Al-Burayj or Bureij, lit. 'little tower',Socin, 1879, p
149
/ref> was a Palestinian Arab village in the Jerusalem Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the

1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, also known as the First Arab–Israeli War, followed the 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine, civil war in Mandatory Palestine as the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. The civil war becam ...

on October 19, 1948, during the first phase of

Operation Ha-Har Operation HaHar (, ''The Mountain''), or Operation El HaHar, was an Israeli Defence Forces campaign against villages southwest of Jerusalem launched at the end of October 1948. The operation lasted from 19 to 24 October and was carried out by tr ...

. The village was located 28.5 km west of

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

History

Late Ottoman period

In 1838 ''el-Bureij'' was noted as a Muslim village, located in er-Ramleh district. In 1863

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

noted it as a village of 200 inhabitants. The

Sheikh Sheikh ( , , , , ''shuyūkh'' ) is an honorific title in the Arabic language, literally meaning "elder (administrative title), elder". It commonly designates a tribal chief or a Muslim ulama, scholar. Though this title generally refers to me ...

's house was described as "fairly large and fairly constructed"; the others, less so. Tobacco plantations were spread around. He also noted large ancient blocks, which, it was said, originated from Kh rbet Tibneh, just to the north. Socin found from an official Ottoman village list from about 1870 that ''buredsch'' had a population of 116 in a total of 41 houses, though that population count included men, only. It was further noted that it was located between Mughallis and Saydun. Hartmann found that ''el-buredsch'' had 40 houses. In 1882, the PEF's '' Survey of Western Palestine'' (SWP) described ''El Bureij'' as: "A small village on high ground, having a high house or tower in the middle, from which it is named."

British Mandate

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, ''Buraij'' had a population of 398; all

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

s,Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Ramleh, p
21
/ref> increasing in the 1931 census to 621; 7 Christians and 614 Muslims, in a total of 132 houses.Mills, 1932, p
19
/ref> In the 1945 statistics, the village had a population of 720; 10 Christians and 710 Muslims, with a total of 19,080 dunums of land. Of this, 31 dunams were for citrus and bananas, 77 were for irrigable land or plantations, 9,426 for

cereals A cereal is a grass cultivated for its edible grain. Cereals are the world's largest crops, and are therefore staple foods. They include rice, wheat, rye, oats, barley, millet, and maize (Corn). Edible grains from other plant families, suc ...

, while 14 dunams were built-up (urban) Arab land. Al-Burayj's had a mosque named al-'Umari Mosque, and it was also home to a Greek Orthodox monastery.Khalidi, 1991, pp. 281-282

1948, aftermath

During

, between the 19 and 24 October 1948, the Harel Brigade captured several villages, among them Bureij. The villagers fled, or were expelled eastwards.Morris, 2004, p
466
/ref> Following the war, the area was incorporated into the

State of Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. In 1955 the moshav of Sdot Micha was established on land that had belonged to al-Burayj, south of the village site. File:Ajjur 1945.jpg, Al-Burayj 1945 1:250,000 (upper centre) File:Bureij 1947.jpg, Al-Burayj 1947 1:20,000 File:Al-Burayj.jpg, Building in Al-Burayj after capture by Harel Brigade File:Al-Burayj ii.jpg, Prisoners waiting to be interrogated, Al-Burayj, 1948 File:Al-Burayj iii.jpg, Al-Burayj 1948 File:Al-Burayj iv.jpg, Members of Harel Brigade in Al-Burayj 1948 Large part of the village land is now a military base called Sdot Micha Airbase, which is inaccessible to the public.

References

Bibliography

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External links

Welcome To al-Burayjal-Burayj
Zochrot *Survey of Western Palestine, Map 16
IAAWikimedia commons
from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center {{Palestinian Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Palestine War Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War District of Jerusalem