Al-Tira, Haifa
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:''See Tira for other sites with similar names.'' al-Tira ( ar, الطيرة, also called Tirat al-Lawz or "Tira of the almonds" to distinguish it from other al- Tiras) 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 ...
town located 7 kilometres south of
Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...
. It was made up of five khirbets, including ''Khirbat al-Dayr'' where lie the ruins of St. Brocardus monastery and a cave complex with vaulted tunnels. The town was replaced by the Israeli town of
Tirat Carmel Tirat Carmel ( he, טִירַת כַּרְמֶל), or ''Tirat HaCarmel'', is a city in the Haifa District in Israel. In it had a population of . Throughout the ages, the site of the modern city was controlled by many people, including the Roma ...
in 1949.


History

The
Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...
called al-Tira, St. Yohan de Tire, and in the thirteenth century the village contained a
Greek Orthodox The term Greek Orthodox Church (Greek language, Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the Eastern Orthodox Church, entire body of Orthodox (Chalced ...
abbey of St. John the Baptist. In 1283 it was mentioned as part of the domain of the Crusaders, according to the
hudna A ''hudna'' (from the Arabic meaning "calm" or "quiet") is a truce or armistice. It is sometimes translated as "cease-fire". In his medieval dictionary of classical Arabic, the ''Lisan al-Arab'', Ibn Manzur defined it as: : "''hadana'': he gre ...
between the Crusaders and the
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'') ...
sultan
Qalawun ( ar, قلاوون الصالحي, – November 10, 1290) was the seventh Bahri Mamluk sultan; he ruled Egypt from 1279 to 1290. He was called (, "Qalāwūn the Victorious"). Biography and rise to power Qalawun was a Kipchak, ancient Turkic ...
.


Ottoman era

In 987 H. (1579 CE) it is recorded that Assaf, the sanjaqbey of
al-Lajjun Lajjun ( ar, اللجّون, ''al-Lajjūn'') was a large Palestinian Arab village in Mandatory Palestine, located northwest of Jenin and south of the remains of the biblical city of Megiddo. The Israeli kibbutz of Megiddo, Israel was built o ...
, built 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, ...
in the village. In 1596, al-Tira was a village with a population of 52
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 286 persons, under the administrative jurisdiction of the ''
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 Shafa, part of
Sanjak Lajjun Lajjun ( ar, اللجّون, ''al-Lajjūn'') was a large Palestinian Arab village in Mandatory Palestine, located northwest of Jenin and south of the remains of the biblical city of Megiddo. The Israeli kibbutz of Megiddo, Israel was built o ...
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) ...
. Villagers paid a fixed tax-rate of 25% to the authorities for the crops that they cultivated, which included wheat, goats, beehives, and
vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards ...
s; a total of 26,000
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 ...
.Khalidi, 1992, p.196. In
1799 Events January–June * January 9 – British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger introduces an income tax of two shillings to the pound, to raise funds for Great Britain's war effort in the French Revolutionary Wars. * January ...
, it appeared under the name of El Koneiceh (= Kh. el Keniseh) on the map that
Pierre Jacotin Pierre Jacotin (1765–1827) was the director of the survey for the ''Carte de l'Égypte (Description de l'Égypte)'', the first triangulation-based map of Egypt, Syria and Palestine. The maps were surveyed in 1799-1800 during the campaign in Eg ...
compiled that year, though it was misplaced.
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 ...
visited in 1870, “I first examined a small mosque, which appears to have been formerly a Christian church. Aligned from west to east it has only a single nave and is terminated towards the east by an apse. One enters through a rectangular door crowned by a fine monolithic
lintel A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented structural item. In the case of w ...
. This church, which has been constructed with very regular ashlars, is covered by slightly pointed vaults, above which there is a flat terrace roof.” After the heavy conscription imposed by the Ottomans in 1872, there was a decline in the village's prosperity, but it subsequently recovered. A population list from about 1887 showed that Tireh had about 2,555 inhabitants; 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. File:El Tireh.jpg, Al-Tira (El Tireh)
Palestine Exploration Fund The Palestine Exploration Fund is a British society based in London. It was founded in 1865, shortly after the completion of the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem, and is the oldest known organization in the world created specifically for the study ...
map, 1875 File:Et Tira 1932.jpg, Al-Tira (Et Tira) 1932 1:20,000 File:Haifa 1945.jpg, Al-Tira (Tira) 1945 1:250,000


