Al-Zuq al-Fawqani

Al-Zuq al-Fawqani
Al-Zuq al-Fawqani
Name meaning Kh. Zûk el Hâj, the pilgrim’s town or village. Zak is a local Syriac word[1]
Also spelled Zuq al-Hajj
Subdistrict Safad
Coordinates 33°14′37″N 35°35′30″E / 33.24361°N 35.59167°E / 33.24361; 35.59167Coordinates: 33°14′37″N 35°35′30″E / 33.24361°N 35.59167°E / 33.24361; 35.59167
Palestine grid 205/294
Population 160[2] (1945)
Area 1,832 dunams
Date of depopulation May 21, 1948[3]
Cause(s) of depopulation Whispering campaign
Secondary cause Military assault by Yishuv forces
Current localities Yuval

Al-Zuq al-Fawqani was a Palestinian Arab village in the Safad Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War on May 21, 1948, by the Palmach's First Battalion of Operation Yiftach. It was located 32 km northeast of Safad.

History

Archeological excavations has showed that Al-Zuq al-Fawqani was populated in the late Mamluk era.[4]

Ottoman era

Archeological excavations showed that a large hall, with several courtyards was constructed, probably a Khan. Damages indicate that it was destroyed in an earthquake.[4] Pottery from Rashaya el-Fukhar was also found.[4]

In 1875, Victor Guérin noted a large ruined village called Kharbet Khan ez-Zouk el-Fôkani. It was bordered in the west by Wadi Derdara, which was crossed on a small bridge, and had a water mill. There were many destroyed houses everywhere: they had been built with calcareous or basaltic stones, of different sizes and more or less well cut. Cisterns and presses attested an ancient origin. On the highest point of the village a house was still standing, which was of much more recent date.[5]

In 1881, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine noted at Kh. Zuk el Haj "Foundations of walls buit with basaltic masonry."[6]

British Mandate era

In the 1945 statistics it had a population of 160,[2] with a total of 1,832 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.[7][8] Of this, 503 dunums were for used for plantations and irrigable land, 1,286 were used for cereals;[9] while a total of 43 dunams were classified as uncultivable.[10]

1948, and aftermath

Al-Zuq al-Fawqani first became depopulated on May 21, 1948, after a whispering campaign.[3][11] In late May, many villagers returned, mainly to harvest the crops. The Haganah then started to systematically burn the villages in the area.[12]

In 1992 the village site was described: "The stones of destroyed homes are strewn across the site, which is overgrown with grass, thorns, and a few cactus plants. The nearby settlement of Yuval cultivates part of the surrounding land, and uses the rest as forests and grazing grounds."[2]

References

  1. ↑ Palmer, 1881, p. 28
  2. 1 2 3 Khalidi, 1992, p. 509
  3. 1 2 Morris, 2004, p. xvi, village #2. Also gives causes of depopulation.
  4. 1 2 3 Hartal, 2008, Zuq el-Fauqani
  5. ↑ Guérin, 1880, pp. 351, 533
  6. ↑ Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 123
  7. ↑ Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 11
  8. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 71
  9. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 121
  10. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 171
  11. ↑ Morris, 2004, p. 251, notes #704-707, p. 303
  12. ↑ Morris, 2004, p. 252, notes #712-713, p. 303

Bibliography

  • Conder, C.R.; Kitchener, H,H. (1881). The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology. 1. 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. 2. Paris: L'Imprimerie Nationale.
  • Hadawi, S. (1970). Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine. Palestine Liberation Organization Research Centre.
  • Hartal, Moshe (2008-08-19). "Zuq el-Fauqani" (120). Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel.
  • 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.
  • 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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