Al-Burayj or Bureij, lit. 'little tower',Socin, 1879, p
149
/ref> was a

Palestinian Arab Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

village in the Jerusalem Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the

1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 (or First) Arab–Israeli War was the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. It formally began following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight on 14 May 1948; the Israeli Declaration of Independence had ...

on October 19, 1948, during the first phase of

Operation Ha-Har Operation Ha-Har ( he, ההר, ''The Mountain''), or Operation El Ha-Har, was an Israeli Defence Forces campaign against villages southwest of Jerusalem launched at the end of October 1948. The operation lasted from 19 to 24 October and was carr ...

. The village was located 28.5 km west of

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

History

Late Ottoman period

In 1838 ''el-Bureij'' was noted as a Muslim village, located in

er-Ramleh Ramla or Ramle ( he, רַמְלָה, ''Ramlā''; ar, الرملة, ''ar-Ramleh'') is a city in the Central District of Israel. Today, Ramle is one of Israel's mixed cities, with both a significant Jewish and Arab populations. The city was f ...

district. In 1863

Victor Guérin Victor Guérin (15 September 1821 – 21 Septembe 1890) was a French intellectual, explorer and amateur archaeologist. He published books describing the geography, archeology and history of the areas he explored, which included Greece, Asia Mino ...

noted it as a village of 200 inhabitants. The

Sheikh Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonly designates a chief of a ...

's house was described as "fairly large and fairly constructed"; the others, less so. Tobacco plantations were spread around. He also noted large ancient blocks, which, it was said, originated from Kh rbet Tibneh, just to the north.

Socin Sozzini, Sozini, Socini or Socin is an Italian noble family originally from Siena in Tuscany, where the family were noted as bankers and merchants, jurists and humanist scholars. The family has been described as "the most famous legal dynasty of t ...

found from an official Ottoman village list from about 1870 that ''buredsch'' had a population of 116 in a total of 41 houses, though that population count included men, only. It was further noted that it was located between

Mughallis Mughallis ( ar, مٌغلّس) was a Palestinian Arab village located northwest of Hebron. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War between July 9–10, 1948 as part of Operation An-Far. History Ottoman era It was incorporated into the ...

and Saydun. Hartmann found that ''el-buredsch'' had 40 houses. In 1882, the PEF's ''

Survey of Western Palestine The PEF Survey of Palestine was a series of surveys carried out by the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF) between 1872 and 1877 for the Survey of Western Palestine and in 1880 for the Survey of Eastern Palestine. The survey was carried out after the ...

'' (SWP) described ''El Bureij'' as: "A small village on high ground, having a high house or tower in the middle, from which it is named."

British Mandate

In the

1922 census of Palestine The 1922 census of Palestine was the first census carried out by the authorities of the British Mandate of Palestine, on 23 October 1922. The reported population was 757,182, including the military and persons of foreign nationality. The divisi ...

conducted by the British Mandate authorities, ''Buraij'' had a population of 398; all

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

s,Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Ramleh, p
21
/ref> increasing in the 1931 census to 621; 7 Christians and 614 Muslims, in a total of 132 houses.Mills, 1932, p
19
/ref> In the 1945 statistics, the village had a population of 720; 10 Christians and 710 Muslims, with a total of 19,080

dunums A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; tr, dönüm; he, דונם), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area equivalent to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amount ...

of land. Of this, 31 dunams were for citrus and bananas, 77 were for irrigable land or plantations, 9,426 for

cereals A cereal is any grass cultivated for the edible components of its grain (botanically, a type of fruit called a caryopsis), composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran. Cereal grain crops are grown in greater quantities and provide more food en ...

, while 14 dunams were built-up (urban) Arab land. Al-Burayj's had a mosque named al-'Umari Mosque, and it was also home to a Greek Orthodox monastery.Khalidi, 1991, pp. 281-282

1948, aftermath

During

, between the 19 and 24 October 1948, the

Harel Brigade Harel Brigade (, ''Hativat Harel'') is a reserve brigade of the Israel Defense Forces, today part of the Southern Command. It played a critical role in the 1948 Palestine war, also known as "Israel's War of Independence." It is one of the former ...

captured several villages, among them Bureij. The villagers fled, or were expelled eastwards.Morris, 2004, p
466
/ref> Following the war, the area was incorporated into the

State of Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. In 1955 the moshav of Sdot Micha was established on land that had belonged to al-Burayj, south of the village site. File:Ajjur 1945.jpg, Al-Burayj 1945 1:250,000 (upper centre) File:Bureij 1947.jpg, Al-Burayj 1947 1:20,000 File:Al-Burayj.jpg, Building in Al-Burayj after capture by Harel Brigade File:Al-Burayj ii.jpg, Prisoners waiting to be interrogated, Al-Burayj, 1948 File:Al-Burayj iii.jpg, Al-Burayj 1948 File:Al-Burayj iv.jpg, Members of Harel Brigade in Al-Burayj 1948 Large part of the village land is now a military base called

Sdot Micha Airbase Sdot Micha Airbase (in Hebrew: ) is an Israeli Air Force (IAF) missile base and depot, whose existence Israel neither confirms nor denies. It is situated in the center of Israel, halfway from Jerusalem to the Mediterranean Sea and extends nearly 1 ...

, which is inaccessible to the public.

References

Bibliography

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External links

Welcome To al-Burayjal-Burayj

Zochrot Zochrot ( he, זוכרות; "Remembering"; ar, ذاكرات; "Memories") is an Israeli nonprofit organization founded in 2002. Based in Tel Aviv, its aim is to promote awareness of the Palestinian ''Nakba'' ("Catastrophe"), including the 1948 Pa ...

*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 16
IAAWikimedia commons
from the

Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center () is a leading Palestinian arts and culture organization that aims to create a pluralistic, critical liberating culture through research, query, and participation, and that provides an open space for the community ...

{{Palestinian Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Palestine War Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War District of Jerusalem