Arab al-Samniyya (), also known as Khirbat al-Suwwana, was a

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

village in the Western Galilee that was captured and depopulated by Israel during the

1948 Arab-Israeli war Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...

. It was located in the Acre District of the British Mandate of Palestine, 19.5 km northeast of the city of

Acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...

. In 1945 the, village had a population of 200

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

and a total land area of 1,872 dunums.

History

The village was situated on a rocky hill near the road linking Ra's al-Naqura with

Safad Safed (), also known as Tzfat (), is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of up to , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and in Israel. Safed has been identified with (), a fortified town in the Upper Gal ...

. Its houses were made of stone. A dirt path linked it to the coastal highway and thence to

. The villagers cultivated grain, figs, and olives. In the 1945 statistics it had a population of 200 Muslims, with 1,872

dunam A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; ; ; ), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area analogous in role (but not equal) to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amo ...

s of land. Of this, a total of 174

s were allocated to grain crops; 22 dunums were irrigated and planted with orchards.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p
82
/ref> After neighbouring villages were looted and massacred, the ' Oded Brigade captured the village, as part of the

Israeli Defense Force The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

offensive Operation Hiram. . The people of al-Samniyaa were expelled in the weeks following. The village was completely destroyed and only building rubble left behind. Following the war the area was incorporated into the State of Israel and the village remained depopulated of its inhabitants. In 1950, the

moshav A moshav (, plural ', "settlement, village") is a type of Israeli village or town or Jewish settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists between 1904 and 1 ...

of Ya'ara was established on its land.

References

Bibliography

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External links

Welcome To 'Arab al-Samniyya 'Arab al-Samniyya
Zochrot *Survey of Western Palestine, Map 3
IAAWikimedia commons

at Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center {{DEFAULTSORT:Arab al-Samniyya District of Acre Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War Former populated places in Israel 1948 disestablishments in Mandatory Palestine Palestinian diaspora 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight

History

See also

References

Bibliography

External links