Ayn Ghazal ( ar, عين غزال, "Spring of the Gazelle") 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 ...
Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Wester ...
village located south of
Haifa
Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropoli ...
. Depopulated during the
1948 Arab-Israeli War as a result of an Israeli military assault during
Operation Shoter
Operation Shoter ( he, מִבְצָע שׁוֹטֵר, ''Mivtza Shoter'', ''lit.'' Operation Policeman), also Operation Jaba', was a three-day Israeli operation during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War against an area called the "Little Triangle" south o ...
, the village was then completely destroyed. Incorporated into the
State of Israel, it is now mostly a forested area. The Israeli
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
Ofer
Ofer (, ''lit.'' Fawn) is a moshav in northern Israel. Located south of Haifa, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof HaCarmel Regional Council. In it had a population of .
History
The moshav was founded in 1950 by immigrants from India (main ...
("fawn") was established in 1950 on part of the former village's lands.
Ein Ayala
Ein Ayala ( he, עֵין אַיָּלָה, ''lit.'' Doe Spring) is a semi-cooperative moshav in northern Israel. Located at the foot of Mount Carmel around 20 km south of Haifa, it falls under the jurisdiction of the Hof HaCarmel Regional ...
, a moshav established in 1949, lies just adjacent; its name being the
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
translation of Ayn Ghazal.
[Bronstein in Masalha, 2005]
p. 233
History
In
1799, it appeared as the village Ain Elgazal on the map that
Pierre Jacotin
Pierre Jacotin (1765–1827) was the director of the survey for the '' Carte de l'Égypte (Description de l'Égypte)'', the first triangulation-based map of Egypt, Syria and Palestine.
The maps were surveyed in 1799-1800 during the campaign in ...
compiled that year, though it was misplaced.
In 1870,
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 ...
passed by, and noted that the village had 290 inhabitants. It was divided into two sections, and surrounded by tobacco plantations.
Under
Ottoman rule like much of the rest of
Palestine
__NOTOC__
Palestine may refer to:
* State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia
* Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia
* Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East J ...
in the late 19th century, Ayn Ghazal was described as a small village built of stone and
mud, with about 450 residents. The villagers cultivated 35 Faddans of land (1 faddan is equal to 100-250
dunams).
Much of the land in the Ayn Ghazal and the neighbouring villages of
Jaba',
Khubiza,
Tira, and
Sarafand was owned by the sons of Abdel al-Latif al-Salah, who himself owned the entire village of
Ji'ara. All these villages became entirely dependent upon the Salah family because of loans they took from them or as a result of the family's commercial activities.
[Yazbak, 1998, p]
140
/ref>
Ayn Ghazal had two schools: an elementary school for boys founded by the Ottomans in 1886, and an elementary school for girls. The village also had a cultural club and an athletic club.[Khalidi, 1992, p.148.] The villagers were Muslim, and they maintained a Maqam (shrine)
A Maqām ( ar, مقام) is a shrine built on the site associated with a religious figure or saint, typical to the regions of Palestine and Syria. It is usually a funeral construction, commonly cubic-shaped and topped with a dome.
Maqams are a ...
for a local sage named Sheikh Shahada.[
A population list from about 1887 showed that ''Ain Ghuzal'' had about 910 inhabitants; all Muslims, while in the early twentieth century the number of inhabitants was given as 883, and a mosque and a school in the village was noted by travellers.
]
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, ‘Ain Ghazal had a population of 1,046, all Muslims, increasing in the 1931 census, when it was counted with Khirbat al-Sawamir
Khirbat al-Sawamir was a Palestinian Arab village in the Haifa Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War on May 22, 1948. It was located 22 kilometres south of Haifa.
History
Burial places cut into rock, and ceramics from ...
