Yafa an-Naseriyye (, "Jaffa of Nazareth", also Yafa, Kfar Yafia or Yafi , ) is an Arab town in the Lower Galilee, Israel. It forms part of the metropolitan area of Nazareth, also an Arab locality. Declared a local council in 1960, it had a population of in , approximately 70% of whom were Muslim and 30% Christian. History Yafa an-Naseriyye is an ancient town where rock-cut tombs and cisterns have been found. Pottery finds date to the Iron Age IIA-B (late tenth and ninth centuries BCE), Hellenistic (late second and early first centuries BCE.), and Roman era (first to fourth century). Ancient period Yafa was a vassal of Megiddo in the fourteenth century BCE, according to the Amarna letters. It has been identified with the ancient town of Japhia, mentioned in the Book of Joshua as a border town belonging to Zebulun. Classical antiquity First-century Jewish historian Josephus mentions the city Japha (Yafa) in his Life of Flavius Josephus (§ 37 and 45) and The Jewish War (Book 3, chapter 7, verse 31) as being the largest village in Galilee, and where at one time he took-up residence, providing for the village's defence and describing its capture during the First Jewish-Roman War by the Imperial Roman army in circa 63 CE. Chambers, cut in stone, three storeys high, have been found in the village. This was probably an old granary. Victor Guérin noted that when one of the chambers was cleared out in 1869, a vase was found containing about two hundred coins of Roman emperors. According to his observations, there were two of the subterranean systems, one of which is described above, both of which have suffered considerable damage since they were first visited by him in 1870. He found nothing of the ancient town, except five or six fragments of columns, broken stones, and about thirty cisterns. The city formerly included three adjacent hills. A stone quarry, also dating from the Roman period, has been excavated. It was in use from the late first century CE to the mid-fourth century CE. Middle ages Local medieval tradition holds that Zebedee and his two sons, the Apostles James and John lived in Yafa. As the first to mention this tradition was Marinus Sanutus, it was most likely a Crusader-era invention. Mamluk period Remains of a building from the Mamluk era has been excavated, with pottery sherds from that period.