Al-Tira, Baysan

See Tira for other sites with similar names.
Al-Tira
Al-Tira
Arabic الطيرة
Name meaning "The Fort of Abu Amran"[1]
Subdistrict Baysan
Coordinates 32°38′52″N 35°27′26″E / 32.64778°N 35.45722°E / 32.64778; 35.45722Coordinates: 32°38′52″N 35°27′26″E / 32.64778°N 35.45722°E / 32.64778; 35.45722
Palestine grid 193/228
Population 150[2][3] (1945)
Area 10,207[3] dunams
Date of depopulation 15 April 1948[4]
Cause(s) of depopulation Whispering campaign
Current localities Gazit[5][6]

Al-Tira (Arabic: الطيرة‎), was a Palestinian Arab village in the District of Baysan. It was depopulated by the Israel Defense Forces during the 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on 15 April 1948 as part of Operation Gideon under the command of Yosef Weitz. It was located 17.5 km north of Baysan overlooking Wadi al-Bira. However, 'Ayn al-Bayda' was the main source of drinking water for al-Tira inhabitants.

History

It has been suggested that this was Atara of the list of Thothmes III.[7][8]

In 1875, in the late Ottoman era, Victor Guérin climbed a small hill to reach the Al-Tira village. It consisted of about a dozen houses, built of adobe or assorted materials.[9] In 1882, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine described it as: "A small village, principally of adobe, on a hill-top, above a deep gorge. The water appears to be brought from the springs in the valley."[8]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the Mandatory Palestine authorities, Tireh had a population of 130 Muslims,[10] decreasing in the 1931 census to 108, still all Muslims, in 24 houses.[11]

In the 1945 statistics the population of Et Tira and Irgun Borokhov was 200; 150 Arabs and 50 Jews, while the total land area was 10,207 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[2][3] Of this, Arabs used 54 dunums for plantations and irrigable land, 4,326 for cereals,[12] while 29 dunums were classified as built-up (urban) land.[13]

1948, aftermath

In his diary, Weitz wrote of the inhabitants of Qumya and Al-Tira in the Baysan valley on the 26 March 1948:

"Not taking upon themselves the responsibility of preventing the infiltration of irregulars ... They must be forced to leave their villages until peace comes.[14]

In order to block the return of the villagers,[15] the kibbutz Gazit was established on the land of village land in September 1948, 1.5 km southwest of the village site.[5][6]

In 1992 the village site was described: "The ruins of stone houses, covered with grass and thorns, are all that remain of al-Tira. The site is fenced in and servers Israeli farmers as pasture land. Cupress trees grow on surrounding land."[16]

References

  1. ↑ Palmer, 1881, p. 170
  2. 1 2 Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 7
  3. 1 2 3 Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 44
  4. ↑ Morris, 2004, p. xvii, village #109. Also gives cause of depopulation
  5. 1 2 Morris, 2004, p. xxi, settlement #25.
  6. 1 2 Khalidi, 1992, p. 63.
  7. ↑ Conder, 1876, p. 146
  8. 1 2 Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 87
  9. ↑ Guérin, 1880, p. 139
  10. ↑ Barron, 1923, Table IX, p. 31
  11. ↑ Mills, 1932, p. 81
  12. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 85
  13. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 135
  14. ↑ Morris, 2004, p. 132, note #538 on p. 160
  15. ↑ Morris, 2004, p. 380
  16. ↑ Khalidi, 1992, pp. 63-64

Bibliography

  • Barron, J.B., ed. (1923). Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922. Government of Palestine.
  • Conder, C.R. (1876). "Palestine before Joshua". Quarterly statement - Palestine Exploration Fund. 8: 140–148.
  • Conder, C.R.; Kitchener, H.H. (1882). The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology. 2. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
  • Department of Statistics (1945). Village Statistics, April, 1945. Government of Palestine.
  • Guérin, V. (1880). Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine (in French). 3: Galilee, pt. 1. Paris: L'Imprimerie Nationale.
  • Hadawi, S. (1970). Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine. Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center.
  • 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.
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