, to 1,439, still all Muslims, in 247 houses.[Mills, 1932, p]
90
In the 1945 statistics the population was 2,170, all Muslims,[ and it had a total of 18,079 dunams of land according to an official land and population survey.][ 1,486 dunams were for plantations and irrigable land, 8,472 for cereals, while 130 dunams were built-up (urban) land.][
]
1948, and aftermath
When the conflict started, the village was poorly armed. Israeli intelligence estimated the village arsenal at a total of 87 weapons by mid-1947; including 23 obsolete rifles and 45 pistols.[Morris, 2004, p.]
30
/ref> The November 1947 United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine
The United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine was a proposal by the United Nations, which recommended a partition of Mandatory Palestine at the end of the British Mandate. On 29 November 1947, the UN General Assembly adopted the Plan as ...
allocated Ayn Ghazal and other Arab villages in the Haifa district
Haifa District ( he, מחוז חיפה, ''Mehoz Ḥeifa''; ar, منطقة حيفا) is an administrative district surrounding the city of Haifa, Israel. The district is one of the seven administrative districts of Israel, and its capital is Ha ...
of Mandate Palestine to the proposed Jewish state
In world politics, Jewish state is a characterization of Israel as the nation-state and sovereign homeland of the Jewish people.
Modern Israel came into existence on 14 May 1948 as a polity to serve as the homeland for the Jewish people. It ...
, which alongside the Arab state, was to be established upon termination of the British Mandate, scheduled for May 15, 1948. Ayn Ghazal and the neighboring village of Ayn Hawd were attacked on the evening of April 11, 1948, according to the Palestinian newspaper '' Filastin'', who reported that a group of 150 Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...
ish troops were unsuccessful in driving out the inhabitants.[''Filastin'']
13.04.1948
cited in Khalidi, 1992, p. 150, cited in Slyomovics, 1998, p
100
/ref> Arab states responded to Israel's Declaration of Independence on May 15, 1948, by sending in Arab troops, kicking off the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. On May 20, the Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. n ...
reported that another attack on Ayn Ghazal and Ayn Hawd had been thwarted.
In early June 1948, an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) report shows that Ayn Ghazal, together with Ijzim and Ja'ba, were asking the IDF, "to open negotiation for surrender." Nothing resulted from the request. On 14 July, before the Second truce of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the Israeli cabinet discussed the three villages in "The Little Triangle". Ben-Gurion said that there was no need to hurry: "these villages are in our pocket ..We can act against them also after the einstitution of thetruce. This will be a police action... They are not regarded as enemy forces as their area is ours .e., in Israeland they are inhabitants of the state... ndthese villages do not represent a military danger."
The second truce, beginning on the 18 July, was not violated by the villagers.
According to Meron Benvenisti
Meron Benvenisti ( he, מירון בנבנשתי, 21 April 193420 September 2020) was an Israeli political scientist who was deputy mayor of Jerusalem under Teddy Kollek from 1971 to 1978, during which he administered East Jerusalem and served as ...
, IDF actions over course of the Second Truce were concentrated on "cleansing" small clusters of Arab villages located in "strategic" areas.[ 'Ayn Ghazal was depopulated along with two other villages ( Ijzim and Ja'ba) located on the western slopes of the Carmel mountains between July 24 and 26.][ A week after the start of the ]truce
A ceasefire (also known as a truce or armistice), also spelled cease fire (the antonym of 'open fire'), is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. Ceasefires may be between state ac ...
, Israel undertook Operation Shoter
Operation Shoter ( he, מִבְצָע שׁוֹטֵר, ''Mivtza Shoter'', ''lit.'' Operation Policeman), also Operation Jaba', was a three-day Israeli operation during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War against an area called the "Little Triangle" south o ...
("Operation Policeman"), with the aim of conquering the "Little Triangle" villages.[Morris, 2004, p.]
439
/ref> The operation was executed by a combination of brigades from the Israel Defense Forces and the military police.[Benvenisti, 2000, p]
152
On July 25, street fighting was reported from Ayn Ghazal and Ja'ba. On the morning of the next day, the villages were found deserted.
