Khirbat Bayt Far 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 of
Mandatory Palestine
Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 ...
, located 14 km south of
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 ...
. It was depopulated during the
1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on April 7, 1948.
History
Ceramics from the
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
era have been found here.
Ottoman era
In 1838, in the late
Ottoman era, it was noted as a village in ruins.
[Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, p]
21
/ref>[Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p.]
120
/ref>
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 "important ruins" here. "There once stood a hamlet, the ruins of which are scattered over a feeble mound amid the bushes and tall grass."
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) found here: "Walls and foundations, apparently modern, with caves and a spring."
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, Bait Far had a population of 28 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> decreasing in the 1931 census to 26 Muslims, in a total of 11 houses.[Mills, 1932, p]
18
In the 1945 statistics the village had a population of 300 Muslims[ with a total of 5,604 ]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, 19 dunums were for plantations and irrigable land, 5,337 dunums were for cereals, while a total of 248 dunams were classified as non-cultivable areas.]
1948, aftermath
On 11 January 1948, Kfar Uriah was attacked by Arabs who came from neighboring Beit Jiz
and Khirbet Beit Far.[Morris, 2008, p. 102]
In 1948, Beyt Pe'er was founded on village land, it later changed its name into Tal Shahar.[Morris, 2004, p]
380
Morris notes that Tal Shahar was first named ''Tal-Boqer''
In 1992 the village site was described: "All that is left of the village are debris and girders heaped together in a small area. The site is ringed by carob trees. The remains of an uprooted olive grove lies to the north and east."
References
Bibliography
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* (p
376
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External links
Welcome To Bayt Far, Khirbat, Palestine Remembered
Khirbat Bayt Far
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
{{Palestinian Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Palestine War
Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War
District of Ramla