Al-Bira, Baysan
al-Bira
البيرة | |
|---|---|
Village | |
| Etymology: the fortress[1] | |
 1870s map 1940s map modern map 1940s with modern overlay mapA series of historical maps of the area around Al-Bira, Baysan (click the buttons) | |
  al-Bira Location withinMandatory Palestine | |
| Coordinates:32°36′29″N35°30′14″E/ 32.60806°N 35.50389°E | |
| Palestine grid | 197/223 |
| Geopolitical entity | Mandatory Palestine |
| Subdistrict | Baysan |
| Date of depopulation | 16 May 1948[4] |
| Area | |
| • Total | 6,866dunams(6.866 km2or 2.651 sq mi) |
| Population (1945) | |
| • Total | 260[2][3] |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Influence of nearby town's fall |
Al-Bira(Arabic:البيرة), is a depopulated formerPalestinianvillage located 7.5 km north ofBaysan.DuringOperation Gideon,the village was occupied by theGolani Brigade. [5]
History
[edit]It has been suggested that the village was the site[which?]mentioned in the records ofTutmose III's military campaign in Palestine in 1468 BC.[6]
Ottoman era
[edit]In 1517 al-Bira was incorporated into theOttoman Empirewith the rest of Palestine. During the16thand17th centuries,it belonged to theTurabayEmirate (1517-1683), which encompassed also theJezreel Valley,Haifa,Jenin,Beit She'an Valley,northernJabal Nablus,Bilad al-Ruha/Ramot Menashe,and the northern part of theSharon plain.[7][8]
In the 1596tax records,al-Bira was a village in theOttoman Empire,nahiya(subdistrict) ofShafaunder theliwa'(district) ofLajjun,with a population of 54Muslimhouseholds; an estimated 297 persons. They paid a fixed tax rate of 25% on a number of crops, including wheat,barley,andolives,as well as on goats and beehives; a total of 12,000akçe.[9]
Al-Bira appeared as a village in a map published in 1850,[10]but was found uninhabited later in the 19th century.Guérinreported that "The ruins are those of a large Arab village, whose houses were built for the most part ofbasalticstones. It replaced an ancient township, to which belongs an edifice now completely destroyed, of which there yet remain several basaltic columns and a mutilated capital. "[11]
British Mandate era
[edit]In the1922 census of Palestine,conducted inMandatory Palestine authorities,Al-Bira had a population of 200 Muslims,[12]increasing in the1931 censusto 220, still all Muslims, in 53 houses.[13]
In the1945 statisticsthe population consisted of 260 Muslims,[2]with a total of 6,866 dunams of land.[3]Of this, 48 dunams were for plantations or irrigable land, 4,667 for cereals,[14]while 53 were built-up (urban) land.[15]
Al-Bira was "known for the grazing lands in the grassy mountainous areas around the village." The neighboring town ofBaysanserved as an important "commercial outlet and administrative center."[16]
1948, aftermath
[edit]The village became depopulated on 16 May 1948.[4]
According toBenny Morris,kibbutzniksdemanded the destruction of neighboring villages as a means of blocking the return of the Arab villagers. For this reason a veteran local leader, Nahum Hurwitz ofKfar Gil'adiappealed in a letter in September 1948 for permission to destroy al-Bira,Kawkab al-Hawa,Jabbul,andal-Hamidiyyain the area for fear that they may be used by Arabs for military operations and to enable them to "take the village's lands, because the Arabs won't be able to return there".[17]
According to the Palestinian historianWalid Khalidi,in 1992: "The only remains of the village are the walls of houses. The fenced in site is covered with weeds, cactuses, and thorns, Fig and mulberry trees grow near a spring in the valley at the bottom of the site. The surrounding land are used for grazing."[18]
References
[edit]- ^Palmer, 1881, p.160
- ^abGovernment of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p.6
- ^abGovernment of Palestine, Department of Statistics.Village Statistics, April, 1945.Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p.43
- ^abMorris, 2004, p.xviivillage #112. Also gives cause of depopulation.
- ^al-Bira,PalestineRemembered.com.
- ^J. Simons (1937):Handbook for the Study of Egyptian Topographical Lists Relating to Western Asia.Leiden: E.J. Brill. p.117.Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 44
- ^al-Bakhīt, Muḥammad ʻAdnān; al-Ḥamūd, Nūfān Rajā (1989)."Daftar mufaṣṣal nāḥiyat Marj Banī ʻĀmir wa-tawābiʻihā wa-lawāḥiqihā allatī kānat fī taṣarruf al-Amīr Ṭarah Bāy sanat 945 ah".www.worldcat.org.Amman: Jordanian University. pp. 1–35.Retrieved2023-05-15.
- ^Marom, Roy; Tepper, Yotam; Adams, Matthew (2023)."Lajjun: Forgotten Provincial Capital in Ottoman Palestine".Levant.55(2): 218–241.doi:10.1080/00758914.2023.2202484.S2CID258602184.
- ^Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 157. Cited in Khalidi, 1992, p. 45
- ^Carl Zimmermann,Atlas von Palaestina und der Sinai-Halbinsel,Berlin, 1850.
- ^Guérin, 1880, p.129,as cited in Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p.114
- ^Barron, 1923, Table IX, p.31
- ^Mills, 1932, p.77
- ^Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics.Village Statistics, April, 1945.Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p.84
- ^Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics.Village Statistics, April, 1945.Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p.134
- ^"al-Bira — البِيرَة".Interactive Encyclopedia of the Palestine Question – palquest.Retrieved2023-11-11.
- ^Morris,2004, p.357.Quotes fromPeterzil to Erem, Bentov, Hazan and Cisling (August 10, 1948),quoting an extract from an undated letter from Faivel Cohen ofMa'ayan Barukh,to Peterzil,HHA-ACP 10.95.10(5)therein.
- ^Khalidi, 1992, p. 45
Bibliography
[edit]- Barron, J.B., ed. (1923).Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922.Government of Palestine.
- 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.
- 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. 1. 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 fromthe originalon 2018-12-08.Retrieved2009-11-14.
- Hütteroth, W.-D.;Abdulfattah, K.(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.ISBN3-920405-41-2.
- Khalidi, W.(1992).All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948.Washington D.C.:Institute for Palestine Studies.ISBN0-88728-224-5.
- Mills, E., ed. (1932).Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas.Jerusalem: Government of Palestine.
- Morris, B.(2004).The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited.Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0-521-00967-6.
- 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.
External links
[edit]- Welcome to al-Bira
- al-Bira,Zochrot
- Survey of Western Palestine, map 9:IAA,Wikimedia commons
- Al-Birafrom theKhalil Sakakini Cultural Center
