Al-Muzayri'a
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Al-Muzayri'a () 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. It was depopulated in 1948. In 1998 the new Israeli city of El'ad was built over the ruins.


Location

Al-Muzayri'a was located north-northeast of al-Ramla, on limestone hill, overlooking the coastal plain. A
wadi Wadi ( ; ) is a river valley or a wet (ephemerality, ephemeral) Stream bed, riverbed that contains water only when heavy rain occurs. Wadis are located on gently sloping, nearly flat parts of deserts; commonly they begin on the distal portion ...
ran along its southern part, and separated it from the village of Qula. The village was about 1 km east of the al-Ramla-Haifa railway line. It was also located to the east of the al-Ramla-Jaffa highway.Khalidi, 1992, p. 399


History

The location has a long history of habitation. A
Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...
mausoleum, still standing (about 1 km south of the village site), was converted into a
mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...
dedicated to a prophet, al-Nabi Yahya (" the Prophet John"). About 1 km northeast of the village was Khirbat Zikhrin, a Roman-Byzantine site that was again inhabited during the
Mamluk Mamluk or Mamaluk (; (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural); translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave") were non-Arab, ethnically diverse (mostly Turkic, Caucasian, Eastern and Southeastern European) enslaved mercenaries, slave-so ...
and
Ottoman period The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Central Euro ...
s. The place has been excavated since 1982.


Ottoman period

In 1596, Al-Muzayri'a was part of the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
, ''
nahiya A nāḥiyah ( , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiyeh, 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 divisi ...
'' (subdistrict) of Jabel Qubal under the ''
liwa' A sanjak or sancak (, , "flag, banner") was an administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans also sometimes called the sanjak a liva (, ) from the name's calque in Arabic and Persian. Banners were a common organization of nomad ...
'' (district) of
Nablus Nablus ( ; , ) is a State of Palestine, Palestinian city in the West Bank, located approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 156,906. Located between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a ...
with a population of 7
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 ...
households; an estimated population of thirty-nine. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 33,3% on a number of crops, including
wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...
,
barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...
, and
olives The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'' ("European olive"), is a species of Subtropics, subtropical evergreen tree in the Family (biology), family Oleaceae. Originating in Anatolia, Asia Minor, it is abundant throughout the Mediterranean ...
, as well as goats, and beehives; a total of 1,300
akçe The ''akçe'' or ''akça'' (anglicized as ''akche'', ''akcheh'' or ''aqcha''; ; , , in Europe known as '' asper'') was a silver coin mainly known for being the chief monetary unit of the Ottoman Empire. It was also used in other states includi ...
. The mention of (atar)Misqāh ibn Rumayḥ /Misqā Ibn Rmēḥ/ “(the remains) of Ibn Rumayḥ’s trough”, in a 1552 endowment document, suggests that the Rumayḥs, who inhabited al-Muzayri‘a during the 18th–20th centuries, probably resided there during the 16th century. The village was possibly abandoned during the 17th century. The village was reoccupied in the 18th century by the al-Rumayh family, returning from Dayr Ghassana. In 1838 ''el Muzeiri'ah'' was among the villages Edward Robinson noted from the top of the White Mosque in
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 ...
, while A. Mansell mentioned passing the village in the early 1860s. In 1870,
Victor Guérin Victor Guérin (; 15 September 1821 – 21 September 1890) was a French people, French intellectual, explorer and amateur archaeologist. He published books describing the geography, archeology and history of the areas he explored, which included ...
described the village as sitting on a stony hill, noting that its houses appeared small. An Ottoman village list of about the same year showed that "Mezari" had 68 houses and a population of 234, though the population count included men only. It also noted "a very old temple". 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 completed Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) and in 1880 for the soon abandoned Survey of Eastern Palestine. The ...
'' (SWP) described it as "an
adobe Adobe (from arabic: الطوب Attub ; ) 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 use ...
village on the edge of the hills, near Qula".Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p
297
/ref>


British Mandate

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 divis ...
, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, ''Muzaira'a'' had a population of 578, 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,Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Ramleh, p
22
/ref> increasing in the 1931 census to 780, still all Muslims, in a total of 186 houses.Mills, 1932, p
22
In 1919, a school for boys was founded in the village. By 1945, it had become a full-fledged elementary school, with 207 students, including children of the neighboring villages. 35 dunums of land were attached to the school. A school for girls was founded in 1945, and had an initial enrollment of 78 students. In the 1945 statistics, the village had a population of 1,160, all Muslim,Department of Statistics, p
30
/ref> and the total land area was 10,822 dunams. A total of 953 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, 5,895 dunums were used for cereals, 35 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards, while 25 dunams were classified as built-up urban areas.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p
166
/ref>


1948 and aftermath

Al-Muzayri'a was located in the territory allotted to the Arab state under the 1947 UN Partition Plan. Al-Muzayri was depopulated on 12 July 1948, after a military assault by Israeli forces. The Israeli
moshav A moshav (, plural ', "settlement, village") is a type of Israeli village or town or Jewish settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists between 1904 and 1 ...
of
Nehalim Nehalim (, ''lit.'' Streams) is a religious moshav in central Israel. Located south of Petah Tikva, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hevel Modi'in Regional Council. In it had a population of . History The Nehalim gar'in, community was forme ...
was founded in 1949 on the northwestern part of former village land. The moshav of
Mazor Mazor () is a moshav in the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel. Located in the southeastern corner of the Sharon Plain, around three kilometres south-east of Petah Tikva and covering 2,300 dunams, it falls under the jurisdicti ...
was founded the same year on the western part of former village land. The Palestinian historian
Walid Khalidi Walid Khalidi (; born in Jerusalem on July 16, 1925) is a Palestinian historian who has written extensively on the Palestinian exodus. He is a co-founder of the Institute for Palestine Studies, established in Beirut in December 1963 as an inde ...
, described the place in 1992: "The site is largely forested. While a few houses remain, most have been reduced to rubble. Cacti and stone terraces are visible on the site."


Gallery

File:Mazor-mausoleum-64.jpg,
Mihrab ''Mihrab'' (, ', pl. ') is a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the ''qibla'', the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca towards which Muslims should face when praying. The wall in which a ''mihrab'' appears is thus the "''qibla'' wall". ...
, pointing towards Mecca, in the Roman Mausoleum File:Al Muzeiria 1941.jpg, Al-Muzayri'a 1941 1:20,000 File:Al Mirr 1945.jpg, Al-Muzayri'a 1945 1:250,000


See also

* Depopulated Palestinian locations in Israel * Mazor Mausoleum


Footnotes


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *Mansell, A. L. (1863): "A Surveying Trip through the Holy Land." The Nautical Magazine and Naval Chronicle. January Issue:36–40. Cited in Khalidi, 1992. * ("c. 180 m west of the mausoleum and east of the hill where a Muslim cemetery is located") * * * * * * *


External links


Welcome To al-Muzayri'a Muzayri'a
Zochrot *Survey of Western Palestine, Map 14
IAAWikimedia commons


from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center * from Dr. Moslih Kanaaneh {{Palestinian Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Palestine War Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War District of Ramla