Khirbat Bayt Far was a
Palestinian 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. 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'' (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
Kfar Uria ( he, כְּפַר אוּרִיָּה, ) is a moshav in central Israel. Located near Beit Shemesh in the Shephelah. It falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Yehuda Regional Council. In it had a population of .
History
The village was fi ...
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
Tal Shahar ( he, טַל שַׁחַר, ''lit.'' Dawn Dew) is a moshav in central Israel. Located between Gedera and Latrun, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Yehuda Regional Council. In , it had a population of .
History
The village was est ...
.[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
*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 16:
IAA
Wikimedia commons
{{Palestinian Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Palestine War
Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War
District of Ramla