Nimrin

Nimrin
Nimrin
Arabic نمرين
Name meaning well-watered[1]
Subdistrict Tiberias
Coordinates 32°48′15″N 35°25′24″E / 32.80417°N 35.42333°E / 32.80417; 35.42333Coordinates: 32°48′15″N 35°25′24″E / 32.80417°N 35.42333°E / 32.80417; 35.42333
Palestine grid 190/245
Population 320[2][3] (1945)
Area 12,019[3] dunams
12.0 km²
Date of depopulation 16-17 July 1948[4]
Cause(s) of depopulation Fear of being caught up in the fighting
Secondary cause Military assault by Yishuv forces
Current localities Achuzzat Naftali, IDF ammunition depot

Nimrin was a Palestinian Arab town of 320 that was captured and depopulated by Israel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

History

Nimrin stood on the site of Kfar Nimra when Palestine was ruled by the Roman Empire.[5] Its inhabitants were Jews when Saint Peter and Saint James visited the town in 30 CE.[6]

Ottoman era

Nimrin was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in the sixteenth century CE, and by 1596 the village had a population of 110 under the administration of the nahiya ("subdistrict") of Tiberias, part of Safad Sanjak. It paid taxes on wheat barley, wheat, olives, beehives, and goats.[7][8]

A map from Napoleon's invasion of 1799 by Pierre Jacotin showed the place, named as Nemen.[9]

In the nineteenth century, Nimrin grew to become a stone-built village of 250 Muslim people. It was described as being built on the slope of a hill, surrounded by arable land.[10] The Ottomans founded an elementary school in the village.[5]

A population list from about 1887 showed Nimrin to have about 300 inhabitants; all Muslims.[11]

British Mandate era

In 1922, Nimrin became a part of the British Mandate of Palestine and in the 1922 census of Palestine, Nemrin had a population of 273; all Muslims,[12] increasing in the 1931 census to 316, still all Muslims, in a total of 71 houses.[13]

The main economic sectors were farming and livestock, with grain being the most important crop, followed by vegetables. The Ottoman school was closed down during this period.[5]

In the 1945 statistics the population consisted of 320 Muslims,[2] and the total land area was 12,019 dunams.[3] Of this, Arabs used 7,905 dunams for cereals, 335 for plantations and irrigable land,[14] while 64 dunams were classified as built-up (urban) area.[15]

1948 war, and aftermath

During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Nimrin fell into Israeli hands on July 17, 1948 after nearby Lubya was captured at the end of Operation Dekel. Its entire population of 320 (1945) fled for unclear reasons. According to Walid Khalidi, "the site and a major part of the lands are surrounded by a fence."[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Palmer, 1881, p. 132
  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. ↑ Morris, 2004, p. xvii, village #95, also causes of depopulation, with a "?"
  5. 1 2 3 4 Khalidi, 1992, p.535
  6. ↑ Murray, 1997, p.165.
  7. ↑ Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 189. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 535
  8. ↑ Note that Rhode, 1979, p. 6 writes that the register that Hütteroth and Abdulfattah studied was not from 1595/6, but from 1548/9
  9. ↑ Karmon, 1960, p. 166.
  10. ↑ Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 361. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 535
  11. ↑ Schumacher, 1888, p. 185
  12. ↑ Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Tiberias, p. 39
  13. ↑ Mills, 1932, p. 84
  14. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 123
  15. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 173

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. (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.
  • Hadawi, S. (1970). Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine. Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center.
  • Hütteroth, Wolf-Dieter; Abdulfattah, Kamal (1977). Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century. Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft. ISBN 3-920405-41-2.
  • Karmon, Y. (1960). "An Analysis of Jacotin's Map of Palestine" (PDF). Israel Exploration Journal. 10 (3, 4): 155–173, 244–253.
  • 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.
  • Murray, Lawrence (1997). The Amazing Spread of Christianity. St. Jude Press. ISBN 0-9722149-2-5.
  • 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.
  • Rhode, H. (1979). Administration and Population of the Sancak of Safed in the Sixteenth Century. Columbia University.
  • Schumacher, G. (1888). "Population list of the Liwa of Akka". Quarterly statement - Palestine Exploration Fund. 20: 169–191.
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