Al-Malikiyya ( ar, المالكية) was a
Palestinian
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 located in the
Jabal Amil
Jabal Amil ( ar, جبل عامل, Jabal ʿĀmil), also spelled Jabal Amel and historically known as Jabal Amila, is a cultural and geographic region in Southern Lebanon largely associated with its long-established, predominantly Twelver Shia Musl ...
region. In a 1920s census, the village was registered as part of
Greater Lebanon
The State of Greater Lebanon ( ar, دولة لبنان الكبير, Dawlat Lubnān al-Kabīr; french: État du Grand Liban), informally known as French Lebanon, was a state declared on 1 September 1920, which became the Lebanese Republic ( ar, ...
. It was later placed under the
British Mandate of Palestine British Mandate of Palestine or Palestine Mandate most often refers to:
* Mandate for Palestine: a League of Nations mandate under which the British controlled an area which included Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan.
* Mandatory P ...
. Its population was mostly
Metawali
Lebanese Shia Muslims ( ar, المسلمون الشيعة اللبنانيين), historically known as ''matāwila'' ( ar, متاولة, plural of ''mutawālin'' ebanese pronounced as ''metouali'' refers to Lebanese people who are adherents ...
Shiite
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, most ...
.
In a 1930s census, the village was registered as
Palestinian
Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
and part of the Safed District. The village was depopulated as a result of the
1948 Arab–Israeli War.
History
According to the Arab geographer
Yaqut al-Hamawi
Yāqūt Shihāb al-Dīn ibn-ʿAbdullāh al-Rūmī al-Ḥamawī (1179–1229) ( ar, ياقوت الحموي الرومي) was a Muslim scholar of Byzantine Greek ancestry active during the late Abbasid period (12th-13th centuries). He is known for ...
(d. 1228), the people of al-Malikiyya had a wooden platter that they believed was originally owned by the prophet
Mohammed.
Ottoman era
In 1596, al-Malikiyya was a village in the
Ottoman ''
nahiya
A nāḥiyah ( ar, , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level division w ...
'' (subdistrict) of
Tibnin
Tebnine ( ar, تبنين ''Tibnīn'', also Romanized ''Tibnine'') is a Lebanese town spread across several hills (ranging in altitude from 700m to 800m (2,275 ft to 2,600 ft) above sea level) located about east of Tyre (Lebanon), i ...
under the ''
liwa'
Sanjaks (liwāʾ) (plural form: alwiyāʾ)
* Armenian: նահանգ (''nahang''; meaning "province")
* Bulgarian: окръг (''okrǔg''; meaning "county", "province", or "region")
* el, Διοίκησις (''dioikēsis'', meaning "province" ...
'' (district) of
Safad
Safed (known in Hebrew as Tzfat; Sephardic Hebrew & Modern Hebrew: צְפַת ''Tsfat'', Ashkenazi Hebrew: ''Tzfas'', Biblical Hebrew: ''Ṣǝp̄aṯ''; ar, صفد, ''Ṣafad''), is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Located at an eleva ...
, with a population of 369. It paid taxes on a number of crops, such as
wheat
Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...
,
barley
Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley p ...
, as well as goats and beehives.
[Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 179. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 471]
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 Min ...
visited in 1875, and noted that Al-Malkiyya had 300
Metawali
Lebanese Shia Muslims ( ar, المسلمون الشيعة اللبنانيين), historically known as ''matāwila'' ( ar, متاولة, plural of ''mutawālin'' ebanese pronounced as ''metouali'' refers to Lebanese people who are adherents ...
inhabitants. He further noted that the village, which stood upon a lofty summit, was remarkable for possessing neither
well
A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...
nor
cistern; the women fetched their water from the spring at
Kades. But a birkeh was placed on the map close to the village.
In 1881, 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 Al-Malkiyya as being built of stone and
adobe, lying on a plain to the east of a valley. Well supplied with water from a nearby
wadi
Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water ...
, the village's 200-300 inhabitants cultivated
olives.
British Mandate era
In the
1931 census of Palestine, conducted by the
British Mandate authorities, ''El Malikiya'' had a population of 254, all Muslims, in 48 houses.
[Mills, 1932, p]
108
/ref>
The population was 360 Muslims in the 1945 statistics,[ with a total of 7,328 dunams of land.][ A total of 4,225 dunums were allocated to cereals, while 55 dunams were classifies as built-up land.][Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p]
170
/ref>
1948 Arab-Israeli war, aftermath
Al-Malikiyya changed hands no fewer than five times between May and October 1948.
A battle was fought in the village on 5–6 June 1948. Combatants were Israelis and the Lebanese army commanded by Said Nasrallah, who would go on to become chief of staff of the Lebanese Armed Forces. The Lebanese army would occupy the village for a month. This was the only time Lebanon directly participated in the war.[Morris, 2004, p.]
276
/ref>
As a result of the war, the village was depopulated.
In 1949, a kibbutz, Malkiya, was set up on village lands.
File:Al Malikiyya ii.jpg, Members of the Yiftach Brigade entering al-Malikiyya, May 1948
File:Al maikiyya.jpg, Al Malikiyya, 1948. Medic from Yiftach Brigade in foreground
See also
* Depopulated Palestinian locations in Israel
*Metawali
Lebanese Shia Muslims ( ar, المسلمون الشيعة اللبنانيين), historically known as ''matāwila'' ( ar, متاولة, plural of ''mutawālin'' ebanese pronounced as ''metouali'' refers to Lebanese people who are adherents ...
*Operation Hiram
Operation Hiram was a military operation conducted by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It was led by General Moshe Carmel, and aimed at capturing the Upper Galilee region from the Arab Liberation Army (ALA) forces ...
* Shia villages in Palestine
References
Bibliography
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External links
Welcome to al-Malikiyya
al-Malikiyya
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 ...
al-Malikiyya
Dr. Khalil Rizk.
*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 4
IAA
Wikimedia 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 Safad