Arab Suqrir
'Arab Suqrir
عرب صقرير | ||
---|---|---|
Geopolitical entity Mandatory Palestine | | |
Subdistrict | Gaza | |
Date of depopulation | 25 May 1948[5] | |
Area | ||
• Total | 40,224 dunams (40.224 km2 or 15.531 sq mi) | |
Population (1945) | ||
• Total | 390[3][4] | |
Cause(s) of depopulation | Military assault by Yishuv forces | |
Current Localities | Bnei Darom[6] Netivot[7] Nir Galim,[1][8] Ashdod[1] |
'Arab Suqrir (
History
The latter part of the town's name, 'Arab Suqrir could have derived from the
Ottoman era
Under the
Socin found from an official Ottoman village list from about 1870 showed that the place (called Abu Suweirih) had 41 houses and a population of 105, though the population count included men, only.[11] Hartmann disagreed both about the number of houses, and the identification.[12]
British Mandate era
In the 1931 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Abu Sweirah had a population of 530 Muslims.[2]
In the 1945 statistics the population of Arab Suqrir consisted of 390 Muslims[3] and the land area was 40,224 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[4] Of this, 583 dunams were designated for citrus and bananas, 489 for plantations and irrigable land, 15,538 for cereals,[13] while 966 dunams were non-cultivable.[14]
1948 and aftermath
On January 11, 1948, 'Arab Suqrir was subject to the first Haganah operational proposal to level a village. An intelligence report reveals an official recommendation that "The village should be destroyed and some males from the same village should be murdered."[15] According to Israeli historian Benny Morris, the report was issued as a result of the killing of eleven Haganah scouts outside patrol at Gan Yavne by militiamen from 'Arab Suqrir on January 9. The recommendation of leveling the village was endorsed by Haganah intelligence director Ziama Divon who said "the Arabs in the area expect a reprisal... A lack of response on our part will be interpreted as a sign of weakness."[15]
According to Palestinian historian
On January 20, the official order was issued with directives to "... Destroy the well... destroy the village completely, kill all the adult males, and destroy the reinforcements that arrive." However, when the operation was carried out on January 25, the women and children had already evacuated a few days prior and the roughly 30 men who had remained to guard the village after hearing of the approach by the Haganah. Morris writes that the Israelis destroyed the houses, two trucks, and the nearby well, citing a report that said "The village, apart from a few relics, no longer exists."[15] The Associated Press reported that the Haganah bombed fifteen or twenty houses in an Arab village near Yibna, but gave no casualty figures and quoted informants that the bombing were in retaliation for attacks on Jewish convoys.[1]
The inhabitants of 'Arab Suqrir were angry that "no village dared to come to their help and they asked how could the Arabs fight this way." Some villagers returned to the site soon after its destruction and finally left at the end of March. The village came under the control of Israel by the Haganah's Givati Brigade around May 10, 1948, at the start of Operation Barak, but the village was not physically destroyed until August 24–25 in Operation Nikayon.[1] Following the war the area was incorporated into the State of Israel.
Khalidi wrote that the village remains consist of "overgrown weeds, a few cactuses, and trees. Two houses remain standing. One of them is in a citrus grove and has a concrete frame and cinder block walls. On the top of the flat roof is an illiya." Two Jewish towns are currently located on the former land of 'Arab Suqrir: Nir Galim was established in 1949 and Ashdod was established in 1955.[1]
Khan
According to Petersen, the village site is today located in the centre of the
Clermont-Ganneau visited the place in 1873, and gave a very similar description, with the addition: "this must have been the site of some ancient "manzel", or posting-house, on the Arab route from Syria to Egypt.[18]
The site was registered as "an ancient monument" during the British Mandate of Palestine-period, although the owners were permitted to build a reservoir 20m square within the khan.[19]
Petersen, inspecting the place in 1994, found the place in much the same condition as during the British mandate period, except that the reservoir from the Mandate time is now replaced with a water-tower. Petersen described the remains as comprising a nearly 40 m-long wall, running north–south, with an entrance near the north end. A
In 2002. excavations in Bnei Darom found major remains from the Mamluk period.[21]
See also
- Depopulated Palestinian locations in Israel
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Khalidi, 1992, p. 80
- ^ a b Mills, 1932, p. 6
- ^ a b Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 31
- ^ a b c Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 45
- ^ Morris, 2004, p. xix, village #254. Also gives the cause of depopulation
- ^ a b c Petersen, 2001, p. 287
- ^ Morris, 2004, p. xxi, settlement #77
- ^ Morris, 2004, p. xxii, settlement #130
- ^ Clermont-Ganneau, 1896, II, pp.184- 185
- ^ Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 143. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 80, and Petersen, 2001, p. 287
- ^ Socin, 1879, p. 142
- ^ Hartmann, 1883, pp. 131-132
- ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 86
- ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 136
- ^ a b c Morris, 2004, pp. 76-77.
- ^ The New York Times, 11 January 1948, and Filastin 11 January 1948, both cited in Khalidi, 1992, p. 80
- ^ Guérin, 1869, pp.79 - 80, as given in translation by Conder and Kitchener, 1882, II, pp.425 - 426
- ^ Clermont-Ganneau, 1896, II, p.184. Also cited in Petersen, 2001, p. 287
- ^ ATG/284 (=Antiquities Reports (held in the Palestine Archaeological Museum)), cited on Petersen, 2001, p. 287
- ^ Petersen, 2001, pp. 287-288
- ^ Barkan, Diego (2006-07-03). "Bene Darom Final Report". Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel (118).
Bibliography
- Barkan, Diego (2006-07-03). "Bene Darom Final Report". Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel (118).
- Clermont-Ganneau, C.S. (1896). [ARP] Archaeological Researches in Palestine 1873-1874, translated from the French by J. McFarlane. Vol. 2. London: Palestine Exploration Fund.
- Conder, C.R.; Kitchener, H.H. (1882). The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology. Vol. 2. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
- Department of Statistics (1945). Village Statistics, April, 1945. Government of Palestine.
- Guérin, V. (1869). Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine (in French). Vol. 1: Judee, pt. 2. Paris: L'Imprimerie Nationale.
- Hadawi, S. (1970). Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine. Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center.
- Hartmann, M. (1883). "Die Ortschaftenliste des Liwa Jerusalem in dem türkischen Staatskalender für Syrien auf das Jahr 1288 der Flucht (1871)". Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins. 6: 102–149.
- Hütteroth, Wolf-Dieter; Abdulfattah, Kamal (1977). Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century. Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft. ISBN 3-920405-41-2.
- ISBN 0-88728-224-5.
- Mills, E., ed. (1932). Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas. Jerusalem: Government of Palestine.
- ISBN 978-0-521-00967-6.
- Palmer, E. H. (1881). The Survey of Western Palestine: Arabic and English Name Lists Collected During the Survey by Lieutenants Conder and Kitchener, R. E. Transliterated and Explained by E.H. Palmer. Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund. (p.281)
- Petersen, Andrew (2001). A Gazetteer of Buildings in Muslim Palestine (British Academy Monographs in Archaeology). Vol. 1. ISBN 978-0-19-727011-0.
- Socin, A. (1879). "Alphabetisches Verzeichniss von Ortschaften des Paschalik Jerusalem". Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins. 2: 135–163.
External links
- Welcome To 'Arab Suqrir
- 'Arab Suqrir (Abu Suweira), Zochrot
- Survey of Western Palestine, Map 16: IAA, Wikimedia commons
- 'Arab Suqrir from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center