Al-Dawayima, Dawaymeh or Dawayma ( ar, الدوايمة) was a

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

town, located in the former Hebron Subdistrict of

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 ...

, and in what is now the Lakhish region, some 15 kilometres south-east of

Kiryat Gat Kiryat Gat, also spelled Qiryat Gat ( he, קִרְיַת גַּת), is a city in the Southern District of Israel. It lies south of Tel Aviv, north of Beersheba, and from Jerusalem. In it had a population of . The city hosts one of the most a ...

.Zafrir Rinat
‘Bulldozing Palestinian History on Israel’s southern hills,’
at

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner ...

22 June 2013. According to a 1945 census, the town's population was 3,710, and the village lands comprised a total land area of 60,585 dunums of which nearly half was cultivable. The population figures for this town also included the populations of nearby khirbets, or ancient villages. During the

1948 Palestine war The 1948 Palestine war was fought in the territory of what had been, at the start of the war, British-ruled Mandatory Palestine. It is known in Israel as the War of Independence ( he, מלחמת העצמאות, ''Milkhemet Ha'Atzma'ut'') and ...

, the

al-Dawayima massacre The al-Dawayima massacre describes the killing of civilians by the Israeli army (IDF) that took place in the Palestinian Arab town of al-Dawayima on October 29, 1948, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The incident occurred after the town was occ ...

occurred. According to Saleh Abd al-Jawad an estimated 80-200 civilian men, women and children were killed.

Saleh Abdel Jawad Saleh Abd al-Jawad ( ar, صالح عبد الجواد, born 1952) is a Palestinian historian. Born in Al-Bireh, he received his PhD in political science from Paris X-Nanterre University in 1986 and works as Professor of History and Political Scie ...

(2007), ''Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War'', in Benvenisti & al, 2007, pp. 59–127 See p
67
/ref> According to

John Bagot Glubb Lieutenant-General Sir John Bagot Glubb, KCB, CMG, DSO, OBE, MC, KStJ, KPM (16 April 1897 – 17 March 1986), known as Glubb Pasha, was a British soldier, scholar, and author, who led and trained Transjordan's Arab Legion between 1939 a ...

, a UN report said that 30 women and children were killed.Glubb, 1957, pp. 211-212 In 1955, the ruins of the town were replaced by the Israeli moshav of Amatzia.

History

It has been occasionally identified with the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

town of ''Bosqat'', the home of

Josiah Josiah ( or ) or Yoshiyahu; la, Iosias was the 16th king of Judah (–609 BCE) who, according to the Hebrew Bible, instituted major religious reforms by removing official worship of gods other than Yahweh. Josiah is credited by most biblical ...

's mother Jedidah (

2 Kings The Book of Kings (, '' Sēfer Məlāḵīm'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Kings) in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It concludes the Deuteronomistic history, a history of Israel also including the book ...

, 22:1) though the association has not found widespread acceptance. Al-Dawayima's historical remains encompass a long period from the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

, through to the Persian and Hellenistic, down to the Ottoman period. Bulldozing what remains of the Palestinian village to prepare a new Israeli village has revealed an ancient

olive press Olive oil extraction is the process of extracting the oil present in olive drupes, known as olive oil. Olive oil is produced in the mesocarp cells, and stored in a particular type of vacuole called a lipo vacuole, i.e., every cell conta ...

, a

columbarium A columbarium (; pl. columbaria) is a structure for the reverential and usually public storage of funerary urns, holding cremated remains of the deceased. The term can also mean the nesting boxes of pigeons. The term comes from the Latin "''colu ...

cave, a villa from the

Second Temple The Second Temple (, , ), later known as Herod's Temple, was the reconstructed Temple in Jerusalem between and 70 CE. It replaced Solomon's Temple, which had been built at the same location in the United Kingdom of Israel before being inherited ...

era, and both

mikveh Mikveh or mikvah (, ''mikva'ot'', ''mikvoth'', ''mikvot'', or (Yiddish) ''mikves'', lit., "a collection") is a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism to achieve ritual purity. Most forms of ritual impurity can be purifi ...

s and cisterns. The "core clan" of Al-Dawayima were the Ahdibs, who traced their origin to the

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

conquest and settlement of Palestine in the seventh century.

