Az-Zakariyya
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Az-Zakariyya or Zakaria ( ar, زكرية) was a
Palestinian Arab Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
village 25 km northwest of the city
Hebron Hebron ( ar, الخليل or ; he, חֶבְרוֹן ) is a Palestinian. city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies above sea level. The second-largest city in the West Bank (after East J ...
(al-Khalil) in the Hebron Subdistrict, and about north-northwest of
Bayt Jibrin Bayt Jibrin or Beit Jibrin ( ar, بيت جبرين; he, בית גוברין, translit=Beit Gubrin) was a Palestinians, Palestinian village located northwest of the city of Hebron. The village had a total land area of 56,185 dunams or , ...
, which was depopulated after the end 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 ...
. The village had a population of 1,180 on 15,320 dunums in 1945. The village was named in honor of the prophet Zachariah. In 1950, the Israeli army expelled the entire population that remained in the village and a new Jewish
moshav A moshav ( he, מוֹשָׁב, plural ', lit. ''settlement, village'') is a type of Israeli town or settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists between 1904 an ...
, now Hebraized as
Zekharia Zekharia ( he, זְכַרְיָה) is a moshav in central Israel. Located near Beit Shemesh, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Yehuda Regional Council. In it had a population of . Geography Zekharia is located off the road between Beit G ...
, was founded over the ruins of the Palestinian village.


Location

The village lay beside a '' Tell'' by the same name. The ''Tell'' rests upon a high hilltop, whereas the village lay on a slightly elevated part of the valley below, on the northwest side of the hill.van de Velde, 1858,
115
/ref> The hill rises to a maximum elevation of 372 meters above sea level, with a mean elevation of approximately 275 meters above sea level. The village lay next to the road between
Bayt Jibrin Bayt Jibrin or Beit Jibrin ( ar, بيت جبرين; he, בית גוברין, translit=Beit Gubrin) was a Palestinians, Palestinian village located northwest of the city of Hebron. The village had a total land area of 56,185 dunams or , ...
and the
Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
-
Jaffa Jaffa, in Hebrew Yafo ( he, יָפוֹ, ) and in Arabic Yafa ( ar, يَافَا) and also called Japho or Joppa, the southern and oldest part of Tel Aviv-Yafo, is an ancient port city in Israel. Jaffa is known for its association with the b ...
highway. The streams of Wadi
Ajjur Ajjur ( ar, عجّور) was a Palestinian Arab village of over 3,700 inhabitants in 1945, located northwest of Hebron. It became depopulated in 1948 after several military assaults by Israeli military forces. Agur, Tzafririm, Givat Yeshayahu, ...
and al-Sarara were located a few kilometers north of the village.Khalidi, 1992, pp. 224-225


