7 villages in Mandatory Palestine with predominantly Shia population
The seven Shia villages in Mandatory Palestine
From 1923 to 1948, there were seven villages in
Qadas, Hunin, and Abil al-Qamh.[1] These villages were transferred from the French to the British sphere as a result of the border agreement of 1923. All of them were depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War and their former locations are now in northern Israel
.
History
At the end of World War I, the British and French governments held most of the
Mandate for Syria and Lebanon
.
In September 1920, the first French high commissioner General
agreement that broadly defined the boundary between their respective spheres.[2] The agreement also established the Paulet–Newcombe commission to determine the precise boundary, with wide powers to recommend adjustments.[2] In 1921, before the commission had reported, France conducted a census which covered the seven villages and granted Lebanese citizenship to their residents.[2] None of the villages were listed in the 1922 census of Palestine,[3] but the remaining Shia population (classified as "Metawilehs") were still listed, totaling 156 persons: 3 in Gaza, 150 in Al Bassa, and 3 in Majd al-Kerum.[4] However, the commission decided on border adjustments which placed the villages on the Palestinian side of the border, along with more than a dozen other villages.[2] The new boundary was agreed in a treaty of September 1923.[2] The citizenship of the residents was not changed to Palestinian until 1926.[2]
The 1931 census counted 4,100 Metawalis in Palestine.[5] Abil al-Qamh was about half Shia and half Greek Christian, while the other six were mostly Shia.[2]
In 1994, the refugees from the seven villages, who had been classified as
Palestinian refugees since 1948, were granted Lebanese citizenship.[7] Some factions in the Lebanese government, Hezbollah in particular, have called for the seven villages to be "returned to Lebanon".[6][8]