Ottoman era

In the late Ottoman era, in May, 1838, Edward Robinson visited during harvesting time. He noted that Al-Dawayima was situated on a hill, with a view of several villages to the east. During the harvest, several Christians from

Beit Jala Beit Jala ( ar, ) is a Palestinian Christian town in the Bethlehem Governorate of the West Bank. Beit Jala is located 10 km south of Jerusalem, on the western side of the Hebron road, opposite Bethlehem, at altitude. In 2017, Beit Jala had ...

were employed here as labourers; the

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley p ...

harvest was coming to an end, while the

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

harvest was just beginning. He further noted it as a

village, between the mountains and Gaza, but subject to the government of

el-Khulil Hebron ( ar, الخليل or ; he, חֶבְרוֹן ) is a Palestinian. city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies above sea level. The second-largest city in the West Bank (after East J ...

.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p.
117
/ref> In 1863

Victor Guérin Victor Guérin (15 September 1821 – 21 Septembe 1890) was a French intellectual, explorer and amateur archaeologist. He published books describing the geography, archeology and history of the areas he explored, which included Greece, Asia Min ...

visited twice, and he estimated that the village contained 900 inhabitants, while an Ottoman village list from about 1870 found that Dawaime had only a population of 85, in a total of 34 houses, though the population count included men, only. It also noted that it was located west of

Hebron Hebron ( ar, الخليل or ; he, חֶבְרוֹן ) is a Palestinian. city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies above sea level. The second-largest city in the West Bank (after Eas ...

. In 1883, the PEF's ''

Survey of Western Palestine The PEF Survey of Palestine was a series of surveys carried out by the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF) between 1872 and 1877 for the Survey of Western Palestine and in 1880 for the Survey of Eastern Palestine. The survey was carried out after the ...

'' described al-Dawayima as a village on a high stony ridge that had

olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' ' ...

groves beneath it. On a higher ridge to the west stood a shrine that was topped by a white stone.Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III
p.258
Also quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 213. File:Ad Dawayima 1894.jpg, Map with Al-Dawayima dated 1894. bottom centre File:Ed Dawayima 1933.jpg, Al-Dawayima 1933 1:20,000 File:Dawayima 1945.jpg, Al-Dawayima 1945 1:250,000 The people of al-Dawayima were

s. They maintained several religious shrines, chief among them the shrine of Shaykh ´Ali. This shrine had a large courtyard, a number of rooms, and one large hall for prayers, and was surrounded by fig and carob trees and cactuses. It attracted visitors from the neighboring villages.Hudayb, 1985, p. 54. Cited in Khalidi, 1992, p. 213 A mosque was located in the village center, it was maintained by the followers of '' al-tariqa al-khalwatiyya'', a

Sufi Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, r ...

mystic order founded by Shaykh Umar al-Khalwati (d.1397)

British Mandate era

In the

1922 census of Palestine The 1922 census of Palestine was the first census carried out by the authorities of the British Mandate of Palestine, on 23 October 1922. The reported population was 757,182, including the military and persons of foreign nationality. The divis ...

conducted by the British Mandate authorities, ''AI Dawaima'' had a population of 2,441 inhabitants, all Muslims,Barron, 1923, Table V, Sub-district of Hebron, p.
10
/ref> increasing in the 1931 census to 2,688, still all Muslim, in a total of 559 houses.Mills, 1932, p
28
/ref> The villagers expanded and renovated the village

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

in the 1930s, and added a tall

minaret A minaret (; ar, منارة, translit=manāra, or ar, مِئْذَنة, translit=miʾḏana, links=no; tr, minare; fa, گل‌دسته, translit=goldaste) is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generall ...

. In the 1945 statistics, Al-Dawayima had a population of 3,710 Muslims, with a total land area of 60.585 dunums of land. By 1944/45, 21,191 dunums of village land were allotted to cereals, 1,206 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards, while 179 dunams were built-up (urban) areas.

1948 war and aftermath

Al-Dawaymima was captured by

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

's Eighty Ninth Battalion (commanded by Dov Chesis) of the 8th Armored Brigade led by the founder of the

Palmach The Palmach (Hebrew: , acronym for , ''Plugot Maḥatz'', "Strike Companies") was the elite fighting force of the Haganah, the underground army of the Yishuv (Jewish community) during the period of the British Mandate for Palestine. The Palmach ...

Yitzhak Sadeh Yitzhak Sadeh ( he, יצחק שדה, born Izaak Landoberg, August 10, 1890 – August 20, 1952), was the commander of the Palmach and one of the founders of the Israel Defense Forces at the time of the establishment of the State of Israel. ...

