Editing Dayr al-Qassi (section)

===Ottoman Empire===
Dayr al-Qassi was incorporated into the [[Ottoman Empire]] in 1517 and it belonged to the  ''[[nahiya]]'' (subdistrict)  of ''Jira'', part of the [[Safad Sanjak]] (District of Safed). In the 1596 [[Defter|tax records]] Dayr al-Qassi had a population of 24 [[Muslim]] household; an estimated 132 persons. The villagers paid a fixed tax-rated of 25% on a number of crops, including [[wheat]] and [[barley]], as well as on goats and beehives; a total of 345 [[akçe]].<ref>Hütteroth and  Abdulfattah, 1977,  p. 177. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 12</ref><ref>Note that Rhode, 1979, p. [https://www.academia.edu/2026845/The_Administration_and_Population_of_the_Sancak_of_Safed_in_the_Sixteenth_Century 6] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190420031504/https://www.academia.edu/2026845/The_Administration_and_Population_of_the_Sancak_of_Safed_in_the_Sixteenth_Century |date=2019-04-20 }} writes that  the register that  Hütteroth and  Abdulfattah  studied was not from 1595/6, but from 1548/9</ref>

In the early 18th century, Dayr al-Qassi was a fortified village controlled by a local [[sheikh]] (chief) named Abd al-Khaliq Salih. In 1740, Sheikh [[Zahir al-Umar]], a local ''[[multazim]]'' (tax farmer) from the [[Banu Zaydan]] family whose strength was growing throughout the [[Galilee]], struggled to gain control of Dayr al-Qassi. Later that year, he made the village part of his domain by marrying Sheikh Salih's daughter, thereby sealing an alliance with the latter's family.<ref>Joudah, 1987, p. 24.</ref> In late 1767, Zahir's son Ali of Safed requested control of Dayr al-Qassi from his father after his request for [[Deir Hanna|Dayr Hanna]] was rejected. Zahir refused and the two entered into an armed conflict, which Zahir won. Nonetheless, Zahir pardoned Ali and ultimately ceded the village to him.<ref>Joudah, 1987, p. 53.</ref>

In 1838, Dayr al-Qassi was noted as a Muslim village in the Jabal subdistrict, located west of Safed.<ref>Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol. 3, 2nd appendix,  p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/133/mode/1up 133]</ref>

[[Victor Guérin]] visited Dayr al-Qassi in 1875, and he estimated that the village had 350 Muslim inhabitants.<ref name=Guerin71/> In 1881, Dayr al-Qassi was described in the [[Palestine Exploration Fund|PEF]]'s ''[[PEF Survey of Palestine|Survey of Western Palestine]]'' (SWP) as being situated on a ridge, encircled by fig and olive trees and arable land. It then had a population of about 200.<ref>Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp01conduoft#page/197/mode/1up p.197]. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 12</ref> A population list from about 1887 showed Dayr al-Qassi to have  about 945 inhabitants, all Muslims.<ref>Schumacher, 1888, p. [https://archive.org/stream/quarterlystateme19pale#page/n215/mode/1up  190]</ref>