Arab al-Bawati ( ar, عرب البواطي/خربة الحكمة), 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 District of Baysan. It was depopulated during the
1948 Arab-Israeli War.
It was located 4 kilometres north east of
Baysan
Beit She'an ( he, בֵּית שְׁאָן '), also Beth-shean, formerly Beisan ( ar, بيسان ), is a town in the Northern District of Israel. The town lies at the Beit She'an Valley about 120 m (394 feet) below sea level.
Beit She'an is be ...
in the Baysan valley.
History
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 ''Kh. el Hakeimiyeh'' as having "ruined walls and a few modern deserted houses – a small deserted village".
British Mandate era
In the
1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the
Mandatory Palestine authorities, Bawati had a population of 348 Muslims, increasing in the
1931 census to 461 (under the name of Arab Hakamiya''), still all Muslims, in 86 houses.
In the
1945 statistics it had a population of 520 Muslims
[ with a total of 10,641 dunums of land.][ That year Arabs used 2,225 dunams of village lands for plantations and irrigated land, 3,335 for cereals, while 52 dunams were classed as uncultivable.
]
1948 and aftermath
Many of the villagers left early in the war, apparently after a Haganah attack.[Morris, 2004, p. ]
160
note #543
The village was destroyed on May 16, or May 20, 1948.[ Following the war the area was incorporated into the State of Israel and the land was left undeveloped; the nearest village is ]Hamadia
Hamadia ( he, חֲמַדְיָה) is a kibbutz in the Beit She'an Valley, just north of Beit She'an in northern Israel. It belongs to the Valley of Springs Regional Council. In it had a population of .
Name
The kibbutz took its name from al-Ha ...
.
In 1992, it was described: "All of the village houses have been demolished. The remains of basalt stone walls and the square and circular foundations of buildings can be seen among the weeds."[ Evidence of historic occupation includes Roman milestones and ruined buildings at the ''Khirbat al Bawati''.][Khalidi, 1992, p. 42]
References
Bibliography
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External links
Welcome To 'Arab al-Bawati'Arab al-Bawati
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 9
IAAWikimedia commons
from 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 ...
Interview with Nakba survivor Ibrahim Muhammad al-Bawati
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arab Al-Bawati
Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War