Dayshum

Dayshum (Arabic: ديشوم‎) was a Palestinian village, depopulated on 30 October 1948 by the Sheva Brigade of Israeli paramilitary force Palmach in an offensive called Operation Hiram, where the village has been destroyed, and only house rubble left behind. The village was located 12 kilometers (7.5 mi) north of Safed, 600 meters (2,000 ft) above sea level.

Dayshum

ديشوم

Dayshum, Deishum
Village
Ruins of Dayshum
Etymology: personal name[1]
Dayshum
Coordinates: 33°04′49″N 35°30′26″E
Palestine grid197/276
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictSafad
Date of depopulation30 October 1948[2]
Area
 • Total23,044 dunams (23.044 km2 or 8.897 sq mi)
Population
 (1945)
 • Total590[3][4]
Cause(s) of depopulationMilitary assault by Yishuv forces
Current LocalitiesDishon[5][6]

History

In 1517 Dayshum was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire after it was captured from the Mamluks, and by 1596, it was a village under the administration of the nahiya ("subdistrict") of Jira (part of Safad Sanjak), with a population of fifty, all Muslim. They paid a fixed tax rate of 25% on a number of crops, including wheat, barley, olives, and fruits, as well as on other types of produce and property, such as goats, beehives, and a press that was used for processing either olives or grapes; a total of 2,112 Akçe. All of the revenue went to a Muslim charitable endowment.[7]

Kabyles immigrants who had fought with Abd al-Qadir al-Jaza'iri against the French colonialists in the 1830s and 1840s settled at the site.[8] These people may have come with him to the region following his defeat and banishment to Damascus in 1847. As some of their ancestors had been horsemen in Algeria, the villagers of Dayshum took a keen interest in raising horses.[9]

In 1881 the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described Dayshum as a “well-built” village with about 400 residents. The village houses were situated on the side of a steep hill near the bottom of a valley and had gabled roofs. The village had three mills and several small gardens.[10]

British Mandate

In 1921 inspectors from the British Mandatory Department noted a Maqam north-east of the village site, dedicated to a Sheikh Haniyya.[11]

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Daishum had a population of 479, all Muslim,[12] decreasing slightly in the 1931 census of Palestine to 438, still all Muslim, in 102 inhabited houses.[13]

In the 1945 statistics the population consisted of 590 Muslims,[4] with a total of 23,044 dunams of land.[3] Of this, a total 4,701 dunums of village land was used for cereals and 611 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards,[14][15] while 17,093 dunams were classified as non-cultivable area.[16]

Post 1948

In 1953, Dishon was established on village land.[6]

In 1992, the village site was described: "Cactuses and thorns grow on the site. The only indications of the former existence of Dayshum are piles of stones from the destroyed houses and terraces. Moshav Dishon exploits the land around the site for animal grazing and apple cultivation."[6]

See also
  • List of Arab towns and villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
  • Killings and massacres during the 1948 Palestine War

References
  1. Palmer, 1881, p. 71
  2. Morris, 2004, p. xvi, village #32. Also gives cause of depopulation
  3. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 69
  4. Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 9
  5. Morris, 2004, p. xxii, settlement #131. Settlement date uncertain, according to Morris, but possibly 1949 (re-established 1953)
  6. Khalidi, 1992, p. 446
  7. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 177. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 445
  8. Abbasi, 2007 (Hebrew). Non-Hebrew version in The Maghreb Review, 28(1), 2003 pp. 41-59.
  9. Khalidi, 1992, p. 445
  10. Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 201, Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 445-446
  11. Sharon, 2004, p. 135
  12. Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Safad, p. 41
  13. Mills, 1932, p. 106
  14. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 118
  15. Khalidi, 1992, p. 446
  16. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 168

Bibliography
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