, after

Operation Yoav Operation Yoav (also called ''Operation Ten Plagues'' or ''Operation Yo'av'') was an Israeli military operation carried out from 15–22 October 1948 in the Negev Desert, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Its goal was to drive a wedge between th ...

on 29 October 1948, five days after the start of the truce. It was the site of the

in which 80–200 civilians were killed, including women and children. According to Lieutenant-General

, a British officer stationed with Jordanian's

Arab Legion The Arab Legion () was the police force, then regular army of the Emirate of Transjordan, a British protectorate, in the early part of the 20th century, and then of independent Jordan, with a final Arabization of its command taking place in 1 ...

in Bethlehem and Hebron at that time, the massacre was calculated to drive out the villagers and had been reported by UN observers to involve 30 deaths. The massacre was cited by

Yigal Allon Yigal Allon ( he, יגאל אלון; 10 October 1918 – 29 February 1980) was an Israeli politician, commander of the Palmach, and general in the Israel Defense Forces, IDF. He served as one of the leaders of Ahdut HaAvoda party and the Labor P ...

as the reason for the halting of the creeping annexation that included

Bayt Jibrin Bayt Jibrin or Beit Jibrin ( ar, بيت جبرين; he, בית גוברין, translit=Beit Gubrin) was a Palestinian village located northwest of the city of Hebron. The village had a total land area of 56,185 dunams or , of which wer ...

Qubeiba al-Qubayba ( ar, القبيبة, قبيبة ابن عوّاد ), also known as Gbebah, Qubeiba or Qobebet Ibn 'Awwad, was a Palestinian village, located 24 kilometers northwest of Hebron. It was depopulated in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Name ...

and Tel Maresha. It was also seen as a reprisal by the Israelis for the massacre of Jews in

Kfar Etzion Kfar Etzion ( he, כְּפַר עֶצְיוֹן, ''lit.'' Etzion Village) is an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, organized as a religious kibbutz located in the Judean Hills between Jerusalem and Hebron in the southern West Bank, established ...

months before, on May 13, 1948, by Palestinian fighters and some members of the Arab Legion. The

moshav A moshav ( he, מוֹשָׁב, plural ', lit. ''settlement, village'') is a type of Israeli town or settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists between 1904 ...

of Amatzia was established in 1955 on land that had belonged to Al-Dawayima. According to the Palestinian historian

Walid Khalidi Walid Khalidi ( ar, وليد خالدي, born 1925 in Jerusalem) is an Oxford University-educated Palestinian historian who has written extensively on the Palestinian exodus. He is a co-founder of the Institute for Palestine Studies, establish ...

"The site has been fenced in. A cowshed, a chicken coop, and granaries have been built at its center (which has been leveled). The southern side of the site contains stone terraces and the remnants of a house. The eastern side is occupied by the residential area of the moshav."

In 2013, the whole area, apart from some ancient Jewish remains, was bulldozed to pave the way for the erection of a new community called

Karmei Katif Karmei Katif ( he, כרמי קטיף) is a communal settlement in southern Israel. Located close to the Green Line of the southern West Bank, it falls under the jurisdiction of Lakhish Regional Council. In it had a population of . History Th ...

, which was completed in 2016 and which houses evacuees of the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...

settlements. The new name is reminiscent of

Gush Katif Gush Katif ( he, גוש קטיף, , Harvest Bloc) was a bloc of 17 Israeli settlements in the southern Gaza strip. In August 2005, the Israeli army forcibly removed the 8,600 residents of Gush Katif from their homes after a decision from the C ...

Culture

A woman's ''thob'' (loose fitting robe with sleeves) dated to about 1910 that was produced in Al-Dawayima is part of the Museum of International Folk Art (MOIFA) collection at Santa Fe. The dress is of hand-woven blue

indigo Indigo is a deep color close to the color wheel blue (a primary color in the RGB color space), as well as to some variants of ultramarine, based on the ancient dye of the same name. The word "indigo" comes from the Latin word ''indicum'', ...

linen Linen () is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant. Linen is very strong, absorbent, and dries faster than cotton. Because of these properties, linen is comfortable to wear in hot weather and is valued for use in garments. It also ...

