Wadi al-Hawarith ( ar, وادي الحوارث) was a
Palestinian bedouin
Palestinian Bedouins are a nomadic people who have come to form an organic part of the Palestinian people, characterized by a semi-pastoral and agricultural lifestyle. Originating from the Bi’r as-Saba’/Beersheba region in Southern Historic ...
camping site in the
Tulkarm Subdistrict. It was depopulated at the outbreak 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 ...
on March 15, 1948, following the
1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine.
It was located 16.5 km northwest of
Tulkarm. Wadi al-Hawarith was mostly destroyed with the exception of four houses.
In 1945, Wadi al-Hawarith had a total population of 1,330.
The camping site today corresponds more or less to
Nahal Alexander National Park, the national park covering what is now called Hefer Valley, the namesake of
Hefer Valley Regional Council.
History
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, Wadi al-Hawarith had 812 inhabitants; 810 Muslims and 2 Christians, where the Christians were one Roman Catholic and one Maronite. The population had increased in the
1931 census to 1,112; 1,077 Muslims, 30 Jews and 5 Christians, in a total of 255 houses.
In 1933, Zionist settled three places close to Wadi al-Hawarith:
Kfar Vitkin was south of village land,
Mikhmoret to the west of Wadi al-Hawarith, north, and
Ma'abarot southwest of Wadi al-Hawarith, south. Neither of these settlements were on village land.
[
In 1934 Kfar Haroeh was settled on what was traditionally village land.][
Village Statistics, compiled in 1938 by the Government Office of Statistics, recorded the population of Wadi al-Hawarith as 2974; out of them, 1716 Jews and 1258 non-Jews.
The ]Jewish National Fund
Jewish National Fund ( he, קֶרֶן קַיֶּימֶת לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, ''Keren Kayemet LeYisrael'', previously , ''Ha Fund HaLeumi'') was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Syria (later Mandatory Palestine, and subseq ...
acquired lands amounting to 30,800 dunams at auction from absentee landlords and initiated legal proceedings to evict the current tenants, who were impoverished Bedouin that were resisting their removal. The British-appointed Shaw Commission notes that a "state of extreme apprehension" gripped the Palestinian public at large, whose members feared that they too would suffer the same fate of displacement at the hands of Jewish colonists.
In the 1945 statistics, Wadi al-Hawarith (North) had 850 inhabitants, while Wadi al-Hawarith (South) had 480; 1,330 in total, all Muslims,[ and the total land area was 9,812 dunams. Arabs used 960 dunams for cereals, while they owned 1,555 dunams of uncultivable land.][Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p]
178
/ref>
In 1947 Zionists also settled Geulei Teiman on what was traditionally village land.[
]
1948 war
The Arab Liberation Army instructed in mid-February 1948 the inhabitants of Wadi al-Hawarith to evacuate their women and property to the Arab area, which it is unclear if they did. After an ambush by 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 ...
the month after, which killed three or four Arabs, the inhabitants began to leave but stressing "that the Jews all along had promised them that nothing bad would happen to them" if they stayed. The British mandate authorities advised them to leave and helped with a military escort. The evacuation apparently took several weeks.[Morris, 2004, p.]
129
/ref>
In early May, advisers of the Alexandroni Brigade
The Alexandroni Brigade (3rd Brigade) is an Israel Defense Forces brigade that has fought in multiple Israeli wars. History
Along with the 7th Armoured Brigade both units had 139 killed during the first battle of Latrun (1948), Operation Ben Nu ...
recommended destroying the homes in Wadi al-Hawarith, except those of stone "that may be made fit for human .e., Jewishhabitation".
The ''Canadian Jewish Chronicle'' reported from Jerusalem on March 29, published on April 2, saying that the sudden mass exodus of Arab villagers "heightened the belief here that Arab gangs are preparing for an all-out assault on Tel Aviv and Jewish coastal areas in the immediate future." According to this article, the evacuees had always had friendly relations with the settlers. The evacuation apparently was coordinated between the Jews and Sheik Abu Kishek, head of a prominent tribe in the Tel Aviv area, and states that Sheik Kishek had spent the previous month at Mufti headquarters, and "reportedly got instructions to evacuate the area."
References
Bibliography
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99
ff)
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External links
Welcome To Wadi al-Hawarith, Palestine Remembered
Wadi al-Hawarith
Zochrot
*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 10:
IAA
Wikimedia commons
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wadi al-Hawarith
Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War
District of Tulkarm