The ʿAssaf family of Miʿilya: an example of a Greek Catholic family in the Western Upper Galilee, eighteenth–twenty-first centuries

This article sheds light on the Melkite Catholics in Galilee. It strengthens the assumption that many Melkite Catholics arrived in the Acre region during Ḍāhir al-ʿUmar's reign (1730s–1775), and it shows that relations between the Christians and adherents of other faiths were good enough in day-to-day life, allowing the Christians to develop their business and to share important properties with Muslims. It also shows that some familial traditions have been preserved since the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; the branch of the ʿAssāf family discussed here preserved the tradition of higher education and business. This study proves that in the village of Miʿilyā, and probably in other Christian villages, there is a relationship between the arrival date of the families, the location of their quarters in the villages and the feasts that they are responsible for. In Miʿilyā, the earlier families settled the castle and were responsible for the most important feast days.