Al-Sindiyana ( ar, السنديانة, ''Es Sindiyâna'') 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 ...

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

village in the

Haifa Subdistrict The Haifa subdistrict is one of Israel's sub-districts in Haifa District Haifa District ( he, מחוז חיפה, ''Mehoz Ḥeifa''; ar, منطقة حيفا) is an administrative district surrounding the city of Haifa, Israel. The district i ...

. It was depopulated during the

1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine The 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine was the first phase of the 1947–1949 Palestine war. It broke out after the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution on 29 November 1947 recommending the adoption of the Pa ...

on May 12, 1948. It was located 29 km south of

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

History

Ottoman era

On 16 March 1799, during the Ottoman era,

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

had a battle here just north of the village. In 1859, the population was estimated to be 300, who cultivated 22

feddan A feddan ( ar, فدّان, faddān) is a unit of area used in Egypt, Sudan, Syria, and the Oman. In Classical Arabic, the word means 'a yoke of oxen', implying the area of ground that could be tilled by oxen in a certain time. In Egypt, the fedda ...

s of land.Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p
43
/ref>

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 the village in 1863. Transcribing its name as ''Sendianeh'', he notes there are 400 inhabitants and that its name must derive from the

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

word ''sendian'', meaning "evergreen oak", as these abound on the hills flanking the village.Guérin, 1875
p. 342
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 ...

'' described ''Sindianeh'' as a "village of moderate size on high ground, with a spring below it, and a cave; it was here that the tunnel of the Cæsarea aqueduct is said to have broken into by women digging for clay". A population list from about 1887 showed that Al-Sindiyana had about 520 inhabitants; all

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 ...

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, ''Al Sendianeh'' had a population of 576; all

s, increasing in the 1931 census to 923; 922 Muslim and 1 Jew, in a total of 217 houses. Al-Sindiyana had an elementary school for boys, which by 1942-1943 had 200 students. The village had several wells and springs.Khalidi, 1992, p. 192 In the 1945 statistics it had a population of 1,250 Muslims, with a total of 15,172 dunams of land.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p
49
/ref> Of this, a total of 8,177 dunums of land was allocated to

cereal A cereal is any Poaceae, grass cultivated for the edible components of its grain (botanically, a type of fruit called a caryopsis), composed of the endosperm, Cereal germ, germ, and bran. Cereal Grain, grain crops are grown in greater quantit ...

s; 225 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards, while 24 dunams were built-up (urban) land.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p
142
/ref> File:Sindiyana 1942.jpg, Al-Sindiyana 1942 1:20,000 File:Qannir 1945.jpg, Al-Sindiyana 1945 1:250,000 File:ביקור המורה ותלמידיו מהכפר הערבי סינדיאני חנוכה תרצא 1931 - iשפיה-2i btm6871.jpeg, Children from Al-Sindiyana and

Meir Shfeya Meir Shfeya ( he, מֵאִיר שְׁפֵיָה) is a youth village and agricultural boarding school in northern Israel. Located near Zikhron Ya'akov, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof HaCarmel Regional Council. In it had a population of . ...

(Jewish youth village) playing together, 1931

Post 1948

In 1992 the village site was described: "The site is fenced in with barbed wire. Scattered piles of stones, the debris of destroyed houses, are visible among thorns, cactuses and fig, olive, and palm trees. The surrounding lands are used by Israelis as a grazing area."

References

Bibliography

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

External links

Welcome To al-Sindiyanaal-Sindiyana

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 8:
IAAWikimedia commons
at

Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center () is a leading Palestinian arts and culture organization that aims to create a pluralistic, critical liberating culture through research, query, and participation, and that provides an open space for the community ...

{{Palestinian Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Palestine War Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War District of Haifa