Al-Samakiyya

Al-Samakiyya was a Palestinian Arab village in the Tiberias Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on May 4, 1948, under Operation Matat. It was located 11 km northeast of Tiberias, near the Wadi al-Wadabani.

Al-Samakiyya

تلحوم/السمكية
Village
Al-Samakiyya villagers, postcard from 1902
Etymology: ’Arab es Semakîyeh, the Semakîyeh (fisher) Arabs[1]
Al-Samakiyya
Coordinates: 32°53′02″N 35°34′37″E
Palestine grid204/254
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictTiberias
Date of depopulationNot known[2]
Area
 • Total10,526 dunams (10.526 km2 or 4.064 sq mi)
Population
 (1945)
 • Total380[4][3]
Current LocalitiesAmnun,[5] Korazim[5]

History

In 1838, Edward Robinson noted the bedawin tribe of es-Semekiyeh, who kept some buildings in Abu Shusha as magazines.[6] The village was located by Tel Hum, which has been identified with Capernaum.[7]

British Mandate era
Lake of Galilee by Capernaum

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, the population of Samakiyeh was 193 Muslims,[8] increasing in the 1931 census to 290; 266 Muslims and 24 Christians, in a total of 60 houses.[9]

In the 1945 statistics Es Samakiya had a population of 380; 330 Muslims and 50 Christians,[4] with 10,526 dunams of land.[3] Of this, 2 dunams were used for citrus and bananas, 66 for plantations and irrigable land, 4,034 dunams for cereals,[10] while a total of 6,424 dunams were classified as non-cultivable area.[11]

al-Samakiyya had an Italian monastery, a Franciscan church, and a Greek Orthodox church.[5]

1948, aftermath

On May 5, 1948, Allon launched Operation Broom, Operation Matateh, in order to clear the area of its Bedouin inhabitants.[2][12]

Amnun and Korazim were both established on Al-Samakiyya land in 1983.[5]

In 1992 the village site was described: "The village site is covered with wild vegetation, piles of basalt stones, and date palm trees. Part of the surrounding land is used as pasture, and the other part is planted with fruit and walnut trees."[5]

References
  1. Palmer, 1881, p. 123
  2. Morris, 2004, p. xvii, village #373. Gives both date and cause of depopulation as "Not known"
  3. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 72
  4. Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 12
  5. Khalidi, 1992, p. 539
  6. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, p. 286, cited in Khalidi, 1992, p. 539
  7. Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, pp. 371, 417
  8. Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Tiberias, p. 40
  9. Mills, 1932, p. 85
  10. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 123
  11. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 173
  12. Morris, 2004, pp. 249-250, notes #694-698, p. 302

Bibliography
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