Al-Malikiyya ( ar, المالكية) was a Palestinian village located in the Jabal Amil region. In a 1920s census, the village was registered as part of Greater Lebanon. It was later placed under the British Mandate of Palestine. Its population was mostly Metawali Shiite. In a 1930s census, the village was registered as Palestinian and part of the Safed District. The village was depopulated as a result of 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 ...

History

According to the Arab geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi (d. 1228), the people of al-Malikiyya had a wooden platter that they believed was originally owned by the prophet

Mohammed Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monoth ...

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''' (district) of Safad, 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 pr ...

, 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 Mino ...

visited in 1875, and noted that Al-Malkiyya had 300 Metawali inhabitants. He further noted that the village, which stood upon a lofty summit, was remarkable for possessing neither well nor

cistern A cistern (Middle English ', from Latin ', from ', "box", from Greek ', "basket") is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by t ...

; 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'' (SWP) described Al-Malkiyya as being built of stone and

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 ...

, 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 onl ...

, the village's 200-300 inhabitants cultivated

olive 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'' ...

British Mandate era

In the

1931 census of Palestine The 1931 census of Palestine was the second census carried out by the authorities of the British Mandate for Palestine. It was carried out on 18 November 1931 under the direction of Major E. Mills after the 1922 census of Palestine. * Census of P ...

, 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 ) , founded = 1 August 1945 , current_form = 1991 , disbanded = , branches = Lebanese Ground ForcesLebanese Air Force Lebanese Navy , headquarters = Yarze, Lebanon , flying_hours = , websit ...

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

References

Bibliography

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External links

Welcome to al-Malikiyyaal-Malikiyya
Zochrot
al-Malikiyya
Dr. Khalil Rizk. *Survey of Western Palestine, Map 4
IAAWikimedia commons

from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center {{Palestinian Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Palestine War Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War District of Safad