Al-Tira, Baysan

Al-Tira (Arabic: الطيرة‎), was a Palestinian Arab village in the District of Baysan. It was depopulated by the Israel Defense Forces during the 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on 15 April 1948 as part of Operation Gideon under the command of Yosef Weitz. It was located 17.5 km north of Baysan overlooking Wadi al-Bira. However, 'Ayn al-Bayda' was the main source of drinking water for al-Tira inhabitants.

See Tira for other sites with similar names.
Al-Tira

الطيرة
Village
Etymology: "The Fort of Abu Amran"[1]
Al-Tira
Coordinates: 32°38′52″N 35°27′26″E
Palestine grid193/228
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictBaysan
Date of depopulation15 April 1948[2]
Area
 • Total10,207 dunams (10.207 km2 or 3.941 sq mi)
Population
 (1945)
 • Total150[4][3]
Cause(s) of depopulationWhispering campaign
Current LocalitiesGazit[5][6]

History

It has been suggested that this was Atara of the list of Thothmes III.[7][8]

In 1875, in the late Ottoman era, Victor Guérin climbed a small hill to reach the Al-Tira village. It consisted of about a dozen houses, built of adobe or assorted materials.[9] In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described it as: "A small village, principally of adobe, on a hill-top, above a deep gorge. The water appears to be brought from the springs in the valley."[8]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the Mandatory Palestine authorities, Tireh had a population of 130 Muslims,[10] decreasing in the 1931 census to 108, still all Muslims, in 24 houses.[11]

In the 1945 statistics the population of Et Tira and Irgun Borokhov was 200; 150 Arabs and 50 Jews, while the total land area was 10,207 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[4][3] Of this, Arabs used 54 dunums for plantations and irrigable land, 4,326 for cereals,[12] while 29 dunums were classified as built-up (urban) land.[13]

1948, aftermath

In his diary, Weitz wrote of the inhabitants of Qumya and Al-Tira in the Baysan valley on the 26 March 1948:

"Not taking upon themselves the responsibility of preventing the infiltration of irregulars ... They must be forced to leave their villages until peace comes.[14]

In order to block the return of the villagers,[15] the kibbutz Gazit was established on the land of village land in September 1948, 1.5 km southwest of the village site.[5][6]

In 1992 the village site was described: "The ruins of stone houses, covered with grass and thorns, are all that remain of al-Tira. The site is fenced in and servers Israeli farmers as pasture land. Cupress trees grow on surrounding land."[16]

References
  1. Palmer, 1881, p. 170
  2. Morris, 2004, p. xvii, village #109. Also gives cause of depopulation
  3. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 44
  4. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 7
  5. Morris, 2004, p. xxi, settlement #25.
  6. Khalidi, 1992, p. 63.
  7. Conder, 1876, p. 146
  8. Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 87
  9. Guérin, 1880, p. 139
  10. Barron, 1923, Table IX, p. 31
  11. Mills, 1932, p. 81
  12. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 85
  13. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 135
  14. Morris, 2004, p. 132, note #538 on p. 160
  15. Morris, 2004, p. 380
  16. Khalidi, 1992, pp. 63-64

Bibliography
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