Ayn al-Mansi (, ''Ein el Mansî'') 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 ...

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 ...

village in the District of Jenin of the

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...

. It was depopulated as a result of a military attack in mid-April during the 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine.

History

During the 19^th and first half of the 20^th century, Ayn al-Mansi was one of the settlements of the so-called "Fahmawi Commonwealth" established by Hebronite clans belonging to

Umm al-Fahm Umm al-Fahm ( , ''Umm al-Faḥm''; ''Um el-Faḥem'') is a city located northwest of Jenin in the Haifa District of Israel. In its population was , nearly all of whom are Palestinian citizens of Israel. The city is situated on the Umm al-Fahm ...

. The Commonwealth consisted of a network of interspersed

communities A community is a Level of analysis, social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place (geography), place, set of Norm (social), norms, culture, religion, values, Convention (norm), customs, or Ide ...

connected by ties of

kinship In anthropology, kinship is the web of social relationships that form an important part of the lives of all humans in all societies, although its exact meanings even within this discipline are often debated. Anthropologist Robin Fox says that ...

, and socially, economically and politically affiliated with Umm al Fahm. The Commonwealth dominated vast sections of Bilad al-Ruha/Ramot Menashe, Wadi 'Ara and Marj Ibn 'Amir/Jezreel Valley during that time. In the 1882 the PEF's '' Survey of Western Palestine'' (SWP) described ''El Mensi'' as: "A small ruined village, with springs."

British Mandate era

In the

1931 census of Palestine The 1931 census of Palestine was the second census carried out by the authorities of Mandatory Palestine. It was carried out on 18 November 1931 under the direction of Major E. Mills after the 1922 census of Palestine. * Census of Palestine 1931, ...

, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Ein el Mansi had 73 Muslim inhabitants, in a total of 15 houses.Mills, 1932, p
68
/ref> In addition to agriculture, residents practiced

animal husbandry Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, animal fiber, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, management, production, nutrition, selective breeding, and the raising ...

which formed was an important source of income for the town. In 1943, they owned 13 heads of

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...

, 2

horses The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 milli ...

, 10

donkeys The donkey or ass is a domesticated equine. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a separate species, ''Equus asinus''. It was domes ...

, 270 fowls, and 10 pigeons. In the 1945 Village Statistics, Ayn al-Mansi's population was estimated at 90 Muslims, and the jurisdiction of the village was 1,295

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, 186 dunams were used for plantations and irrigable land, 868 dunams were used for cereals, while 2 dunams were built-up (urban) land.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p
148
/ref>

1948 and aftermath

Ayn al-Mansi became depopulated after Military assault in mid-April 1948.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * *

External links

'Ayn al-Mansi
Zochrot *Survey of Western Palestine, Map 8
Wikimedia commons
*, Dr. Moslih Kanaaneh
Booklet about Ayn al-Mansi (2006)
downloadable, from Zochrot {{DEFAULTSORT:Ayn Al-Mansi Arab villages depopulated prior to the 1948 Arab–Israeli War District of Jenin Former populated places in Palestine 1948 disestablishments in Mandatory Palestine