History

A
tomb A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a :wikt:repository, repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be ...
, dating from the early
Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
, has been excavated here. Among the pottery found in the grave was a figurine, representing
Astarte Astarte (; , ) is the Hellenized form of the Ancient Near Eastern goddess Ashtart or Athtart (Northwest Semitic), a deity closely related to Ishtar (East Semitic), who was worshipped from the Bronze Age through classical antiquity. The name i ...
. A town called ''Beit Zacharia'' (var. ''Kefar Zacharia'') existed on the hill in Roman times, from whence the village takes its name. According to
Sozomen Salamanes Hermias Sozomenos ( grc-gre, Σαλαμάνης Ἑρμείας Σωζομενός; la, Sozomenus; c. 400 – c. 450 AD), also known as Sozomen, was a Roman lawyer and historian of the Christian Church. Family and home He was born arou ...
, the body of the prophet Zachariah was found here in 415 C.E. and a church and monastery were established.Petersen, 2001, p
320
/ref> The village was under the administrative jurisdiction of
Bayt Jibrin Bayt Jibrin or Beit Jibrin ( ar, بيت جبرين; he, בית גוברין, translit=Beit Gubrin) was a Palestinians, Palestinian village located northwest of the city of Hebron. The village had a total land area of 56,185 dunams or , ...
. On April 29, 1309 (=
Dhu al-Qa’da Dhu al-Qa'dah ( ar, ذُو ٱلْقَعْدَة, ', ), also spelled Dhu al-Qi'dah or Zu al-Qa'dah, is the eleventh month in the Islamic calendar. It could possibly mean "possessor or owner of the sitting and seating place" - the space occupied w ...
18, in the
Hijri year The Hijri year ( ar, سَنة هِجْريّة) or era ( ''at-taqwīm al-hijrī'') is the era used in the Islamic lunar calendar. It begins its count from the Islamic New Year in which Muhammad and his followers migrated from Mecca to Yathrib ...
708), in the early
Mamluk Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning " slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') ...
era, two representatives from Az-Zakariyya; Farraj bin Sa‘d bin Furayj and Nassar bin ‘Amara bin Sa‘id; promised that the revenues of Az-Zakariyya should go to the
Dome of the Rock The Dome of the Rock ( ar, قبة الصخرة, Qubbat aṣ-Ṣakhra) is an Islamic shrine located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, a site also known to Muslims as the ''al-Haram al-Sharif'' or the Al-Aqsa Compound. Its initial ...
and the
Al-Aqsa Mosque Al-Aqsa Mosque (, ), also known as Jami' Al-Aqsa () or as the Qibli Mosque ( ar, المصلى القبلي, translit=al-Muṣallā al-Qiblī, label=none), and also is a congregational mosque located in the Old City of Jerusalem. It is situate ...
. However, by the end of Mamluk era, the village was a dependency of
Hebron Hebron ( ar, الخليل or ; he, חֶבְרוֹן ) is a Palestinian. city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies above sea level. The second-largest city in the West Bank (after East J ...
, and formed part of the
waqf A waqf ( ar, وَقْف; ), also known as hubous () or '' mortmain'' property is an inalienable charitable endowment under Islamic law. It typically involves donating a building, plot of land or other assets for Muslim religious or charitabl ...
supporting the
Ibrahimi Mosque , alternate_name = Tomb of the Patriarchs, Cave of Machpelah, Sanctuary of Abraham, Ibrahimi Mosque (Mosque of Abraham) , image = Palestine Hebron Cave of the Patriarchs.jpg , alt = , caption = Southern view of the complex, 2009 , map ...
. In the 1480s C.E.
Felix Fabri Felix Fabri (also spelt Faber; 1441 – 1502) was a Swiss Dominican theologian. He left vivid and detailed descriptions of his pilgrimages to Palestine and also in 1489 authored a book on the history of Swabia, entitled ''Historia Suevorum''. H ...
described how he stayed in a "roomy inn", next to a "fair mosque" in the village.


Ottoman era

In 1517, Az-Zakariyya was incorporated into the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
with the rest of
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 ...
, and in 1596 the village appeared in the Ottoman tax registers listed as ''Zakariyya al-Battih'' under the administration of the ''
nahiya A nāḥiyah ( ar, , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level division w ...
'' ("subdistrict") of Quds (Jerusalem), part of the Sanjak of Quds. It had a population of 47
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 259 persons) and paid a fixed tax rate of 33,3% on wheat, barley, olives, beehives, and goats; a total of 11,000
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 ...
. All of the revenue went to a
waqf A waqf ( ar, وَقْف; ), also known as hubous () or '' mortmain'' property is an inalienable charitable endowment under Islamic law. It typically involves donating a building, plot of land or other assets for Muslim religious or charitabl ...
. A
Maqam (shrine) A Maqām ( ar, مقام) is a shrine built on the site associated with a religious figure or saint, typical to the regions of Palestine and Syria. It is usually a funeral construction, commonly cubic-shaped and topped with a dome. Maqams are as ...
in the village dedicated to the prophet Zechariah was noticed by Edward Robinson in 1838, while van de Velde, recorded its name as ''Kefr Zakaria'' in the 1850s. 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 ...
found the place to have five hundred inhabitants,Guérin, 1869, p
371
/ref> while an Ottoman village list of about 1870 showed that Az-Zakariyya had 41 houses and a population of 128, though the population count included men only.Socin, 1879, p
163
/ref> In 1883, 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 Zakariyya as sitting on a slope above a broad valley surrounded by olive groves. In 1896 the population of ''(Tell) Zakarja'' was estimated to be about 636 persons.


