Abu al-Fadl () was a

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

village in the Ramle Subdistrict, about northwest of

Ramla Ramla (), also known as Ramle (, ), is a city in the Central District of Israel. Ramle is one of Israel's mixed cities, with significant numbers of both Jews and Arabs. The city was founded in the early 8th century CE by the Umayyad caliph S ...

in, what was until 1948,

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...

. The village was also known as ''al-Satariyya''. In 1945/44, the village had a population of 510.

Location

The village was located just south of Sarafand al-Amar, in the Ramleh District.

History

The village land was owned by the

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

waqf A (; , plural ), also called a (, plural or ), or ''mortmain'' property, is an Alienation (property law), inalienable charitable financial endowment, endowment under Sharia, Islamic law. It typically involves donating a building, plot ...

of Fadl ibn Abbas, possibly a cousin of the

Islamic prophet Prophets in Islam () are individuals in Islam who are believed to spread God's message on Earth and serve as models of ideal human behaviour. Some prophets are categorized as messengers (; sing. , ), those who transmit divine revelation, mos ...

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

, after whom the village was named.Khalidi, 1992, p. 356. In the Palestine Index Gazetteer, Abu al-Fadl was classified as a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

. At the time of the 1931 census, Abu al-Fadl had a population of 1565 residents, all

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

s. (Noted under the name of ''Es Sautariya'').Mills, 1932, p
25
/ref> In the 1945 statistics, the village had a population of 510 Muslims. A total of 818 dunums of village land was used for

citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the family Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, mandarins, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. ''Citrus'' is nativ ...

and

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus '' Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing the ...

s, 1,035 dunums were used for cereals, and 822 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards.

1948 and aftermath

In February 1948 it was reported that ten Arabs, one of them a woman, were murdered ("probably") by IZL gunmen, in a grove, where they apparently worked, near the village. This was one of the massacres of Palestinian civilians which was said to "erode Arab morale". The villagers probably left their homes in the second week of May 1948 during Operation Barak. This campaign was undertaken by the Givati Brigade commanded by

Shimon Avidan Shimon Avidan (; February 7, 1911 – September 11, 1994), born Siegbert Koch (), was a Palmach soldier and IDF military leader. He was the commander of the Givati Brigade during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Biography Early life Shimon Avidan ...

; its objective was to clear the villages south of

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

and "cause a wandering of the inhabitants of the smaller settlements in the area." Each ground assault started with a mortar bombardment, followed by the expulsion of the remaining residents and the demolition of houses. The village was probably permanently occupied during the first stage of Operation Danny, 9–12 July 1948. This offensive, commanded by

Yitzhak Rabin Yitzhak Rabin (; , ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the prime minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–1977, and from 1992 until Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, his ass ...

, resulted in the expulsion of some 70,000 people from the neighbouring towns of Lod and al-Ramla. The Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi, described the area of Abu al-Fadl in 1992:

"Of the original village houses, no more than five still stand, deserted and nearly collapsing. One of these houses, located at the edge of a citrus grove, is made of cement blocks, with rectangular doors and windows and a tiled, sloping roof. Another house, composed of three units, is located in the middle of a citrus grove. A few cypress trees, castor oil (ricinus) plants, and cactuses grow on the site, and Israeli buildings have been constructed nearby. The surrounding lands are cultivated by Israelis."

The Israeli moshav of Sitria was established on village farmlands in 1949, Talmei Menashe was established on the site of the village proper in 1953, and some of Be'er Ya'akov and the eastern reaches of

Rishon LeZion Rishon LeZion ( , "First to Zion") is a city in Israel, located along the central Israeli coastal plain south of Tel Aviv. It is part of the Gush Dan metropolitan area. Founded in 1882 by Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire who were ...

are partially on the village's land.

References

Bibliography

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External links