Biyar 'Adas
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Biyar 'Adas ( ar, بِيار عدس) 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 located 19 km northeast of the city of
Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...
. In 1945 the village had a population of 300 and a total land area of 5,492 dunums.


History


Ottoman Empire

In 1856 the village was named ''Bir 'Adas'' on Kiepert's map of Palestine published that year. In 1870
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 it as located on a small height, and an Ottoman village list from about the same year showed that Bijar 'Adas had a population of 198 in a total of 60 houses, though that population count included men, only. It was further noted that the name meant "The
cistern A cistern (Middle English ', from Latin ', from ', "box", from Greek ', "basket") is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by t ...
of
lentil The lentil (''Lens culinaris'' or ''Lens esculenta'') is an edible legume. It is an annual plant known for its lens-shaped seeds. It is about tall, and the seeds grow in pods, usually with two seeds in each. As a food crop, the largest pro ...
s". 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 ...
'' (SWP) described Biyar 'Adas as a village built of
adobe Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for ''mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of e ...
bricks, with a
well A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...
to the east.


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, ''Biar Adas'' had a population of 87, all Muslims,Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Jaffa, p
20
/ref> increasing in the 1931 census to 161, still all Muslim, in a total of 28 houses.Mills, 1932, p
13
/ref> In the early hours of May 29, 1939, 25 members of the
Irgun Irgun • Etzel , image = Irgun.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = Irgun emblem. The map shows both Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan, which the Irgun claimed in its entirety for a future Jewish state. The acronym "Etzel" i ...
led by Moshe Moldovsky attacked Biyar 'Adas on the grounds that its residents were harboring what they have seen as "gangs". The members of the unit were instructed to avoid harming women, children and the elderly. They forced their way into two houses and shot dead one man and four women. Two men and a girl were wounded. In a letter,
Ze'ev Jabotinsky Ze'ev Jabotinsky ( he, זְאֵב זַ׳בּוֹטִינְסְקִי, ''Ze'ev Zhabotinski'';, ''Wolf Zhabotinski'' 17 October 1880  – 3 August 1940), born Vladimir Yevgenyevich Zhabotinsky, was a Russian Jewish Revisionist Zionist leade ...
ordered the Irgun command to punish those responsible for shooting women, and to report to him what the punishment was, if indeed those reports were true. Nobody was punished. In the 1945 statistics the village had a total of 1,604 dunums of land used for citrus and bananas, 3,413 dunums to cereals, 181 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards,Khalidi, 1992, p.239 while 14 dunams were classified as built-up areas.


1948 and aftermath

On January 19, 1948, the elders of Biyar Adas warned the inhabitants of the nearby Jewish settlement of
Magdiel Magdiel ( he, מגדיאל) is one of the four original communities of Jewish agriculturalists that combined in 1964 to form Hod Hasharon, Israel. It was founded in 1924 and according to a census conducted in 1931 by the British Mandate authoriti ...
to be on guard against assaults. On February 27 that year, a farmer from Magdiel was killed in an ambush by Arab militants while working in fields near Magdiel. A
Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...
force from the 32nd Battalion 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 ...
arrived to the scene of the shooting, spotted militants retreating towards Bir Adas, and opened fire on the village. Following the shooting, on March 2 1948, Iraqi troops, who were headed by
Fawzi al-Qawuqji Fawzi al-Qawuqji ( ar, فوزي القاوقجي; 19 January 1890 – 5 June 1977) was a leading Arab nationalist military figure in the interwar period.The Arabs and the Holocaust: The Arab-Israeli War of Narratives, by Gilbert Achcar, (NY: Hen ...
, were called to Biyar Adas and attacked Magdiel. Fire and sniping took place daily for about a week. Company B of the 32nd Battalion of the Alexandroni Brigade attempted to hit Arab positions, as additional Arab forces were concentrated in Bir Adas. A prolonged battle ensued, which ended with withdrawal of the Arab troops and a ceasefire, brokered on 9 March 1948 by the Arab notable Tawfiq Abu Kishk. The village became depopulated after an assault by the
Lehi Lehi (; he, לח"י – לוחמי חרות ישראל ''Lohamei Herut Israel – Lehi'', "Fighters for the Freedom of Israel – Lehi"), often known pejoratively as the Stern Gang,"This group was known to its friends as LEHI and to its enemie ...
, an offshoot of the
Irgun Irgun • Etzel , image = Irgun.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = Irgun emblem. The map shows both Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan, which the Irgun claimed in its entirety for a future Jewish state. The acronym "Etzel" i ...
on April 12, 1948. Later that year,
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 ...
set about levelling Biyar 'Adas.Morris, 2004, p
350
note #55, p
398
/ref> After the war the area was incorporated into the
State of Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
. The
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 ...
of Adanim was established on village land, southwest of the village site, in 1950. In 1951 another moshav, Elishama, was built on land that had belonged to Biyar 'Adas.
Khalidi Al-Khaldi ( ar, الْخَالْدِي), also spelled Al Khalidi is the last name given to members of the tribe of Bani Khalid. The tribe traditionally claims descent from Khalid ibn al-Walid a senior companion of the Prophet Muhammad, and esteem ...
described the place in 1992:
''The site is marked by cactuses, fig trees, palm trees, and the debris of houses. Some houses and sections of houses that were built among citrus groves still stand, deserted, amidst wild vegetation. All are made of concrete and possess a variety of architectural designs, ranging from the elaborate to the simple. Their roofs are flat, slanted, or gabled, and their doors and windows are rectangular. The land in the vicinity is cultivated and is covered in places by Israeli fruit orchards.''


See also

* Depopulated Palestinian locations in Israel *
List of villages depopulated during the Arab–Israeli conflict Below is a list of villages depopulated or destroyed during the Arab–Israeli conflict. 1880–1946 Arab villages A number of these villages, those in the Jezreel Valley, were inhabited by tenants of land which was sold by a variety of owners, ...


Footnotes


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * *


External links


Palestine Remembered - Biyar 'AdasBiyar 'Adas
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 13
IAA

Wikimedia commons
from the
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 ...

Haganah Kills 20 Arabs in Attack on Guerrilla Base Near Tel Aviv; Jewish Plane Shot at. Jewish Telegraphic Agency, March 7, 1938
{{Palestinian Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Palestine War Arab villages depopulated prior to the 1948 Arab–Israeli War District of Jaffa