Tantura
Tantura
الطنطورة al-Tantura | |
---|---|
Etymology: "The Peak"[1] | |
Dor[5] |
Tantura (
The village stood on a low limestone hill overlooking the shoreline of two small bays.[9] The water was supplied from a well in the eastern part of the village.[9] The al-Bab gate was in the southeast of the village. The Roman ruins were on the coast to the north with the hill of Umm Rashid to the south.[10] In 1945 it had a population of 1,490.
The village was targeted in the early stages of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, with its houses looted and its Arab Palestinian inhabitants expelled and others massacred by the Palmach underground Alexandroni Brigade. The Tantura massacre was first documented by a Palestinian politician in 1951, decades before a 2022 Israeli documentary revealed testimony from several IDF veterans affirming that a massacre, involving somewhere between several to 200 Palestinian victims, had taken place at that time.[11]
History
Many shipwrecks from several periods have been discovered in the waters off Dor.[12]
Iron Age
Hebrew Bible reference
According to the
Hellenistic and Roman periods
Dor was an important salt production site, as attested to by pools and channels dug along the coast.[17]
By the mid-3rd century CE, the city had deteriorated to little more than a fishing village.[18]
Byzantine period
The importance of Dor/Dora rose again from the 4th to the
Underwater exploration of a Byzantine wreck salvaged a medium-size boat constructed with iron nails.[12] Based on coins recovered from the site, the boat dates to c. 665 CE, a decade after the Muslim conquest.[12] Artifacts include several objects testifying to the practice of light-fishing.[12]
Early Islamic period
The village of Tantura, further south, was probably established after the church was abandoned in the Early Islamic period.
Crusader period
In the
Later titular Catholic see of Dora
There are records of several 14th and 15th century Latin bishops of the see,[19] which under the name Dora is still a titular see of the Catholic Church.[21]
Ottoman period
Tantura rose in importance in the mid-18th century with the increased demand for cotton in Europe.
Tantura was visited in 1738 by Richard Pococke, who called it "Tortura." He wrote that it was a small village with a port to the south for large boats.[23]
In 1799 when
The British traveller James Silk Buckingham, who visited in 1816, described al-Tantura as a small village with a small port and a khan (caravanserai).[26] Mary Rogers, sister of the British vice-consul in Haifa, reported that in 1855 there were 30–40 houses in the village, with cattle and goats as the chief source of income.[27]
In 1859, William McClure Thomson described Tantura/Dor in his travelogue:
'Tantura merits very little attention. It is a sad and sickly hamlet of wretched huts on a naked sea-beach, with a marshy flat between it and the base of the eastern hills. The sheikh's residence and the public menzûl for travellers are the only respectable houses, Dor never could have been a large city, for there are no remains. The artificial tell, with a fragment of the Kùsr standing like a column upon it, was probably the most ancient site. In front of the present village and five small islets, by the aid of which an artificial harbour could easily be constructed. The entrance to which would be by the inlet at the foot of the Kùsr; and should "Dor and her towns" ever rise again into wealth and importance such a harbour will assuredly be made'.[28]
When Victor Guérin visited in 1870, he found the village to have twelve hundred inhabitants, and further noted that the village itself was built largely with materials taken from the ancient city of Dor.[29]
In 1882, in the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine, Tantura was described as a village on the coast with a harbour located to the north, and a square, stone building used as a guest house for travellers (probably the khan referred to by Buckingham). The population was engaged in agriculture and conducted a small trade with Jaffa.[30]
In 1884 Mordechai Bonstein, a Russian Jewish farmer pioneer from
A population list from about 1887 showed that Tanturah had about 770 inhabitants, all Muslim.[32] A boys' elementary school was built in Tantura in 1889.[33]
In 1891, Baron Rothschild financed the development of a bottle factory in Tantura,[34] as he planned to use the fine sand on the shore to manufacture glass bottles for the fledgling wine industry in Zikhron Ya'akov.[7] A building was constructed under the supervision of Meir Dizengoff, a French glass specialist was brought in, dozens of workers were hired, and three ships were purchased to transport raw material and bottles. But, he abandoned the factory in 1895 after a string of failures.[7]
In 1898, German Emperor Wilhelm II visited the ruins of the crusader castle.
