The memory of the devout Druze woman Sit (Lady) Hadthra is honored at
a site in a picturesque valley west of the Druze town of Isfiya on
Mount Carmel.
Sit Hadthra lived in the adjacent village of
Zara’a, and counseled her people on religious and moral issues. She died
at age 71 and was buried in the village, which was ruined in 1840 after
the Ottomans took back control of the region from the Egyptian Mohammad
Ali.
The small building honoring her memory, built in around
2003, is nestled in a grove of gnarled old oaks that gives this valley
its name, Bik’at Alon (Oak Valley). Above the door is an architect’s
rendering of the more elaborate structure the community would like to
build here. The tiny village that once stood here was aptly named
Zara’a (“seed”), as the valley was heavily cultivated by Druze farmers
in bygone days. The surrounding piles of stones are also known as Horvat
Alon, the Alon ruin. The 10-kilometer gravel road down to the site runs
through beautiful groves and cultivated patches.
The road to Sit Hadthra leads west from the southern
corner of the Atshe souvenir shop on the main road (672) between Isfiya
and Dalyat el-Carmel.