Kuwaykat
Kuwaykat
كويكات | ||
---|---|---|
Etymology: "Huts" (possibly)[1] | ||
Geopolitical entity Mandatory Palestine | | |
Subdistrict | Acre | |
Date of depopulation | 10 July 1948[4] | |
Area | ||
• Total | 4,733 dunams (4.733 km2 or 1.827 sq mi) | |
Population (1945) | ||
• Total | 1,050[2][3] | |
Cause(s) of depopulation | Military assault by Yishuv forces | |
Current Localities | Beit HaEmek[5][6] |
Kuwaykat (
History
The old khan (
In 1245 the western part of Kuwaykat was owned by the Church and Hospital of St Thomas the Martyr in Acre.[10]
Ottoman era
In the late
A population list from about 1887 showed that Kiryet et Kuweikat had about 565 inhabitants; all Muslims.[14]
British Mandate period
In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Kuaikat had a population of 604; all Muslims,[15] increasing in the 1931 census to 789, still all Muslims, in a total of 163 houses.[16]
In April 1938, during the Arab revolt in Palestine, a group of Palestinian Arab rebels planted a mine on the road near Kuwaykat which blew up a British vehicle, killing nine soldiers (according to the Arabs) or one soldier and wounding two others (according to the British). A rebel leader in Kuwaykat, Fayyad Baytam, was approached by the regional rebel commander Shaykh Amhad al-Tuba, who ordered him to plant the explosive on the road. Baytam refused, arguing that planting the bomb would only inevitably bring retaliation upon the village. Two local rebels, Al-Tuba and Ali Hummada, planted the explosive instead. The British Army proceeded to start setting houses in Kafr Yasif ablaze in response, but were then informed by local residents that the inhabitants of Kuwaykat were responsible for the attack. The British troops fatally shot nine Arabs as they approached the village.[17][18]
In the 1945 statistics, Kuwaykat had 1,050 Muslim inhabitants,[2] with a total of 4,733 dunums (1,170 acres) of land according to an official land and population survey.[3] The land of Kuwaykat was considered to be among the most fertile of the district. Grain, olives and watermelons were its chief crops. In 1944/45 a total of 3,316 dunums were used for cereals, and 1,246 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards, of which 500 dunums were planted with olive trees,[19] while 26 dunams were built-up (urban) area.[20] The villagers also engaged in livestock breeding and dairy production. The village had a population of 1,050.[6]
1948 War and aftermath
The first attack on the village of Kuwaykat during the
We were awakened by the loudest noise we had ever heard, shells exploding and artillery fire [..] women were screaming, children were crying...Most of the villagers began to flee with their pajamas on. The wife of Qassim Ahmad Sa´id fled carrying a pillow in her arms instead of her child ...[6][22]
Two people were killed and two wounded by the shelling. Many villagers fled to Abu Snan, Kafr Yasif and other villages that later surrendered. Those, mostly elderly, villagers who remained in Kuwaykat, were soon expelled to Kafr Yasif.[6]
Little remains of the village except the deserted cemetery, completely overgrown with weeds, and rubble from houses. Inscriptions on two of the graves identify one as that of Hamad 'Isa al-Hajj, and another as that of Shaykh Salih Iskandar, who died in 1940. The shrine of Shaykh Abu Muhammad al-Qurayshi still stands but its stone pedestal is badly cracked.[6]
See also
- Depopulated Palestinian locations in Israel
- List of villages depopulated during the Arab-Israeli conflict
Footnotes
- ^ Palmer, 1881, p. 51
- ^ a b Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 4
- ^ a b c Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 40
- ^ Morris, 2004, p. xvii, village #86. Also gives cause of depopulation
- ^ Morris, 2004, p. xxi, settlement #45, January 1949
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Khalidi, 1992, p. 22
- ^ Sims, Eleanor. 1978. Trade and Travel: Markets and Caravansary.' In: Michell, George. (ed.). 1978. Architecture of the Islamic World - Its History and Social Meaning. London: Thames and Hudson Ltd, 101.
- ^ Denoix, Sylvie; Depaule, Jean-Charles; Tuchscherer, Michel, eds. (1999). Le Khan al-Khalili et ses environs: Un centre commercial et artisanal au Caire du XIIIe au XXe siècle. Cairo: Institut français d'archéologie orientale.
- ^ Pringle, 1997, p. 64
- ^ Röhricht, 1893, RRH, p. 301, No. 1135; Cited in Pringle, 2009, p. 163
- ^ a b Karmon, 1960, p. 162
- ^ Guérin, 1880, p. 29
- ^ Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 147. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 22
- ^ Schumacher, 1888, p. 173
- ^ Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Acre, p. 36
- ^ Mills, 1932, p. 101
- ^ Swedenberg, 2003, pp. 107–09.
- doi:10.1093/ehr/cep002. Archived from the original on 2016-02-21.)
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link - ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 81
- ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 131
- ^ Filastin, 21.01.1948 and 08.02.1948
- ^ Nazzal, 1978, pp. 72-73
- ^ Morris, 1987, p. 187
Bibliography
- Barron, J.B., ed. (1923). Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922. Government of Palestine.
- Conder, C.R.; Kitchener, H.H. (1881). The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology. Vol. 1. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
- Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics (1945). Village Statistics, April, 1945.
- Guérin, V. (1880). Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine (in French). Vol. 3: Galilee, 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.
- Karmon, Y. (1960). "An Analysis of Jacotin's Map of Palestine" (PDF). Israel Exploration Journal. 10 (3, 4): 155–173, 244–253. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-12-22. Retrieved 2015-03-26.
- 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 0-521-33028-9.
- ISBN 0-521-00967-7.
- Nazzal, Nafez (1978). The Palestinian Exodus from Galilee 1948. The Institute for Palestine Studies. pp. 24, 71–74, 100. ISBN 9780887281280.
- 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.
- ISBN 0521-46010-7.
- ISBN 978-0-521-85148-0.
- Röhricht, R. (1893). (RRH) Regesta regni Hierosolymitani (MXCVII-MCCXCI) (in Latin). Berlin: Libraria Academica Wageriana.
- Schumacher, G. (1888). "Population list of the Liwa of Akka". Quarterly Statement - Palestine Exploration Fund. 20: 169–191.
- Swedenburg, Ted (2003). Memories of Revolt: The 1936–1939 Rebellion and the Palestinian National Past. University of Arkansas Press. ISBN 1610752635.
External links
- Welcome to Kuwaykat Palestine Remembered
- Kuwaykat, Zochrot
- Survey of Western Palestine, Map 3: IAA, Wikimedia commons
- Kuwaykat from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center
- Al-Kweikat Dr. Moslih Kanaaneh
- Tour to Kuwykat[usurped] -Raneen Geries 6.9.2008, Zochrot