'Ayn Ghazal was one of dozens of Palestinian villages subjected to aerial bombardment after the IDF managed to procure B-17 bombers and fighter planes from the European and American black markets during the First Truce (June–July 1948). Salah Abdel Jawad writes that in addition to loss of civilian life, the air raids spread, "widespread demoralisation due to its indiscriminate character, and because Palestinians who had never experienced aerial bombardment before, had no defences against it."[Salah Abdel Jawad in Benvenisti, 2007, p]
97
/ref> (Later, the then Israeli Foreign Minister Shertok lied to a United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...
mediator and said that "no planes were used".)[
]Azzam Pasha
Abdul Rahman Hassan Azzam ( ar, عبد الرحمن حسن عزام) (8 March 1893 – 2 June 1976), also known as Azzam Pasha, was an Egyptian diplomat and politician. He was the first Secretary-General of the Arab League, from 22 March 1945 to ...
, the Secretary General of the Arab League issued a statement alleging that atrocities were committed during and after the attacks. In particular it was stated that 28 people from al-Tira were burnt alive. The IDF rejected these allegations but admitted that their soldiers had found 25–30 bodies at 'Ayn Ghazal in "an advanced state of decomposition," and that the soldiers made prisoners bury the remains. The IDF also buried about 200 bodies found in the three villages after the battle. On July 28, a United Nations observer visited the area, and found, according to Folke Bernadotte
Folke Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg (2 January 1895 – 17 September 1948) was a Swedish nobleman and diplomat. In World War II he negotiated the release of about 31,000 prisoners from German concentration camps, including 450 Danish Jews fr ...
, "no evidence to support claims of massacre." In early August, 1948, neighbouring Jewish settlers arrived in carts and looted Ayn Ghazal and Ja'ba.[Morris, 2004, p.]
441
note 173.
In mid-September 1948, UN investigators placed the number of killed or missing in the three villages (Ayn Ghazal, Ijzim and Ja'ba) at 130. Bernadotte condemned Israel's "systematic" destruction of Ayn Ghazal and Ja'ba, and asked that the Israeli government restore at its own expense all houses damaged or destroyed during and after the attack. Bernadotte said that a total of 8,000 people had been driven out of the three villages, and demanded that they be allowed to return
Return may refer to:
In business, economics, and finance
* Return on investment (ROI), the financial gain after an expense.
* Rate of return, the financial term for the profit or loss derived from an investment
* Tax return, a blank document o ...
; however, Israel rejected these demands.[
One of a number of Palestinian villages that was completely obliterated and then reforested by Israeli authorities, Ayn Ghazal, like ]Mujeidel
Al-Mujaydil ( ar, المْجيدل (also: al-Mujeidil) was an Arab-Palestinian village located 6 km southwest of Nazareth. Al-Mujaydil was one of a few towns that achieved local council status by the Mandatory Palestine government. In 1945, t ...
, Ma'alul, and Mi'ar, was planted with pine
A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family (biology), family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanic ...
or cypress
Cypress is a common name for various coniferous trees or shrubs of northern temperate regions that belong to the family Cupressaceae. The word ''cypress'' is derived from Old French ''cipres'', which was imported from Latin ''cypressus'', the la ...
trees.[Slyomovics, 1998, p]
30
/ref> After the area was incorporated into the State of Israel, the moshav of Ein Ayala
Ein Ayala ( he, עֵין אַיָּלָה, ''lit.'' Doe Spring) is a semi-cooperative moshav in northern Israel. Located at the foot of Mount Carmel around 20 km south of Haifa, it falls under the jurisdiction of the Hof HaCarmel Regional ...
was established in 1949 southeast of the village site. Benny Morris
Benny Morris ( he, בני מוריס; born 8 December 1948) is an Israeli historian. He was a professor of history in the Middle East Studies department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in the city of Beersheba, Israel. He is a member of ...
writes that it is close to village land; however, 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 ...
writes that it is not on village land. 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 Ofer
Ofer (, ''lit.'' Fawn) is a moshav in northern Israel. Located south of Haifa, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof HaCarmel Regional Council. In it had a population of .
