Indur ( ar, إندور) was a Palestinian village, located southeast of

Nazareth Nazareth ( ; ar, النَّاصِرَة, ''an-Nāṣira''; he, נָצְרַת, ''Nāṣəraṯ''; arc, ܢܨܪܬ, ''Naṣrath'') is the largest city in the Northern District of Israel. Nazareth is known as "the Arab capital of Israel". In ...

. Its name preserves that of ancient Endor, a Canaanite city state thought to have been located to the northeast.Mazar, 1971, p. 318. The village was depopulated during 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 ...

and its inhabitants became

refugees A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

, some of whom were internally displaced. In Israel today, there are a few thousand

internally displaced Palestinians Present absentees are Arab internally displaced persons (IDPs) who fled or were expelled from their homes in Mandatory Palestine during the 1947–1949 Palestine war but remained within the area that became the state of Israel. The term applies ...

who hail from Indur, and continue to demand their

right of return The right of return is a principle in international law which guarantees everyone's right of voluntary return to, or re-entry to, their country of origin or of citizenship. The right of return is part of the broader human rights concept freedom of ...

Etymology

The name of this village is thought to preserve that of the ancient Canaanite city of Endor mentioned in the Bible as the place King Saul encountered a known medium. While a few scholars believe that Indur is the actual site of ancient Endor, no ancient remains have been found at the site, and many believe that Khirbet Safsafa, located to the northeast, is a more likely candidate.Negev and Gibson, 2005, p. 166.Freedman, et al., 2006, p
406
/ref>

History

In 1596, Indur was a part of the Ottoman '' nahiya'' ("subdistrict") of ''Shafa'' under the '' liwa''' ("district") of Lajjun with a population of 4

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 twenty-two persons. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 25% on a number of crops, including wheat, barley and

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'' ...

s, as well as goats and beehives; a total of 3,000

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 ...

Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 157. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 344. A map by Pierre Jacotin from Napoleon's invasion of 1799 showed the place, named as ''Handourah.'' By the late nineteenth century, the village was made of

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 ...

bricks, built against a steep hillside. To the east of the village there were several caves.

British Mandate era

In Ottoman era

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

, an elementary school was founded in Indur, but closed during the

British Mandate in Palestine The Mandate for Palestine was a League of Nations mandate for British administration of the territories of Palestine and Transjordan, both of which had been conceded by the Ottoman Empire following the end of World War I in 1918. The manda ...

.Khalidi, 1992, p. 346 According to 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 ...

, Indur had 311 inhabitants; 310 Muslims and 1 Christian,Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Nazareth, p
38
/ref> where the one Christian was Orthodox. By the 1931 census the population had increased to 445; 444 Muslims and 1 Christian, in a total of 75 houses.Mills, 1932, p
74
/ref> Sheikh Tawfiq Ibrahim, one of the leaders of the 1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine and an associate of Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, was from Indur. In the 1945 statistics the population of Indur was 620 Muslims, with a total of 12,444

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 land, according to an official land and population survey.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p
62
/ref> Of this, 24 dunams were for citrus and bananas, 394 for plantations and irrigable land, 10,061 for cereals, while 29 dunams were built-up land.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p
159
/ref>

1948, and aftermath

The village was occupied by Israel's

Golani Brigade The 1st "Golani" Brigade ( he, חֲטִיבַת גּוֹלָנִי) is an Israeli military infantry brigade that is subordinated to the 36th Division and traditionally associated with the Northern Command. It is one of the five infantry brigade ...

on May 16, 1948.Morris, 2004, p.
260
/ref> Most of the population probably fled at the start of the battle, and several who "tried to escape" were shot. A small garrison was left, which reported that the remaining population were being expelled in the direction of Nazareth. In 1992 the village site was described: "Many partially ruined walls still stand on the village site. Date, doum palm, fig, and almond trees grow on the village lands. The surrounding flat lands are cultivated by Israelis and the hilly lands serve as grazing area." During the 2004 commemorations of Nakba Day held by Palestinian

Arab citizens of Israel The Arab citizens of Israel are the largest ethnic minority in the country. They comprise a hybrid community of Israeli citizens with a heritage of Palestinian citizenship, mixed religions (Muslim, Christian or Druze), bilingual in Arabic an ...

, the annual

march led to Indur. Jewish Israelis joined in the march and the event received coverage by Israeli cable and Arab satellite TV stations. Indur's former residents and their descendants number a few thousand from among the tens of thousands of

within Israel today.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

Welcome To Indur Indur
Zochrot *Survey of Western Palestine, Map 9
IAAWikimedia commons
at Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center
Ndoor
Dr. Moslih Kanaaneh {{Palestinian Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Palestine War Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War District of Nazareth