Ghuwayr Abu Shusha

Ghuwayr Abu Shusha
Maqam Sheikh Abu Shusha
Ghuwayr Abu Shusha
Arabic غُويّر أبو شوشة
Name meaning from personal name; meaning the “father of” wearing “a top knot”[1]
Subdistrict Tiberias
Coordinates 32°51′13″N 35°30′34″E / 32.85361°N 35.50944°E / 32.85361; 35.50944Coordinates: 32°51′13″N 35°30′34″E / 32.85361°N 35.50944°E / 32.85361; 35.50944
Palestine grid 197/251
Population 1,240[2][3] (1945)
Area 8,609[3] dunams
Date of depopulation 21 and 28 April 1948[4]
Cause(s) of depopulation Military assault by Yishuv forces
Secondary cause Influence of nearby town's fall
Current localities Ginosar[5], Livnim[5]

Ghuwayr Abu Shusha was a Palestinian Arab village in the Tiberias Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on April 21, 1948. It was located 8 km north of Tiberias, nearby Wadi Rubadiyya.

History

In 1838 Edward Robinson found on the remains of a few dwellings, built of rough volcanic stones, some of which were still used as magazines by the Arabs of the plain. A wely with a white dome marked the spot. He found no traces of antiquity.[6]

In 1850-1851 de Saulcy saw the village, which he described as ruined. Of the village, all which remained was a few portions of wall of modern appearance, "but in the midst of these is still standing a square vaulted tower, constructed in fine blocks of Herodian workmanship, or Roman of the early empire. This tower rests against a wall of more recent character."[7]

In 1875 Victor Guérin visited and noted the little wely dedicated to Abou-Choutheh.[8]

In 1881, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described it as containing 20 Moslems, with housed built of basalt, located round a mill.[9] There were modern ruins in the village, and a number of ruined mills in the valley below.[10]

British mandate era

In the 1945 statistics it had a population of 1,240 Muslims,[2] with 8,609 dunams of land.[3] Of this, 21 dunams were used for citrus and bananas, 1,377 for plantations and irrigable land, 1,848 dunams for cereals,[11] while 6 dunams were classified as built-up (urban) area.[12]

The village also contained Khirbat Abu Shusha, which had the ruins of water-powered mills.[13]

1948, and aftermath

The village was depopulated after a military assault on 21 and 28 April 1948.[4]

Ginosar presently occupy part of what was village land, so does Livnim, established in 1982 ca. 1 km northwest of the Ghuwayr Abu Shusha site.[5]

In 1992 the village site was described: "The village site is covered with thorns and wild vegetation, including Christ's-thorn trees and cactuses. The shrine of Shaykh Muhammad and the remains of a mill can be seen among piles of stones and a few olive trees. The lower-lying lands are planted in bananas and citrus, while the highlands are used as grazing areas by the Israelis."[5]

References

  1. ↑ Palmer, 1881, p. 128
  2. 1 2 Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 12
  3. 1 2 3 Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 72
  4. 1 2 Morris, 2004, p. xvii, village #93. Also gives cause of depopulation.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Khalidi, 1992, p. 517
  6. ↑ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, pp. 285-286; cited in Khalidi, 1992, p. 516
  7. ↑ Saucy, 1854, pp. 423-424
  8. ↑ Guérin, 1880, pp. 209-212
  9. ↑ Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 360
  10. ↑ Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 396
  11. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 122
  12. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 172
  13. ↑ Khalidi, 1992, p. 516

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. 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.
  • 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.
  • Saulcy, L.F. de (1854). Narrative of a journey round the Dead Sea, and in the Bible lands, in 1850 and 1851. 2, new edition. London: R. Bentley.
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