Al-Dawayima, Dawaymeh or Dawayma () 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 ...

town, located in the former Hebron Subdistrict of

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 ...

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

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

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

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...

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. During the war, the British withdrew from Palestine, Zionist forces conquered territory and established the Stat ...

, the

al-Dawayima massacre The al-Dawayima massacre describes the killing of civilians by the Israeli Defence Force, Israeli army (IDF) that took place in the Palestinian people, Palestinian Arab town of al-Dawayima on October 29, 1948, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli W ...

occurred. According to Saleh Abd al-Jawad an estimated 80-200 civilian men, women and children were killed. Saleh Abdel Jawad (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 (; and known as Abu Hunaik by the Jordanians), was a British military officer who led and trained Transj ...

, 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 (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 and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

town of ''Bosqat'', the home of

Josiah Josiah () or Yoshiyahu was the 16th king of Judah (–609 BCE). According to the Hebrew Bible, he instituted major religious reforms by removing official worship of gods other than Yahweh. Until the 1990s, the biblical description of Josiah’s ...

's mother

Jedidah In the Hebrew Bible, in the Book of 2 Kings 22:1, Jedidah was the mother of Josiah (the King of Judah). She was the wife of king Amon of Judah, and the daughter of Adaiah, from Boscath (a town in the Kingdom of Judah The Kingdom of Judah was ...

(

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 ancient Israel also including ...

, 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 () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

, 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 olive oil present in olive drupes. Olive oil is produced in the mesocarp cells, and stored in a particular type of vacuole called a lipo vacuole, i.e., every cell contains a tiny oliv ...

, a

columbarium A columbarium (; pl. columbaria), also called a cinerarium, is a structure for the reverential and usually public storage of funerary urns holding cremated remains of the dead. The term comes from the Latin ''columba'' (dove) and originally solel ...

cave, a villa from the

Second Temple The Second Temple () was the Temple in Jerusalem that replaced Solomon's Temple, which was destroyed during the Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC), Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in 587 BCE. It was constructed around 516 BCE and later enhanced by Herod ...

era, and both

mikveh A mikveh or mikvah (, ''mikva'ot'', ''mikvot'', or (Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazic) ''mikves'', lit., "a collection") is a bath used for ritual washing in Judaism#Full-body immersion, ritual immersion in Judaism to achieve Tumah and taharah, ...

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

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 ...

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 () is a Palestinian Christian town in the Bethlehem Governorate of Palestine, in 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, Be ...

were employed here as labourers; the

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

harvest was coming to an end, while the

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

harvest was just beginning. He further noted it as a

village, between the mountains and Gaza, but subject to the government of el-Khulil.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p.
117
/ref> 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 ...

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 (; , or ; , ) is a Palestinian city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Hebron is capital of the Hebron Governorate, the largest Governorates of Palestine, governorate in the West Bank. With a population of 201,063 in ...

. 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 completed Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) and in 1880 for the soon abandoned Survey of Eastern Palestine. The ...

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

olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'' ("European olive"), is a species of Subtropics, subtropical evergreen tree in the Family (biology), family Oleaceae. Originating in Anatolia, Asia Minor, it is abundant throughout the Mediterranean ...

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 ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are 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 ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

in the 1930s, and added a tall

minaret A minaret is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generally used to project the Muslim call to prayer (''adhan'') from a muezzin, but they also served as landmarks and symbols of Islam's presence. They can h ...

. 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. The Institute for Palestine Studies and The Palestinian Museum note the following about the town's built environment:

"Shops were scattered throughout the various neighborhoods of the village center. Houses were made of stone and mud, separated by narrow streets and alleys. The older houses were clustered closely together. Each set of houses shared a ''hawsh'', a large courtyard that provided space for women to do their domestic chores, for children to play, and for families to gather in the evening and on special occasions. As the village expanded people began to build new houses outside of the village core. These new houses were larger and built of whitewashed stone some of them had thick, stone walls and were called ''jidaris'' (from the Arabic word for wall, ''jidar'')....Each house had two levels: the upper level was occupied by the family members and the lower level by their animals. The houses of the well-to-do villagers had their own courtyards and large guest rooms, in addition to animal stables."

1948 war and aftermath

Al-Dawaymima was captured by

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 ...

'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 Phalanges/Companies") was the elite combined strike forces and sayeret unit of the Haganah, the paramilitary organization of the Yishuv (Jewish community) during the period of th ...

Yitzhak Sadeh Yitzhak Sadeh (; 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. Biography Sadeh was bo ...

, 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 the Eg ...

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 the Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, an independent state, with a final Ar ...

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 (; 10 October 1918 – 29 February 1980) was an Israeli military leader and politician. He was a commander of the Palmach and a general in the Israel Defense Forces, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). He was also a leader of the Ahdut HaA ...

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

Bayt Jibrin Bayt Jibrin or Beit Jibrin ( lit. 'House of the Powerful') was an Arab village in the Hebron Subdistrict of British Mandatory Palestine, in what is today the State of Israel, which was depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. It was ...

Qubeiba Al-Qubayba (), also known as Gbebah, Qubeiba or Qobebet Ibn 'Awwad, was a Palestinian village, located 24 kilometers northwest of Hebron. Name The eponym of the village, "Ibn 'Awwad" or "Ibn 'Awadh", was named after the clan residing therein. ...

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

Kfar Etzion Kfar Etzion (, ''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 in 1927, depopulated in 1948 an ...

months before, on May 13, 1948, by Palestinian fighters and some members of the Arab Legion. 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 Amatzia was established in 1955 on land that had belonged to Al-Dawayima. According to the Palestinian historian

Walid Khalidi Walid Khalidi (; born in Jerusalem on July 16, 1925) is a Palestinian historian who has written extensively on the Palestinian exodus. He is a co-founder of the Institute for Palestine Studies, established in Beirut in December 1963 as an inde ...

"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 () 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 The village was establis ...

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

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

settlements. The new name is reminiscent of

Gush Katif Gush Katif () was a bloc of 17 Israeli settlements in the southern Gaza Strip. In August 2005, the Israel Defense Forces removed the 8,600 Israeli residents from their homes after a decision from the Cabinet of Israel. The communities were demo ...

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 The Museum of International Folk Art is a state-run institution in Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States. It is one of many cultural institutions operated by the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs. History The museum was founded by Flor ...

(MOIFA) collection at Santa Fe. The dress is of hand-woven blue

indigo InterGlobe Aviation Limited (d/b/a IndiGo), is an India, Indian airline headquartered in Gurgaon, Haryana, India. It is the largest List of airlines of India, airline in India by passengers carried and fleet size, with a 64.1% domestic market ...

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

. The

embroidery Embroidery is the art of decorating Textile, fabric or other materials using a Sewing needle, needle to stitch Yarn, thread or yarn. It is one of the oldest forms of Textile arts, textile art, with origins dating back thousands of years across ...

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, 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 ...

, 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 Defence Force, Israeli army (IDF) that took place in the Palestinian people, Palestinian Arab town of al-Dawayima on October 29, 1948, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli W ...

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
( MOIFA) at Santa Fe's collection of Palestinian clothing and jewelry.) *

External links

Welcome to al-Dawayimaal-Dawayima

Zochrot Zochrot (; "Remembering"; ; "Memories") is an Israeli nonprofit organization founded in 2002. Based in Tel Aviv, its aim is to promote awareness of the Nakba, including the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight. The group was co-founded by Eitan ...

*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 communit ...

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