British Mandate period
According to the British Mandate's 1922 census of Palestine, al-Tantura had a population of 750 inhabitants; 749 Muslims and 1 Roman Catholic Christian,[35][36] increasing in the 1931 census to 953; 944 Muslims, 8 Christians and 1 Jew.[37] During this period Tantura's houses, situated along the beach, were constructed from stone. In addition to the boys' school, a girls' school was founded in 1937-38.[33] There were two Islamic holy sites in the village, including a maqam (shrine) dedicated to an Abd ar-Rahman Sa'd ad-Din.[38]
During the British Mandate, the fish catch increased from six tons in 1928 to 1,622 tons in 1944. The major agricultural products were grain, vegetables, and fruit. In 1944/45 a total of 26 dunams was devoted to citrus and bananas, 6,593 to cereals and 287 dunams to orchards, mainly olives.[33][39]
In Sami Hadawi's land and population survey in 1945, the town had a population 1,490; 20 Christians and 1,470 Muslims,[2] and a total land area of 14,250 dunams.[40] Of this, Arabs used 26 dunums for citrus and bananas, 6,593 to cereals; 287 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards,[39] while a total of 123 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[41]
-
Loading melons in Tantura, (picture taken 1920-1933)
-
Tantura 1938 1:20,000
-
British survey map, 1942
-
Tantura 1945 1:250,000
1948 war
In 1948, al-Tantura was within the area designated by the United Nations in the Partition Plan for the Jewish State. Some of the inhabitants were civil servants, working as policemen, customs officials and clerks at the Haifa Magistrates court. A paved road led to the Haifa Highway. The village was one of the most developed in the region.[9] Some residents of Tantura had been involved in the armed Arab Revolt against the British, and three were killed in a skirmish with the British near the village. At the beginning of the 1948 Palestine war, the wealthier families fled to Haifa. Approximately 1,200 remained in the village, continuing to tend their fields, orchards, and ply their trade as fishermen.[9]
Tantura was part of an Arab enclave cutting off the road from Tel Aviv to Haifa.
Operation Namal
The British controlled the Haifa port area until April 23, 1948.
Morale among Tantura's Arab residents was low after the fall of Haifa. In early May, the population was reportedly ready to surrender if attacked or given an ultimatum, but was not to give up their weapons, and some residents began fleeing after an incident in which a local man murdered a Jew and was in turn killed. Many villagers fled to Tyre by boat. Perhaps heartened by the arrival of Arab forces in Israel/Palestine in mid-May, Tantura's villagers and those of surrounding towns decided to remain and fight. The inhabitants subsequently began to prepare defensive fortifications and lay mines.[47] On the night of May 22–23, the Alexandroni Brigade's 33rd battalion launched an attack, employing heavy machine gun fire, followed by an infantry attack from all landward sides with an Israeli naval vessel blocking any chance of escape to the sea. Although the villagers put up serious resistance, the village fell to the Brigade by 0800hrs on May 23.[48] According to an unsigned Haganah report, dozens of villagers were killed and 500 were taken prisoner (300 adult males and 200 women and children).[49]
Most of the villagers fled to the nearby town of Fureidis and territory protected by the Arab League in the Triangle region near to what was to become the Green Line.[50] Women and children were taken to Fureidis, which had already surrendered.[48] On May 31, 1948, Bechor Shitrit, Minister of Minority Affairs of the Provisional government of Israel, sought permission to expel them due to overcrowding, lack of sanitation, and the risk of information being passed to unconquered villages. Haganah intelligence also pressured Ben-Gurion to expel them as they were giving intelligence to nearby unconquered Arab villages and due to problems with sanitation and overcrowding. It is unknown whether Ben-Gurion replied or not, but on 18 June most of the Tantura women and children were expelled to Tulkarm. Some women and children, probably those with male relatives still in Israeli detention, were allowed to remain in Fureidis.[48][51] A Ministry official, Ya'akov Epstein of Zikhron Ya'akov, who visited Tantura shortly after the operation, reported seeing bodies, but said nothing of a massacre. In 1998, Yahya Al Yahya published a book on Tantura recording the names of 52 dead.[52] The occupation of the village was followed by looting. Some of the items recovered by the Haganah included 'one carpet, one gramophone ... one basket with cucumbers ... one goat'.[48] The male
In 1964 the IDF released an official history of "The Alexandroni Brigade in the War of Independence" in which 11 pages were devoted to al-Tantura. There was no mention of any expulsion of villagers. In 2004, Alexandroni veterans acknowledged the forced expulsion as public discussion arose about some of the events of the war.
Nahsholim and Dor
After the war, the
Marine archaeology
A 9th-century wreck known as Tantura B, most likely an Arab trading vessel, was discovered in shallow water off the Tantura coast.
Published accounts of the massacre
Israeli journalist Amir Gilat published an article regarding a massacre in Tantura in
"After checking and re-checking the evidence, it is clear to me now, beyond any doubt, that there is no basis whatsoever for the allegation that the Alexandroni Brigade, or any other fighting unit of the Jewish forces, committed killing of people in Tantura after the village surrendered."
