Khirbat Al-Burj was a former Palestinian village, depopulated in 1948. Presently, Khirbat Al-Burj (lit. "ruin of the tower") or Burj Binyamina is a ruined stone-built structure in the

Sharon Plain The Sharon plain ( ''HaSharon Arabic: سهل شارون Sahel Sharon'') is the central section of the Israeli coastal plain. The plain lies between the Mediterranean Sea to the west and the Samarian Hills, to the east. It stretches from Nahal ...

1 km south of Binyamina from the Ottoman period, situated at a crossroads and believed to be either a

mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word '' manse'' originally defined a property l ...

connected to an estate, a fortified farmhouse, or a

khan Khan may refer to: *Khan (inn), from Persian, a caravanserai or resting-place for a travelling caravan *Khan (surname), including a list of people with the name *Khan (title), a royal title for a ruler in Mongol and Turkic languages and used by ...

(caravanserai).

History

Byzantine period

During June 2009, archeological excavations in the courtyard of the Burj building from the Ottoman period exposed a small building that dated to the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

period (5th–7th centuries CE). Byzantine ceramics have been found at the structure.Dauphin, 1998, p. 744

Crusader period

A stone with Greek inscription was found at the ''burj'' site, which has been reused in a Crusader fortress.

Late Ottoman and Mandate periods

In 1882, the PEF's ''Survey of Western Palestine'' (SWP), which called it Burj el Kheil, described it as "A Baikeh or cattle-yard in the plain." Schumacher found in 1887 that the site had been settled since the PEF map was prepared, now consisting of "12 huts, moderate village". A population list from about 1887 give for that place, called ''Burj el Kheil'', about 105 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 ...

s. On October 26, 1898, German Kaiser

Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor (german: Kaiser) and King of Prussia, reigning from 15 June 1888 until his abdication on 9 November 1918. Despite strengthening the German Empir ...

stayed at the Burj ''khan'' (

caravanserai A caravanserai (or caravansary; ) was a roadside inn where travelers ( caravaners) could rest and recover from the day's journey. Caravanserais supported the flow of commerce, information and people across the network of trade routes covering ...

) building during his visit to the

Holy Land The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Holy ...

.Masarwa, 2011
Benyamina, Burj Benyamina
/ref>

Early Zionist activity

Turkish owner, Sidki Pasha, brother of Jamal Pasha, sold 4,000 dunams of the Burj farmland to ICA in 1903.Ramat Hanadiv excavations: final report of the 1984-1998 seasons, by Yizhar Hirschfeld, Adrian J. Boas, p. 664 The serious drawback was that most of the land was an uncultivable swamp.

Rothschild Rothschild () is a name derived from the German ''zum rothen Schild'' (with the old spelling "th"), meaning "with the red sign", in reference to the houses where these family members lived or had lived. At the time, houses were designated by signs ...

turned the land over to Binyamina's holdings.Avneri, 1984, p
107
/ref> Initially a group of farmers from Zichron Ya'akov stayed at the ''khan'' during the week, due to the distance to their hometown. The group was called ''Burja’im''.

Binyamina (1922)

Subsequently, Binyamina was founded. A letter from early 1920s describes establishment of Binyamina: "The 'Zichronim' eople of Zichron Ya'akovowners of Burj farm decided to establish a

moshava A moshava ( he, מושבה, plural: ''moshavot'' , lit. ''colony'') was a form of rural Jewish settlement in Ottoman Palestine, established by the members of the Old Yishuv since late 1870s and during the first two waves of Jewish Zionist immi ...

h in this farm, in order to settle their sons there… "Document Regarding the Establishment of Binyamina
early 1920s Burj became Binyamina in 1922. In the 1931 census Khirbat Al-Burj was listed under Binyamina.Mills, 1932, p
88
/ref> The ownership of the village land was determined in 1934 according to the Land Settlement Ordinances. By the time of the 1945 village survey, there were 5,291

dunums A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; tr, dönüm; he, דונם), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area equivalent to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amount ...

, 15 of which were owned by Arabs, 4,933 owned by Jews, and 343 were public.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p
48
/ref>Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p
14
/ref> The building, after renovations, now operates as an event venue.

Arab population issue

In the 1945 ''Index Gazetteer'', Khirbat Al-Burj was listed as a "village unit" but "no population". According to Frantzman, the 1:20,000 map (produced 1924-1948) shows "a large structure, akin to a khan with no indication that it was populated"."The Arab settlement of Late Ottoman and Mandatory Palestine: New Village Formation and Settlement Fixation, 1871-1948", Seth J. Frantzman, pp.71-72 According to Khalidi, Khirbat Al-Burj was a Palestinian village which was depopulated by Israelis in 1948.Khalidi, 1992, p. 156 Khalidi also says the "village" was "known for its citrus crops" and situated on "rolling terrain".

Agriculture

The red sandy clay

loam Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand (particle size > ), silt (particle size > ), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < ). By weight, its mineral composition is about 40–40–20% concentration of sand–sil ...

(hamra) soils from Binyamina to

Gedera Gedera, or less commonly known as Gdera ( he, גְּדֵרָה), is a town in the southern part of the Shfela region in the Central District of Israel founded in 1884. It is south of Rehovot. In , it had a population of . History Gedera ...

, west of the coastal plain, were not cultivated till the 20th century.The Jewish people in the first century: historical geography, political history, social, cultural and religious life and institutions. Vol. 2, by Samuel Safrai; M Stern, page 640 The original economy of Binyamina was citrus-based.

Gallery

File:Binyamina-burj-81.jpg, File:Binyamina-burj-89.jpg, File:Binyamina-burj-92.jpg,

References

Bibliography

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External links

Khirbat al-Burj (Haifa)
Zochrot *Survey of Western Palestine, Map 8
IAAWikimedia commons
{{Authority control District of Haifa Archaeological sites in Israel Buildings and structures in Northern District (Israel)