Lubya ( "bean"), sometimes referred to as Lubia, Lubieh and Loubieh, was a Palestinian Arab town located ten kilometers west of Tiberias that was captured and destroyed by Israel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War where its residents were forcefully evacuated and became refugees. Nearby villages included Nimrin to the north, Hittin to the northwest, and al-Shajara to the south; Each of those villages were also depopulated. Lubya had a total land area of 39,629 dunams (3,963ha), of which 83% was Arab-owned and the remainder public property. Most of its cultivable land was planted with cereals while only 1,500 dunams (150 ha) were planted with olive groves. The village's built-up area was 210 dunams (21 ha). History Archaeological excavations have revealed remains dating from the Roman era, second century BCE until the fifth century CE. The village was known as Lubia by the Crusaders and was a rest stop for Saladin's Ayyubid army prior to the Battle of Hattin. It is the birthplace of a prominent 15th century Muslim scholar Abu Bakr al-Lubyani, who taught Islamic religious sciences in Damascus. Ottoman era Lubya belonged to the nahiya ("district") of Tiberias in the 1596 tax records, a few decades after the Ottoman Empire won control over the region from the Mamluks. Its population was recorded as 182 households and 32 bachelors, an estimated 1,177 persons; all Muslim. The village was required to pay taxes on its goats, beehives and its olive press, but most of the revenues (45,000 Akçe) were paid as a fixed amount. Total taxes were 46,700 akçe. In 1743, the Ottoman governor of Damascus, Sulayman Pasha al-Azm died in the village while on his way to confront the rebellious de facto Arab ruler of the Galilee, Zahir al-Umar. A map by Pierre Jacotin, from 1799 showed the place named Loubia. Lubya is near the site of Khan Lubya which is filled with the ruins of a pool, cisterns and large building stones. This site was probably a caravansary during medieval times. In the early 19th century, James Silk Buckingham described Lubya as a very large village on top of a high hill. Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, a Swiss traveler to Palestine, referred to the village as "Louby" and noted that wild artichokes covered the village plain. The American scholar Robinson, who passed through the village in 1838, noted that it had suffered greatly from the Galilee earthquake of 1837, with