Katz retracted his statement 12 hours later, asserting that he had agreed to sign the retraction "in a moment of weakness" under pressure of family members, because he had suffered a stroke a year earlier and his family were afraid the strain of the court hearings will cause a relapse.[63] However, the court already registered his stated retraction, ruled against him and refused to re-open the deliberations.
Katz appealed to the
In the wake of this case, the University of Haifa suspended Katz's degree, inviting him to revise his thesis.[54] The paper was sent out to five external examiners, a majority (3:2)[54] of whom failed it.[64] Katz was subsequently awarded a "non-research" MA.[54][65][66]
The historian Ilan Pappé supported Katz and his thesis, and has challenged the Israeli veterans to take him to court, claiming he has evidence that the massacre occurred.[10][67][68] In a 2001 article in the Journal of Palestine Studies, Pappé defended the use of oral history with reference to the USA. He pointed out that that history was obtained by Katz, not only from Palestinian villagers, but also from Israeli soldiers. Pappé provided new evidence that had come to light after Katz had presented his thesis, in one case quoting (with reference to the IDF source file) "from a document from the Alexandroni Brigade to IDF headquarters in June notes: 'We have tended to the mass grave, and everything is in order'”, and in another, published testimonies by eyewitnesses who had been located in Syria. He also related the background to Katz's original signed repudiation of his thesis.[10]
In 2004, Israeli historian Benny Morris extensively reviewed the Tantura controversy and recounted himself coming away "with a deep sense of unease". He suggested that, while it is unclear whether or not a massacre occurred, there was no doubt that war crimes were committed by the Jewish forces (Haganah) and that the village was forcibly cleansed of its Arab inhabitants. Morris believes that one village woman was raped, Alexandroni troops may have executed POWs and there may have been some looting, based on an army report that uses the Hebrew word khabala (sabotage).[52][69]
Morris underlined the fact that in interviews conducted by himself and by the Ma'ariv reporter Amir Gilat, all refugees confirmed that a massacre had taken place, while all IDF veterans denied it. Regarding the latter, Morris describes what he calls “troubling hints”, such as a diary by an Alexandroni soldier, Tulik Makovsky, in which he wrote “… that our boys know the craft of murder quite well, especially boys whose relatives the Arabs had murdered... or those harmed by
Morris further pointed out issues with the scoring of the second version of Katz's thesis in that the two referees who gave anomalously low scores had been co-authors of an IDF book in which it was argued that ”… the Israeli Army had carried out only a ‘partial expulsion’ of the populations of the Arab towns of
In 2004, a proposal was made to exhume bodies from a site between Nahsholim and Dor believed to be a mass grave, but this has not happened.[54] In 2006, Katz's presentation of the facts was disputed again, by an Israeli historian who was to play a key role in the effort to discredit Katz's research, Yoav Gelber.[70][11]
In January 2022, Tantura, a documentary by Alon Schwarz, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. The film included interviews with several Israeli veterans who confirmed that they had witnessed a massacre at Tantura after the village had surrendered. Those interviewed provided descriptions, with the number of victims who were shot dead ranging from “a few” to “several dozen” or “more than 200”. The latter estimate was provided by a resident of Zikhron Ya'akov, who stated that he had helped bury the victims. They confirmed that soldiers in the Alexandroni Brigade had murdered unarmed men after the battle had ended, and that the victims were indeed buried in a mass grave, now located under the Dor Beach parking lot near Nahsholim kibbutz.[11][71]
See also
- Depopulated Palestinian locations in Israel
- List of massacres committed prior to the 1948 Arab-Israeli war
- Killings and massacres during the 1948 Palestine War
- List of villages depopulated during the Arab–Israeli conflict
- New Historians
References
- ^ Palmer, 1881, p. 141
- ^ a b Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 15
- ^ Morris, 2004, p. xvi, village #176. Also gives expulsion as the cause of depopulation
- ^ Morris, 2004; p. xx, settlement #9
- ^ Morris, 2004; p. xxii, settlement #186
- ^ Benvenisti, 2000, p. 50
- ^ a b c "Bashan Foundation.org". Archived from the original on November 22, 2008.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-837-01596-5pp.83-84.
