A classic Khanjar Majdali

[motan]

Hi Rajesh,
Sa'ar is an expert on local weapons and I cannot add much to what he already said. Yes, this dagger belongs to a family of small khanjars made somewhere in the wider area around the common border of Lebanon, Syria, Palestine/Israel . In Ottoman times there was no border there, so it would be no surprise if styles "leaked" from Damascus to Southern Lebanon and Northern Palestine.

I think that the origin of the general style is in Ottoman Damascus, in daggers like the one in the first figure. This style transformed through daggers like in the second figure, to several types made in Palestine and Southern Lebanon.
The holes in the blade are a common feature to this area and seen in several types, including the horse-head daggers that I showed here before (3rd figure). It is an imitation of a much older Ottoman tradition of perforated blades.

The basic, primitive decoration technique is Palestinian. The scabbard is decorated with pits made with a sharp instrument, while the hilt is decorated with a zig-zag pattern made by rocking a small chisel. The latter technique was applied decades later in Jordan as well. The very similar dagger in the last picture carries the Palestinian tell-tale sign I discussed previously (arrows in pictures).

I am trying to find out where such daggers were made in the Galilee by asking old people in towns known for their forges, but no success yet.

In short, your dagger is a known type of Northern Palestinian daggers and is probably first quarter of the 20th c. or few years later. I don't have one like that, so if you get tired of it...