Jew, in a total of 284  houses.
  During the 1936 revolt in Palestine, the British Army attacked Sha'ab, demolishing 190 houses in the village. According to an eyewitness account, the British collectively punished the village for harboring a rebel who allegedly set off a roadside explosive that killed four British soldiers and injured three. A day prior to the demolition of the homes, the army rounded up around 200 of its adult male residents and led them to a valley outside the village. As they were being lined up, a rebel fighter positioned on a nearby hill began yelling and firing into the air, confusing the soldiers and causing Sha'ab's detained men to disperse chaotically. One resident named Hassan Hajj Khatib was killed.
  In the  1945 statistics, Sha'ab had 1,740 inhabitants; 30 Christians and 1,710 Muslims.  They owned a total of 17,870 dunams of land, while 121 dunams were public. 3,248 dunams were used for plantations and irrigable land, 6,602 dunams for cereals, while 231 dunams were built-up (urban) land.
caption: The demolition of houses in Sha'ab by British forces during the 1936–1939 revolt, 1936
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