Al-'Ubaydiyya () was a
Palestinian Arab
Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world.
Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...
village in the
Tiberias Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the
1948 Arab-Israeli War on March 3, 1948. It was located 11 km south of
Tiberias, situated close to the
Jordan River.
Today the site is a desolate hill named Tel Ubeidiya.
History
Ottoman period
It was mentioned in the
Ottoman defter for the year 1555-6, as ''Mezraa'' land, (that is, cultivated land), located in the ''
Nahiya'' of
Tabariyya of the ''
Liwa'' of
Safad. The land was designated as ''Sahi'' land, that is, land belonging to the
Sultan
Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...
.
Pierre Jacotin called the village ''Abadieh'' on his map from 1799.
In 1838 Robinson's ''
Biblical Researches in Palestine
''Biblical researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea'' (1841 edition), also ''Biblical Researches in Palestine and the Adjacent Regions'' (1856 edition), was a Travelogues of Ottoman Palestine, travelogue of 19th-century Palestine a ...
'' noted it as a
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 ...
village, ''el-'Öbeidiyeh'', in the Tiberias District, located south of
lake Tiberias.
In 1881, the
PEF's ''
Survey of Western Palestine'' described ''El Abeidiyeh'': "Stone and mud houses, built on a round tell, close to the Jordan river. It contains about 200 Moslems, and the plain is cultivated. There are several mills in the neighbourhood. There are a few small palms, but not many trees round the village." The PEF wrote that the name comes from Arabic word "
Abeed
Abeed or abīd (, plural of ʿabd, ) is an Arabic word meaning "servant" or "slave". The term is usually used in the Arab world and is used as a slur for slaves, which dates back to the Arab slave trade. In recent decades, usage of the word has be ...
", meaning slave.
A population list from about 1887 showed ''al Abediyeh'' to have about 310 inhabitants; all Muslims.
Al-'Ubaydiyya had an elementary school which was founded by the Ottomans.
[Khalidi, 1992, p. 543]
British Mandate
At the time of the
1922 census of Palestine conducted by the
British Mandate authorities, Al-'Ubaydiyya had a population of 336 Muslims,
[Barron, 1923, Table XI, p]
39
/ref> increasing in the 1931 census to 625 Muslims, in 137 houses.[Mills, 1932, p]
85
/ref>
In 1944/1945, the village had a population of 870 Muslims,[ with a total of 5,173 dunams of land.][ Of this, Arabs used 3 dunams for citrus and bananas, 1,014 dunams were irrigated or used for orchards, 1,349 were used for ]cereal
A cereal is a grass cultivated for its edible grain. Cereals are the world's largest crops, and are therefore staple foods. They include rice, wheat, rye, oats, barley, millet, and maize ( Corn). Edible grains from other plant families, ...
s, while 24 dunams were classified as built-up (urban) land.
1948, aftermath
The village became depopulated on March 5, 1948.[
In 1988, a book about the village was published in Jordan.][Davis, 2011, p]
283
/ref>
In 1992 the village site was described: "The remaining section of the walls of the canal (that provided the mill with water) is the most prominent indication of the former existence of the village. Ruins of houses, piles of stones, the bases of walls, terraces, and date palms can be seen on the site. The lands around the site are cultivated mainly in cotton by the Israelis."[Khalidi, 1992, p. 544]
See also
* Ubeidiya, prehistoric site near the former village
* Al-Ubaid (disambiguation) for Arabic root of the village name
References
Bibliography
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*Khalifa, Ahmad Mohammad Ali. 1988. Qaryat al-‘Ubaydiyya he Village of ‘Ubaydiyya Jordan: Mataba‘ al-Jazira.
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External links
Welcome To al-'Ubaydiyyaal-'Ubaydiyya
Zochrot
*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 6
IAAWikimedia commons
{{DEFAULTSORT:Al-Ubaydiyya
Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War
District of Tiberias