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, Zakaria had a population of 683, all Muslim,Barron, 1923, Table V, Sub-district of Hebron, p.
10
/ref> increasing in the 1931 census to 742, still all Muslims, in 189 occupied houses.Mills, 1932, p
34
/ref> In the 1945 statistics the population was 1,180, all Muslims, with a total of 15,320 dunams of land. In 1944/45 a total of 6,523 dunums of village 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, 961 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards, of which 440 dunums were planted with olive trees, while 70 dunams were built-up (urban) areas. In the 1946 Tax Form 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 ...
, there were 357 "assessable inhabitants" living in Zakariyya, of which 232 were landowners.


1948 and aftermath

The village was located inside the territory allotted to a future Arab state in the UN's 1947 partition plan. In 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 ...
, Az-Zakariyya was the longest lasting Arab community in the southern Jerusalem Corridor.Morris, 2004, p
521
/ref> The village was captured in October 1948 during
Operation Ha-Har Operation Ha-Har ( he, ההר, ''The Mountain''), or Operation El Ha-Har, was an Israeli Defence Forces campaign against villages southwest of Jerusalem launched at the end of October 1948. The operation lasted from 19 to 24 October and was carr ...
, when the Israeli military used artillery to shell Az-Zakariyya and stormed the village at night. In the course of
Operation Yoav Operation Yoav (also called ''Operation Ten Plagues'' or ''Operation Yo'av'') was an Israeli military operation carried out from 15–22 October 1948 in the Negev Desert, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Its goal was to drive a wedge between th ...
, the 54th Battalion of the
Givati Brigade The 84th "Givati" Brigade ( he, חֲטִיבַת גִּבְעָתִי, , "Hill Brigade" or "Highland Brigade") is an Israel Defense Forces infantry brigade. Until 2005, the Brigade used to be stationed within the Gaza Strip and primarily perf ...
, found the village "almost empty", as most of the residents had temporarily fled to the nearby hills. Two residents were executed by Israeli soldiers. Many of the villagers returned to their homes after the cessation of hostilities. In December 1948 the army evicted about 40 "old men and women" to the
West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
. In March 1949 the
Interior Ministry An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...
requested the eviction of "145 or so" remaining villagers: the official in charge of the Jerusalem District said there were many good houses in the village which could be used to accommodate several hundred new Jewish immigrants. In January 1950
David Ben-Gurion David Ben-Gurion ( ; he, דָּוִד בֶּן-גּוּרִיּוֹן ; born David Grün; 16 October 1886 – 1 December 1973) was the primary national founder of the State of Israel and the first prime minister of Israel. Adopting the name ...
,
Moshe Sharett Moshe Sharett ( he, משה שרת, born Moshe Chertok (Hebrew: )‎ 15 October 1894 – 7 July 1965) was a Russian-born Israeli politician who served as Israel's second prime minister from 1954 to 1955. A member of Mapai, Sharett's term was b ...
and
Yosef Weitz Yosef Weitz ( he, יוסף ויץ; 1890–1972) was the director of the Land and Afforestation Department of the Jewish National Fund (JNF). From the 1930s, Weitz played a major role in acquiring land for the Yishuv, the pre-state Jewish community ...
decided to evict the villagers, "but without coercion." On March 19, 1950, the transfer of the Arabs of Zakariya was approved and the order was carried out on June 9, 1950. The manner of expulsion of the villagers is not mentioned. The people of Zakariyya were evicted on 17 May 1950 by the military. Fifteen families comprising 65 people, were transferred to the town of
Ramla Ramla or Ramle ( he, רַמְלָה, ''Ramlā''; ar, الرملة, ''ar-Ramleh'') is a city in the Central District of Israel. Today, Ramle is one of Israel's mixed cities, with both a significant Jewish and Arab populations. The city was f ...
, while the rest of the community, some 130 people, were taken to a location near the Jordanian border where they were ordered to walk over. To hasten the process, "soldiers shot in the air several times". They eventually settled in the West Bank refugee camps of
al-Arroub Al-Arroub ( ar, مخيّم العروب, , Camp al-'Arrub) is a Palestinian refugee camp located in the southern West Bank along the Hebron-Jerusalem road, in the Hebron Governorate of the State of Palestine. Al-Arroub is 15 kilometers south o ...
and Dheisheh Refugee Camp, where the village's war refugees had settled.Mordechai Bar-On, officer in charge of the eviction. Quoted in Morris, 2004, p
521
/ref> Two weeks after the village was emptied, the Jewish Agency resettled families of Jewish-Kurdish settlers near the village, later moving them inside the former Palestinian village to become residents of a new
moshav A moshav ( he, מוֹשָׁב, plural ', lit. ''settlement, village'') is a type of Israeli town or settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists between 1904 an ...
, now Hebraized as
Zekharia Zekharia ( he, זְכַרְיָה) is a moshav in central Israel. Located near Beit Shemesh, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Yehuda Regional Council. In it had a population of . Geography Zekharia is located off the road between Beit G ...
.Khalidi, 1992, p. 226 During the 1960s, most of the buildings in the village were destroyed as part of a national program to "level" depopulated villages. In 1992,
Walid Khalidi Walid Khalidi ( ar, وليد خالدي, born 1925 in Jerusalem) is an Oxford University-educated Palestinian people, Palestinian historian who has written extensively on the 1948 Palestinian exodus, Palestinian exodus. He is a co-founder of the ...
described the remaining structures: "The mosque and a number of houses, some occupied by Jewish residents and others deserted, remain on the site. Large sections of the site itself are covered with wild vegetation. The mosque is in a state of neglect and an Israeli flag is planted on top of the minaret. .One of the occupied houses is a two-storey stone structure with a flat roof. Its second story windows have round arches and grillwork. Parts of the surrounding lands are cultivated by Israeli farmers."


