Al-Khisas, Gaza

al-Khisas
al-Khisas
Arabic خربة الخِصاص
Name meaning the ruin of booths or reed huts[1]
Also spelled Khirbat Khisâs
Subdistrict Gaza
Coordinates 31°38′53″N 34°33′40″E / 31.64806°N 34.56111°E / 31.64806; 34.56111Coordinates: 31°38′53″N 34°33′40″E / 31.64806°N 34.56111°E / 31.64806; 34.56111
Palestine grid 108/117
Population 150[2][3] (1945)
Area 6,269[3] dunams
Date of depopulation November 4–5, 1948[4]
Cause(s) of depopulation Military assault by Yishuv forces
Current localities Ashkelon[5]

Al-Khisas (Arabic: خربة الخِصاص‎, Khirbat Khisâs) was a Palestinian Arab village located 18.5 kilometers (11.5 mi) northeast of Gaza near the modern city of Ashkelon.[6]

Location

Al-Khisas was located just west of Ni'ilya, south of Al-Jura.

History

In 1838, in the late Ottoman era, el Khusas was noted as a place "in ruins or deserted," located in the Gaza district.[7]

An official Ottoman village list from about 1870 showed that Chasas had 6 houses and a population of 35, though the population count included men, only.[8][9]

In 1883, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine found at Khurbet el Khesas "a few heaps of stones with a well near."[10]

British Mandate era

The modern village was classified as a hamlet in the Palestine Index Gazetter, and was built after World War I.[5] Farmers from neighboring areas first built temporary huts at the site to shelter themselves during the harvest, gradually they settled and built adobe houses.[5] The population relied on neighboring villages Al-Jura and Ni'ilya for medical, educational and administrative services.[5]

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Khesas had a population of 102 inhabitants, all Muslims,[11] increasing in the 1931 census to 133, still all Muslims, in 26 houses.[12]

In the 1945 statistics, Al-Khisas had a population of 150 Muslims[2] with a total of 6,269 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.[13] Of this, 191 dunums of village land were used for citrus and bananas, 419 for cereal farming, 2,671 irrigated or used for orchards,[14] while 10 dunams were built-up land.[15]

1948 and aftermath

The village was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War between November 4–5, 1948 at the end of Operation Yo'av.[5] The Israeli army found about 150 people in Al-Khisas and nearby Ni'ilya; they were all expelled to Beit Hanoun on the Gaza strip.[16]

In 1992 the village site was described as been "engulfed by the Israeli town of Ashkelon."[5]

References

  1. ↑ Palmer, 1881, p. 361
  2. 1 2 Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 32
  3. 1 2 Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 46
  4. ↑ Morris, 2004, p. xix, village #308. Also gives the cause for depopulation
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Khalidi, 1992, p.123
  6. ↑ al-Khisas, Palestine Remembered, retrieved 2009-10-22
  7. ↑ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. 119
  8. ↑ Socin, 1879, p. 149 Also noted in the Gaza district
  9. ↑ Hartmann, 1883, p. 149
  10. ↑ Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. 252
  11. ↑ Barron, 1923, Table V, Sub-district of Gaza, p. 8
  12. ↑ Mills, 1932, p. 5.
  13. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 46
  14. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 87
  15. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 137
  16. ↑ Morris, 2004, pp. 517-518

Bibliography

  • Barron, J. B., ed. (1923). Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922. Government of Palestine.
  • Conder, C.R.; Kitchener, H. H. (1883). The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology. 3. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
  • Department of Statistics (1945). Village Statistics, April, 1945. Government of Palestine.
  • Hadawi, S. (1970). Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine. Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center.
  • Hartmann, M. (1883). "Die Ortschaftenliste des Liwa Jerusalem in dem türkischen Staatskalender für Syrien auf das Jahr 1288 der Flucht (1871)". Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins. 6: 102–149.
  • Khalidi, W. (1992). All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948. Washington D.C.: Institute for Palestine Studies. ISBN 0-88728-224-5.
  • Mills, E., ed. (1932). Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas. Jerusalem: Government of Palestine.
  • Morris, B. (2004). The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-00967-6.
  • Palmer, E. H. (1881). The Survey of Western Palestine: Arabic and English Name Lists Collected During the Survey by Lieutenants Conder and Kitchener, R. E. Transliterated and Explained by E.H. Palmer. Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
  • Robinson, E.; Smith, E. (1841). Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838. 3. Boston: Crocker & Brewster.
  • Socin, A. (1879). "Alphabetisches Verzeichniss von Ortschaften des Paschalik Jerusalem". Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins. 2: 135–163.
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