History
The moshav was founded in 1950 by immigrants from India (main ...
was established the following year southeast of the built up portion of the village, and according to Khalidi, was built on village land.[ Describing the village remains in 1992, Khalidi writes:]"The dilapidated shrine of Sheikh Shahada is the only standing structure on the village site. Ruins of walls and piles of stones can be seen all over the site, as well as stands of pine, cactus, and fig and pomegranate
The pomegranate (''Punica granatum'') is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub in the family Lythraceae, subfamily Punicoideae, that grows between tall.
The pomegranate was originally described throughout the Mediterranean Basin, Mediterranean re ...
trees. The site has recently been fenced in for use as a grazing area. The flat lands around it are also used for growing vegetables, bananas
A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus '' Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distingui ...
, and other types of fruit. Parts of the slopes are planted with almond trees."
Zochrot
Zochrot ( he, זוכרות; "Remembering"; ar, ذاكرات; "Memories") is an Israeli nonprofit organization founded in 2002. Based in Tel Aviv, its aim is to promote awareness of the Palestinian ''Nakba'' ("Catastrophe"), including the 1948 P ...
, an Israeli-Jewish organization that aims to raise awareness of the Nakba
:Depopulated Palestinian locations in Israel, Clickable map of Mandatory Palestine with the List of towns and villages depopulated during the 1947–1949 Palestine war, depopulated locations during the 1947–1949 Palestine war.
The Nakba ( a ...
has produced a booklet on Ayn Ghazal and organized tours to the site of the destroyed village. The booklet was produced in collaboration with Ali Hamude, an Internally displaced Palestinian refugee from Ayn Ghazal, who currently lives in Furaydis. Hundreds of copies of the booklet were distributed by Hamude, and a village school in Furaydis uses the booklet during class trips to Ayn Ghazal to educate students on its history.[Bronstein in Masalha, 2005, p]
220
/ref>
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*Mülinen, Egbert Friedrich von 1908,
Beiträge zur Kenntnis des Karmels
' "Separateabdruck aus der Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palëstina-Vereins Band XXX (1907) Seite 117-207 und Band XXXI (1908) Seite 1-258."
*
*
*
*
External links
'Ayn Ghazal
Zochrot
Zochrot ( he, זוכרות; "Remembering"; ar, ذاكرات; "Memories") is an Israeli nonprofit organization founded in 2002. Based in Tel Aviv, its aim is to promote awareness of the Palestinian ''Nakba'' ("Catastrophe"), including the 1948 P ...
*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 8:
IAA
Wikimedia commons
from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center
3ein Ghazal
, from Dr. Moslih Kanaaneh
Ali Hamoudi, Ayn Ghazzal
testimony, 1 March 2003, from Zochrot
Zochrot ( he, זוכרות; "Remembering"; ar, ذاكرات; "Memories") is an Israeli nonprofit organization founded in 2002. Based in Tel Aviv, its aim is to promote awareness of the Palestinian ''Nakba'' ("Catastrophe"), including the 1948 P ...
Tour and signposting at Ayn Ghazzal
6.6.03, Zochrot
Zochrot ( he, זוכרות; "Remembering"; ar, ذاكرات; "Memories") is an Israeli nonprofit organization founded in 2002. Based in Tel Aviv, its aim is to promote awareness of the Palestinian ''Nakba'' ("Catastrophe"), including the 1948 P ...
Remembering Ayn Ghazal
Booklet from Zochrot, 07/2003
"Memoirs" "Refugee Interviews"
in ''Journal of Palestine Studies
The ''Journal of Palestine Studies (JPS)'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal established in 1971. It is published by Taylor and Francis on behalf of the Institute for Palestine Studies, having previously been published by the University ...
'':
"Refugee Interviews" special feature in 18, no. 1 (Aut. 88): 158-71. Featuring testimonies of witnesses of the fall of Farradiyyah, Acre,`Ayn Ghazal, and Umm al-Fahm.
pdf-file, downloadable
{{Palestinian Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Palestine War
Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War
District of Haifa
Islamic shrines in Israel