- ^ a b c d Benvenisti, 2000, p. 135
- ^ a b c d Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 30, No. 3, (Spring 2001), pp. 19–39: "The Tantura Case in Israel: The Katz Research and Trial" by Ilan Pappe; With eye witness accounts from: Dan Vitkon, Yosef Graf, Salih 'Abn al-Rahman, Tuvia Lishansky Mordechai Sokoler, Ali 'Abd al-Rahman Dekansh, Najiah Abu Amr, Fawsi Mahmoud Tanj, Mustafa Masri
- ^ a b c Adam Raz, 'There’s a Mass Palestinian Grave at a Popular Israeli Beach, Veterans Confess,' Haaretz, 20 January 2022.
- ^ a b c d Ehud Galili, Baruch Rosen, Fishing Gear from a 7th-Century Shipwreck off Dor, Israel, International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, Volume 37, Issue 1, pages 67–76, March 2008, DOI: 10.1111/j.1095-9270.2007.00146.x. First published online: 10 April 2007. Accessed 21 July 2019 via BlackwellSynergy.com
- ^ a b Tel Dor excavation project The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and University of Haifa
- ^ "Easton's Bible Dictionary". www.sacred-texts.com.
- ^ Josephus, The Jewish War 1:52
- ^ Josephus, The Jewish War 1:155–1:170
- ISBN 0-415-10243-Xp. 186
- ^ a b c d e f g h Tel Dor excavation project, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
- ^ a b "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Dora". www.newadvent.org.
- ^ Pringle, 1997, p. 99
- Diocese of Ciudad Real)
- ^ Yazbak, 1998, p. 14
- ^ Pococke, 1745, vol 2, pp. 57-58
- ^ a b Deborah Cvikel, Yaacov Kahanov, Haim Goren, Elisabetta Boaretto and Kurt Raveh (2008). "Napoleon Bonaparte's Adventure in Tantura Lagoon: Historical and Archaeological Evidence". Israel Exploration Journal. 58 (2): 199–219.
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Karmon, 1960, p. 163 Archived 2019-12-22 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Buckingham, 1821, pp. 123-124; Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, pp. 193 -194
- ^ Rogers, 1865, p. 91. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 194
- ^ Thomson, 1859, vol 2, p. 498
- ^ Guérin, 1875, pp. 305 -315
- ^ Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 3, Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 194
- ^ "History" Archived 2011-07-25 at the Wayback Machine, Bashan Foundation
- ^ Schumacher, 1888, p. 181
- ^ a b c Khalidi, 1992, p. 194
- ^ Encyclopedia Judaica, "Dor", p. 172, Keter Publishing House, Jerusalem, 1972
- ^ Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Haifa, p.34
- ^ Barron, 1923, Table XVI, p. 49
- ^ Mills, 1932, p. 96
- ^ Abu-Sitta, 2007, p. 51
- ^ a b Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 92
- ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 49
- ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 142
- S2CID 161644606
- ^ a b UN Doc A/AC.21/UK/120 of 22 April 1948 Archived 10 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine, UN Palestine Commission - Position in Haifa - Letter from United Kingdom
- ^ Morris, 2004, p. 246; Summary meeting of the Arab Affairs Advisor in Netanya, 9 May 1948, IDF 6127/49//109
- ^ Pappé, 2006, p. 128, who quotes an entry in Ben-Gurion's diary for May 11, 1948 that uses this word.
- ^ Morris, 2004, p. 247, notes #658, 659 p.299
- ^ Morris, 2004, p. 247, note #664, p. 299
- ^ a b c d Morris, 2004, p. 247
- ^ Morris, 2004, p. 247: unsigned short report on Tantura Operation, IDFA 922/75//949, and ya'akov B.', in the name of the deputy OC 'A' company 'Report on Operation Namal' 26 May 1948, IDFA 6647/49//13.
- ^ a b Haifa District: Al-Tantura Town Statistics and Facts Palestine Remembered
- ^ Morris, p. 248
- ^ a b Morris, 2004, pp. 299–301
- ^ Gelber, 2006, p. 321
- ^ a b c d e f g h The Jerusalem Report Archived 2016-06-23 at the Wayback Machine "The Tantura 'Massacre' Affair" By Benny Morris 4 February 2004, see also Benny Morris (2004) p. 299–301
- ^ . Gideon Levy, 'Didn't You Tell Us About the Palestinian Village of Tantura?,' Haaretz 25 April 2020
- ^ Benvenisti, 2000, p. 198
- ^ Israel's Kibbutz Guesthouses, The New York Times
- ^ "Shipwreck, Tantura harbor". Archived from the original on 2011-07-28. Retrieved 2009-05-07.
- ^ "Tantura Lagoon". Archived from the original on 2009-01-31. Retrieved 2009-05-07.
- ISBN 9783110170078– via Google Books.
