Wadi al-Hawarith
Wadi al-Hawarith
وادي الحوارث | |
---|---|
Camping site | |
Tulkarm | |
Date of depopulation | March 15, 1948[2] |
Area | |
• Total | 7,106 dunams (7.106 km2 or 2.744 sq mi) |
Population (1945) | |
• Total | 1,330[1] |
Cause(s) of depopulation | Military assault by Yishuv forces |
Secondary cause | Fear of being caught up in the fighting |
Current Localities | Kfar Haroeh,[3] Geulei Teiman[3] |
Wadi al-Hawarith (
. Wadi al-Hawarith was mostly destroyed with the exception of four houses.In 1945, Wadi al-Hawarith had a total population of 1,330.
The camping site today corresponds more or less to Nahal Alexander National Park, the national park covering what is now called Hefer Valley, the namesake of Hefer Valley Regional Council.
History
British Mandate era
In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Wadi al-Hawarith had 812 inhabitants; 810 Muslims and 2 Christians,[6] where the Christians were one Roman Catholic and one Maronite.[7] The population had increased in the 1931 census to 1,112; 1,077 Muslims, 30 Jews and 5 Christians, in a total of 255 houses.[8]
In 1933, Zionist settled three places close to Wadi al-Hawarith: Kfar Vitkin was south of village land, Mikhmoret to the west of Wadi al-Hawarith, north, and Ma'abarot southwest of Wadi al-Hawarith, south. Neither of these settlements were on village land.[3]
In 1934 Kfar Haroeh was settled on what was traditionally village land.[3]
Village Statistics, compiled in 1938 by the Government Office of Statistics, recorded the population of Wadi al-Hawarith as 2974; out of them, 1716 Jews and 1258 non-Jews.[9]
The
In the 1945 statistics, Wadi al-Hawarith (North) had 850 inhabitants, while Wadi al-Hawarith (South) had 480; 1,330 in total, all Muslims,[1] and the total land area was 9,812 dunams.[11] Arabs used 960 dunams for cereals,[12] while they owned 1,555 dunams of uncultivable land.[13]
In 1947 Zionists also settled Geulei Teiman on what was traditionally village land.[3]
1948 war
The Arab Liberation Army instructed in mid-February 1948 the inhabitants of Wadi al-Hawarith to evacuate their women and property to the Arab area, which it is unclear if they did. After an ambush by Haganah the month after, which killed three or four Arabs, the inhabitants began to leave but stressing "that the Jews all along had promised them that nothing bad would happen to them" if they stayed. The British mandate authorities advised them to leave and helped with a military escort. The evacuation apparently took several weeks.[14]
In early May, advisers of the Alexandroni Brigade recommended destroying the homes in Wadi al-Hawarith, except those of stone "that may be made fit for human [i.e., Jewish] habitation".[14]
The Canadian Jewish Chronicle reported from
Four thousand Arabs evacuated Saturday, after suddenly selling their flocks and poultry to Jews. These mass evacuations coincide with the end of the citrus-picking season, which many observers expect will herald the beginning of large scale Arab assaults on the coastal area.[15]
References
- ^ a b Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 22
- ^ a b Morris, 2004, p. xviii, village #182. Also gives causes of depopulation
- ^ a b c d e Khalidi, 1992, p. 565
- ^ "Colonial". 1937.
- ^ Colonial Office, Great Britain (1938). "Report by His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the Council of the League of Nations on the Administration of Palestine and Trans-Jordan for the Year".
- ^ Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Tulkarem, p. 28
- ^ Barron, 1923, Table XV, p. 48
- ^ Mills, 1932, p. 55
- ^ "Village Statistics" (PDF). Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. 1938 – via users.cecs.anu.edu.au.
- .
- ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 77
- ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 128
- ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 178
- ^ a b Morris, 2004, p. 129
- ^ Canadian Jewish Chronicle, March 29, 1948 Arab Villagers in Mass Exodus from Coastal Plain, Jews, Stand Guard over Abandoned Crops
Bibliography
- Adler (Cohen), Raya (1988). "The tenants of Wadi Hawarith: Another view of the land question in Palestine". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 20 (2): 197–220. S2CID 163346325.
- Barron, J. B., ed. (1923). Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922. Government of Palestine.
- Bracy, R. Michael (2010). Printing Class: 'Isa al-'Isa, Filastin, and the Textual Construction of National Identity, 1911-1931. University Press of America. ISBN 978-0761853770. (p. 99ff)
- Department of Statistics (1945). Village Statistics, April, 1945. Government of Palestine.
- Hadawi, S. (1970). Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine. Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center.
- 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.
- Oppenheim, M. Freiherr von (1943). "Die Beduinen. Die Beduinenstamme in Palastina, Transjordanien, Sinai. Hedjaz". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 2. Leipzig: 51–55.
External links
- Welcome To Wadi al-Hawarith, Palestine Remembered
- Wadi al-Hawarith, Zochrot
- Survey of Western Palestine, Map 10: IAA, Wikimedia commons