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 honouring 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.