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, ''Tireh'' had a population of 2,346; 2,336 Palestinian
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, 1 Jew and 9 Christians, where the Christians were 1 Roman Catholic and 8 Orthodox. The population had increased in the 1931 census to 3,191 people; 3,173 Muslims, 17 Christians, 1 Druze, in a total of 624 houses. In 1943, al-Tira produced more olives and oil than any other village in the Haifa District. The abundance of almond trees in al-Tira gave rise to the village's nickname, ''Tirat al-Lawz'' ("Tira of the almonds"). By 1945, its 5,240
Muslims 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 Abraha ...
and 30
Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
shared two elementary schools, one for boys, the other for girls. Its economy was based on the cultivation of grain, vegetables and fruit, watered with the natural springs of the village. By the 1945 statistics, al Tira had a population of 5,270; 30 Christians and 5,240 Muslims, with a total land area of 45,262
dunam 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 ...
s. Of this, Palestinians used 16,219 for
cereal A cereal is any Poaceae, grass cultivated for the edible components of its grain (botanically, a type of fruit called a caryopsis), composed of the endosperm, Cereal germ, germ, and bran. Cereal Grain, grain crops are grown in greater quantit ...
s; 3,543 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards, while a total of 901 dunams were built-up (urban) land.


1948 depopulation and later

Tira was lightly attacked by the
Haganah Haganah ( he, הַהֲגָנָה, lit. ''The Defence'') was the main Zionist paramilitary organization of the Jewish population ("Yishuv") in Mandatory Palestine between 1920 and its disestablishment in 1948, when it became the core of the ...
on the night of 21–22 April 1948 "to prevent assistance being given to the Haifa Palestinians ", according to a British report. This caused an evacuation of some women and children of the village, according to Haganah military sources. At dawn on April 25, the
Haganah Haganah ( he, הַהֲגָנָה, lit. ''The Defence'') was the main Zionist paramilitary organization of the Jewish population ("Yishuv") in Mandatory Palestine between 1920 and its disestablishment in 1948, when it became the core of the ...
mortared Tira, and in the early hours of 26 April it launched a strong attack on the village, with the apparent aim of conquest, using mortars and machine guns. An infantry company reached the eastern outskirts of the village and conquered positions on the Carmel slopes overlooking the village, but was apparently halted by fire from British units. The village's non-combat population was then evacuated by the British, leaving several hundred armed men to defend it. It fell to Israeli forces in July. 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 ...
. Tira was first settled with Jewish immigrants in February 1949; by April it had a population of 2,000. Many of Tira's refugees fled to Jordan, mostly to
Irbid Irbid ( ar, إِربِد), known in ancient times as Arabella or Arbela (Άρβηλα in Ancient Greek language, Ancient Greek), is the capital and largest city of the Irbid Governorate. It also has the second largest metropolitan population in ...
. 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 village remains in 1992, noting that part of the village site had been incorporated into
Tirat Carmel Tirat Carmel ( he, טִירַת כַּרְמֶל), or ''Tirat HaCarmel'', is a city in the Haifa District in Israel. In it had a population of . Throughout the ages, the site of the modern city was controlled by many people, including the Roma ...
: "Some of the houses, such as one belonging to 'Irsan al-Dhib, remain standing. The cemetery is unkempt and there are several broken gravestones. The remains of two shrines are visible and the school is used by Israeli students, both Palestinians and Jewish. There are forests and some residential houses in the mountainous part of the surrounding land." Al-Tira had two mosques, named the Old and the New. The Old mosque was originally a church, and was already out of use by 1932.Petersen, 2001, p
306
/ref> The New mosque appears to be still standing, but now converted into a
synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...
. The age of the New Mosque is not agreed upon; Pringle states that it is the mosque built by Assaf in 1579 C.E. However, Petersen, who inspected it in 1994, reports that this is incorrect, and that an inscription set in an arched recess by the door to what was the entrance to the prayer hall records, in provincial nasskhi script, the construction of the mosque to Ishaq ibn Amir in 687 H. (1288-1289 CE). By 2011, four books about the Palestinian village history had been published.Davis, 2011, p
30
/ref> File:Al-Tira, Haifa former Mosque.jpg, Former Mosque in Al-Tira, presently a synagogue File:Al-Tira, Haifa, old school building.png, Old school building in Al-Tira, Haifa File:Al-Tira, Haifa, Police station.png, Al-Tira, Haifa, Police station


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * *Heyd, Uriel (1960): ''Ottoman Documents on Palestine, 1552-1615'', Oxford University Press, Oxford. Cited in Petersen (2001) * * * * * * *Mülinen, Eberhard Friedrich von, 1908,
Beiträge zur Kenntnis des Karmels
' "Separateabdruck aus der Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palëstina-Vereins Band XXX (1907) Seite 117-207 und Band XXXI (1908) Seite 1-258." ("Et-Tire": p
142
ff. ) * * * Also cited in Petersen (2001) * (p
432
* * * * * * *


External links


al-Tira (Haifa)
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 5:
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 ...
*
Rami Nashashibi Rami Nashashibi is a Palestinian-American activist, community organizer, sociologist, and Islamic studies scholar. He founded the nonprofit organization Inner-City Muslim Action Network in 1997, working as its executive director for many years, an ...
(1996)
al-Tira
Center for Research and Documentation of Palestinian Society. {{Palestinian Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Palestine War Arab villages depopulated prior to the 1948 Arab–Israeli War District of Haifa