Culture

The village was known for its
Palestinian costumes Palestinian traditional costumes are the types of clothing historically and sometimes still presently worn by Palestinians. Foreign travelers to Palestine in the 19th and early 20th centuries often commented on the rich variety of the costumes w ...
. A wedding dress from Zakariyya (ca. 1930) is part of the collection in
Museum of International Folk Art The Museum of International Folk Art is a state-run institution in Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States. It is one of many cultural institutions operated by the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs. History The museum was founded by Floren ...
(MOIFA) at Museum of New Mexico at Santa Fe.Stillman, 1979, p. 60.


Notable residents

*
Nasr Abdel Aziz Eleyan Nasr Abdel Aziz Eleyan ( ar, نصر عبد العزيز born 1941), is a Palestinian artist and a television interior designer/producer. He was born in the former village of az-Zakariyya, north of Hebron in the Mandatory Palestine. The town was ca ...


Gallery

File:Ajjur 1945.jpg, Az-Zakariyya 1945 1:250,000 File:Ajjur 1947.jpg, Az-Zakariyya 1947 1:20,000 File:Bayt Jibrin ii.jpg, Az-Zakariyya 1948 File:Mosque in Zakariah, June 2015.jpg, Mosque of Az-Zakariyya, 2015, containing the tomb of Zacharias


References


Bibliography

* Zakariyya: pp. 1–17 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * (A catalog of the
Museum_of_International_Folk_Art
_.html" ;"title="Museum of International Folk Art">Museum of International Folk Art
">Museum of International Folk Art">Museum of International Folk Art
(MOIFA) at Santa Fe's collection of Palestinian clothing and jewellery.) *


External links


Welcome to ZakariyyaZakariyya
Zochrot *Survey of Western Palestine, Map 17
IAAWikimedia commons
{{Palestinian Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Palestine War Arab villages depopulated after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War District of Hebron