. The

embroidery Embroidery is the craft of decorating fabric or other materials using a needle to apply thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as pearls, beads, quills, and sequins. In modern days, embroidery is usually seen ...

is in predominantly red silk cross-stitch, with touches of violet, orange, yellow, white, green and black. The upper half of the ''qabbeh'' (the square chest panel) is embroidered with alternating columns of diamonds, (a pattern known as ''el-ferraneh''), and eight-pointed stars, (called ''qamr'' ("moons")). The lower half of the qabbeh is in the ''qelayed'' ("necklaces") pattern. The side-panels of the skirt are completely covered with embroidered columns. Among the patterns used here are: ''nakhleh'' ("palm") motif, ''ward-wil-aleq'' ("rose-and-leech") and ''khem-el-basha'' ("the pashas tent"). Each column is topped with various trees. There is no embroidery on the long, pointed sleeves. The village is often featured in the works of Palestinian artist Abdul Hay Mosallam who was expelled from it in 1948. By 2011, two books about the village history had been published.Davis, 2011, pp
30
-31

In popular culture

*In the 2008 film

Salt of this Sea ''Salt of this Sea'' ( ar, ملح هذا البحر, translit=Milh hadha al-bahr) is a 2008 Palestinian film directed by Annemarie Jacir and was an Official Selection of the Cannes International Film Festival in 2008. It is Palestine's submission ...

, Al-Dawayima is the village which Emad, the male

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

, hails from. The village ruins serve as the temporary residence of the main characters, Emad and Soraya. The film is dedicated to the memory of the

Al-Dawayima massacre The al-Dawayima massacre describes the killing of civilians by the Israeli army (IDF) that took place in the Palestinian Arab town of al-Dawayima on October 29, 1948, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The incident occurred after the town was occ ...

Families

Lafi *Sanwar (سنور) *Abd al-dean (عبد الدين) *Abu Subaih (أبوصبيح) *Abu-Farwa (ابوفروه) *Abu-Galyeh (أبوغالية) *Abu-Galyoun (أبو غليون) *Abu-Halemah(أبوحليمة) *Abu-Haltam (أبو حلتم) *Abu-Kadra (أبو خضرة) *Abu-Matr (أبو مطر) *Abu-Me'alish (أبومعيلش) *Abu-Rahma (ابورحمة) *Abu-Rayan (أبو ريان) *Abu-Safyeh (أبو صفية) *Abu-Sugair (أبو صقير) *Afaneh (عفانه) *Al-Absi (العبسي) *Al-Adarbeh (العداربة) *Al-Aqtash (القطيشات) *Al-Atrash (الأطرش) *Al-Ayaseh (العيسه) *Al-Hijouj (الحجوج) *Al-Jamarah (الجمرة) *Al-Jawawdeh (الجواودة) *Al-Kateeb (الخطيب) *Al-Khodour(الخضور) *Al-Maqusi(المقوسي) *Al-Mallad (الملاد) *Al-Manasra (المناصرة) *Al-Najaar (النجار) *Al-Qaisieh (القيسيه) *Al-Sabateen(السباتين) *Al-Turk (الترك) *Al-Zaatreh (الزعاترة) *Asha (عشا) *Basbous(بصبوص) *Ead (عيد) *El-Ghawanmeh (الغوانمه) *Ganem (غانم) *Hamdan (حمدان) *Harb (حرب) *Hudaib (هديب) *Hunaif (حنيف) *Ms'ed (مسعد) *Nashwan (نشوان) *Sa'adeh (سعادة) *Shahin (شاهين) *Sundoqa (صندوقه) *Zebin (زبن)

Famous residents

* Musa Hadeib

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * *Glassé, Cyril (1989): ''The Concise Encyclopedia of Islam''. San Francisco: Harper & Row Cited in Khalidi. * * * * * *Hudayb, Musa (1985): ''Qaryat al-Dawayima (The village of al-Dawayima)''. Amman: Dar al-jalil li al-nashr. Cited in Khalidi. * * * * * * * * * * * * (A catalog of the
Museum_of_International_Folk_Art
_.html" ;"title="Museum of International Folk Art">Museum of International Folk Art
">Museum of International Folk Art">Museum of International Folk Art
(MOIFA) at Santa Fe's collection of Palestinian clothing and jewelry.) *

External links

Welcome to al-Dawayimaal-Dawayima
Zochrot *Survey of Western Palestine, Map 20
IAAWikimedia commons

at

Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center () is a leading Palestinian arts and culture organization that aims to create a pluralistic, critical liberating culture through research, query, and participation, and that provides an open space for the community ...

{{Palestinian Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Palestine War Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War District of Hebron Ancient Jewish settlements of Judaea