Al-Muzayri'a ( ar, المُزيرعة) 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 in the
Ramle Subdistrict. It was depopulated in 1948. In 1998 the new Israeli city of
El'ad
El'ad, also spelled Elad ( he, אלעד), is a city in the Central District of Israel. In the 1990s, it was built for a Haredi Jewish population and to a lesser extent, it was also built for a Religious Zionist Jewish population. Located about ...
was built over the ruins.
Location
Al-Muzayri'a was located north-northeast of
al-Ramla
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 ...
, on limestone hill, overlooking the coastal plain. A
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 onl ...
ran along its southern part, and separated it from the village of
Qula
Qula ( ar, قولة) was a Palestinian village in the Ramle Subdistrict of Mandatory Palestine. It was located 15 km northeast of Ramla and was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
Hasan Salama and his son Ali Hassan Salameh (1940- ...
. The village was about 1 km east of the al-Ramla-Haifa railway line. It was also located to the east of the al-Ramla-Jaffa highway.
[Khalidi, 1992, p. 399]
History
The location has a long history of habitation. A
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
mausoleum, still standing, (about 1 km south of the village site) was converted into a
mosque
A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...
dedicated to a prophet, al-Nabi Yahya ("
the Prophet John"). About 1 km northeast of the village was Khirbat Zikhrin, a Roman-Byzantine site that was inhabited during
Mamluk
Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning " slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') ...
and
Ottoman periods. The place has been excavated since 1982.
[
]
Ottoman era
In 1596, Al-Muzayri'a was part of the Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
, ''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 Jabel Qubal 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 Nablus
Nablus ( ; ar, نابلس, Nābulus ; he, שכם, Šəḵem, ISO 259-3: ; Samaritan Hebrew: , romanized: ; el, Νεάπολις, Νeápolis) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank, located approximately north of Jerusalem, with a populati ...
with a population of 7 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 ...
households; an estimated population of thirty-nine. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 33,3% on a number of crops, including 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 pr ...
, and olives
The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' 'M ...
, as well as goats, and beehives; a total of 1,300 akçe
The ''akçe'' or ''akça'' (also spelled ''akche'', ''akcheh''; ota, آقچه; ) refers to a silver coin which was the chief monetary unit of the Ottoman Empire. The word itself evolved from the word "silver or silver money", this word is deri ...
.
The village was possibly abandoned during the 17th century, only to be reoccupied in the 18th century by a family from Dayr Ghassana, named al-Rumayh.[
In 1838 ''el Muzeiri'ah'' was among the villages Edward Robinson noted from the top of the ]White Mosque, Ramla
The White Mosque ( ar, المسجد الأبيض, al-Masjid al-Abyad; he, המסגד הלבן, HaMisgad HaLavan) was an Umayyad-era mosque located in Ramle, Israel. Only its minaret is still standing. According to local Islamic tradition, the ...
, while A. Mansell mentioned passing the village in the early 1860s.
In 1870 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 ...
described the village as sitting on a stony hill, he noted that its houses appeared small. An Ottoman village list of about the same year showed that "Mezari" had 68 houses and a population of 234, though the population count included men, only. It also noted "a very old temple".
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 ...
'' described it as "an adobe
Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for ''mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of e ...
village on the edge of the hills, near Qula
Qula ( ar, قولة) was a Palestinian village in the Ramle Subdistrict of Mandatory Palestine. It was located 15 km northeast of Ramla and was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
Hasan Salama and his son Ali Hassan Salameh (1940- ...
."[Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p]
297
/ref>
British Mandate era
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, ''Muzaira'a'' had a population of 578, 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]
22
/ref> increasing in the 1931 census to 780, still all Muslims, in a total of 186 houses.[Mills, 1932, p]
22
In 1919, a school for boys was founded in the village. By 1945, it had become a full-fledged elementary school, with 207 students, including children of the neighboring villages. 35 dunums of land was attached to the school. A school for girls was founded in 1945, and had an initial enrollment of 78 students.[
In the 1945 statistics, the village had a population of 1,160, all Muslim,][Department of Statistics, p]
30
/ref> and the total land area was 10,822 dunams.[ A total of 953 ]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 village land was used for citrus
''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering plant, flowering trees and shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as Orange (fruit), oranges, Lemon, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and lim ...
and banana
A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...
s, 5,895 dunums were used for cereals, 35 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards,[ while 25 dunams were classified as built-up urban areas.][Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p]
166
/ref>
1948 and aftermath
Al-Muzayri'a was located in the territory allotted to the Arab state under the 1947 UN Partition Plan
The United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine was a proposal by the United Nations, which recommended a partition of Mandatory Palestine at the end of the British Mandate. On 29 November 1947, the UN General Assembly adopted the Plan as Re ...
.
Al-Muzayri was depopulated on 12 July 1948, after Military assault by Israeli forces.[
The Israeli ]moshav
A moshav ( he, מוֹשָׁב, plural ', lit. ''settlement, village'') is a type of Israeli town or settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists between 1904 an ...
of Nehalim was founded in 1949 on the northwestern part of former village land. The moshav of Mazor
Mazor ( he, מָזוֹר, ''lit.'' Cure) is a moshav in central Israel. Located in the Sharon plain around three kilometres south-east of Petah Tikva and covering 2,300 dunams, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hevel Modi'in Regional Council ...
was founded the same year on the western part of former village land.[
The Palestinian historian ]Walid Khalidi
Walid Khalidi ( ar, وليد خالدي, born 1925 in Jerusalem) is an Oxford University-educated Palestinian people, Palestinian historian who has written extensively on the 1948 Palestinian exodus, Palestinian exodus. He is a co-founder of the ...
, described the place in 1992: "The site is largely forested. While a few houses remain, most have been reduced to rubble. Cacti and stone terraces are visible on the site."[
]
Gallery
File:Mazor-mausoleum-64.jpg, Mihrab
Mihrab ( ar, محراب, ', pl. ') is a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the ''qibla'', the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca towards which Muslims should face when praying. The wall in which a ''mihrab'' appears is thus the "qibla w ...
, pointing towards Mecca, in the Roman Mausoleum
File:Al Muzeiria 1941.jpg, Al-Muzayri'a 1941 1:20,000
File:Al Mirr 1945.jpg, Al-Muzayri'a 1945 1:250,000
See also
* Depopulated Palestinian locations in Israel
* Mazor Mausoleum
Footnotes
Bibliography
*
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*
*Mansell, A. L. (1863): "A Surveying Trip through the Holy Land." The Nautical Magazine and Naval Chronicle. January Issue:36–40. Cited in Khalidi, 1992.
* ("c. 180 m west of the mausoleum and east of the hill where a Muslim cemetery is located")
*
*
*
*
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*
External links
Welcome To al-Muzayri'a
Muzayri'a
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 14
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 ...
Al-Muzer3a
from Dr. Moslih Kanaaneh
{{Palestinian Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Palestine War
Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War
District of Ramla
Philistines