Al-Na'ima

Al-Na'ima (Arabic: الناعمة‎) was a Palestinian Arab village in the Safad Subdistrict of Mandatory Palestine located 26 kilometres (16 mi) northeast of Safad. The settlement was depopulated during the 1947-1948 civil war on May 14, 1948 by the Israeli Palmach's First Battalion as part of Operation Yiftach.

Al-Na'ima

الناعمة
Village
Al-Na'ima
Coordinates: 33°11′17″N 35°35′42″E
Palestine grid206/288
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictSafad
Date of depopulationMay 14, 1948[1]
Area
 • Total7,155 dunams (7.155 km2 or 2.763 sq mi)
Population
 (1945)
 • Total1,240 (1,340 Arabs and 210 Jews)[3][2]
Cause(s) of depopulationInfluence of nearby town's fall
Current LocalitiesNeot Mordechai,[4] Kefar Blum,[4] and Beyt Hillel[4]

In the 1945 statistics it had a population of 1,240 of whom 210 were Jews.[3]

History

Al-Na'ima was located near the al-Hula Plain. The village also had a boys’ elementary school.[4] A shrine dedicated to local sage al-Shaykh al-Wayzi lay about 0.5 kilometres (0.31 mi) from the site as did a stone quarry.

In the 1931 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, En Na'ima had a population of 858, all Muslims, in a total of 174 houses.[5]

Al-Naima, 1946

Types of land use in dunams in the village in the 1945 statistics:[6][7]

Land UsageArabJewish
Irrigated and plantation4,1222,197
Cereal156217
Cultivable4,2782,414
Urban1120
Non-cultivable600

The land ownership of the village before occupation in dunams:[2]

OwnerDunams
Arab4,450
Jewish2,414
Public291
Total7,155

1948, and aftermath

During the 1948 war, Al-Na’ima was depopulated during Operation Yiftach which targeted Safad and the surrounding district. When the city of Safad was finally attacked between the 10 and 11 May 1948, morale in the village was low; according to an Israeli intelligence report, many residents fled on 14 May shortly before advancing Israeli troops entered.[4]

The settlement of Neot Mordechai was built in 1946 to the south of the village while to the north is the settlement of Beyt Hillel, built in 1940. Kefar Blum, built in 1943 lies 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) to the southeast.[4]

References
  1. Morris, 2004, p. xvi, village #19. Also gives cause of depopulation.
  2. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 70 Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 10
  4. Khalidi, 1992, p. 482
  5. Mills, 1932, p. 109
  6. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 120
  7. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 170

Bibliography
  • Department of Statistics (1945). Village Statistics, April, 1945. Government of Palestine.
  • Esber, R.M. (2008). Under the Cover of War, The Zionist Expulsions of the Palestinians. Arabicus Books & Media. ISBN 0981513174.
  • Hadawi, S. (1970). Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine. Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center. Archived from the original on 2018-12-08. Retrieved 2009-08-18.
  • 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.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.