- ^ Journal of Palestine Studies[permanent dead link], Vol. 30, No. 3, (Spring 2001), pp. 5–18: Al Wali The Tantura Massacre with eye witness accounts included from; Muhammad Abu Hana, Muhammad Ibrahim Abu Amr, Amina al-Masri, Farid Taha Salam, Musa 'Abn al-Fattah al-Khatib, 'Adil Muhammad al-'Ammuri, Mahmud Nimr Abd al-Mu'ti, Yusuf Salam, Muhammad Kamil al-Dassuki, Abn al-Razzaq Nasr, Yusra Abu Hana, Wurud Sa'id Salam and Sabira Abu Hana
- ^ NC State University News Clips for May 15, 2002
- ^ a b "Made-Up Massacre: The Tantura affair, in which post-Zionist Israel libels its own past", Meyrav Wurmser, News Corporation Weekly Standard. 2001-09-10.
- ^ Fania Oz-Salzberger Archived 2008-06-16 at the Wayback Machine, "Anti-Israel on Campus"], The Wall Street Journal, May 2, 2005
- ^ Tom Segev, "His colleagues call him a traitor" Archived 2008-03-28 at the Wayback Machine, Haaretz (retrieved February 4, 2007)
- ^ Zalman Amit, 'The Collapse of Academic Freedom in Israel: Tantura, Teddy Katz and Haifa University,' CounterPunch, 11 May 2005.
- ^ Pappé, 2006, pp. 113, 127,133, 155, 165, 183, 197, 203, 210, 211.
- ^ "Israeli Myths & Propaganda. Part 3" – via www.youtube.com.
- ^ Ari Shavit, "Survival of the Fittest", Haaretz
- ^ Katz Directory Archived 2010-07-25 at the Wayback Machine Documents gathered by Dan Censor on the Tantura Affair, quoted in Yoav Gelber, Palestine 1948, 2006.
- ^ Gideon Levy, 'The Ghosts of Tantura,' Haaretz, 23 January 2022
Bibliography
- ISBN 978-0-9549034-1-1.
- Barron, J.B., ed. (1923). Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922. Government of Palestine.
- ISBN 0-520-21154-5.
- Buckingham, J.S. (1821). Travels in Palestine through the countries of Bashan and Gilead, east of the River Jordan, including a visit to the cities of Geraza and Gamala in the Decapolis. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown.
- 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.
- ISBN 9781845190750.
- Guérin, V. (1875). Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine (in French). Vol. 2: Samarie, 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. Archived from the original on 2018-12-08. Retrieved 2007-12-03.
- ISBN 0-88728-224-5.
- 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 2017-12-01. Retrieved 2017-09-05.
- 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.
- ISBN 1-85168-467-0.
- Petersen, Andrew (2001). A Gazetteer of Buildings in Muslim Palestine (British Academy Monographs in Archaeology). Vol. I. ISBN 978-0-19-727011-0.
- Pococke, R. (1745). A description of the East, and some other countries. Vol. 2. London: Printed for the author, by W. Bowyer.
- Polzer, M. 2008. "Toggles and Sails in the Ancient World: Rigging Elements Recovered from the Tantura B Shipwreck". IJNA 37: 225–52.
- ISBN 0521-46010-7.
- Rogers, Mary Eliza (1865). Domestic life in Palestine. Cincinnati: Poe & Hitchcock.
- ISBN 978-0-231-13579-5. (Samera Esmeir, 2007, pp. 229-250; in Sa'di and Abu-Lughod)
- Schumacher, G. (1888). "Population list of the Liwa of Akka". Quarterly Statement - Palestine Exploration Fund. 20: 169–191.
- Thomson, W.M. (1859). The Land and the Book: Or, Biblical Illustrations Drawn from the Manners and Customs, the Scenes and Scenery, of the Holy Land. Vol. 2 (1 ed.). New York: Harper & brothers.
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External links
- Welcome To al-Tantura
- al-Tantura, Zochrot
- The last wedding in Tantura, 2022, by Sliman Mansour
- Survey of Western Palestine Map 7: IAA, Wikimedia commons
- Benny Morris on Katz controversy Archived 2016-06-23 at the Wayback Machine
- Yoav Gelber, Palestine 1948 Archived 2009-02-13 at the Wayback Machine about Tantura events.
- Documents gathered by Dan Censor on Tantura Affairs Archived 2010-07-25 at the Wayback Machine quoted in Yoav Gelber, Palestine 1948, 2006.
- Journal of Palestine Studies[permanent dead link], Vol. 30, No. 3, (Spring 2001), pp. 5–18: Al Wali The Tantura Massacre
- Journal of Palestine Studies[Ilan Pappe