Fajja

Fajja
Fajja
Arabic فجّة
Name meaning from personal name[1]
Subdistrict Jaffa
Coordinates 32°05′18″N 34°54′16″E / 32.08833°N 34.90444°E / 32.08833; 34.90444Coordinates: 32°05′18″N 34°54′16″E / 32.08833°N 34.90444°E / 32.08833; 34.90444
Palestine grid 141/165
Population 1,200[2] (1945)
Area 4,419 dunams
4.4 km²
Date of depopulation May 15, 1948[3]
Cause(s) of depopulation Whispering campaign
Current localities Petah Tikva[4]

Fajja (Arabic: فجّة‎) was a Palestinian Arab town located 15 kilometers northeast of Jaffa.

History

In 1870, Victor Guérin found the village to be divided into two quarters, each with its own Sheikh. He estimated it to have 300 inhabitants,[5] while an Ottoman village list from about the same year found that Fajja had a population of 110, in 35 houses, though the population count included men, only.[6][7]

In 1882, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Fajja as a small village built of adobe bricks.[8]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Fajjeh had a population of 164, all Muslims,[9] increasing sharply in the 1931 census, to 707, still all Muslims, in a total of 165 houses.[10]

The town had one elementary school, founded in 1922. By 1945 it had 181 students, including 10 females.[4]

In the 1945 statistics, the town had 1,570 inhabitants, including 370 Jews, and a total land area of 4,419 dunams.[11] Of this, a total of 768 dunums was used for citrus and bananas, 61 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards, 3,863 used for cereals,[12] while 7 dunams were classified as built-up areas.[13]

1948, aftermath

In early April, the villagers of Fajja sued for a truce with their Jewish neighbours.[14] Again, after the Deir Yassin massacre, the villagers of Fajja contacted their Jewish neighbours and promised "quiet".[15] It was conquered by the Haganah and Irgun on May 15, 1948 without any resistance. Most of the Arab inhabitants fled the town before its capture by Israeli forces due to alleged attacks by the Irgun on February 17. In June 1948, the town was demolished based on the recommendation of Yosef Weitz of the Jewish National Fund.[16] Most of the town's land is currently a part of the jurisdiction of the city of Petah Tikva.

In 1992 the village site was described: "The village has been completely razed except for one house and a pond. Eucalyptus trees and cactuses further mark the site. The surrounding land is partly occupied by buildings; the rest is cultivated."[4]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Palmer, 1881, p. 214
  2. ↑ Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 27
  3. ↑ Morris, 2004, p. xviii, village #203. Also gives cause of depopulation.
  4. 1 2 3 Khalidi, 1992, p. 240
  5. ↑ Guérin, 1875, pp. 371-372
  6. ↑ Socin, 1879, p. 154
  7. ↑ Hartmann, 1883, p. 137 also noted 35 houses
  8. ↑ Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP II, p.251. Cited in Khalidi, 1992, p. 240.
  9. ↑ Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Jaffa, p. 20
  10. ↑ Mills, 1932, p. 13
  11. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 52
  12. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 95
  13. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 145
  14. ↑ Morris, 2004, p. 246, note #644 on p. 298
  15. ↑ Morris, 2004, p. 240, note #581 on p. 295
  16. ↑ District of Jaffa: Fajja Town Statistics and Facts.Information extracted from Bibliography and References Benny Morris and Walid Khalidi.

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. (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. (1875). Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine (in French). 2: Samarie, 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 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.
  • Socin, A. (1879). "Alphabetisches Verzeichniss von Ortschaften des Paschalik Jerusalem". Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins. 2: 135–163.
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