Below is a list of villages depopulated or destroyed during the

Arab–Israeli conflict The Arab–Israeli conflict is a geopolitical phenomenon involving military conflicts and a variety of disputes between Israel and many Arab world, Arab countries. It is largely rooted in the historically supportive stance of the Arab League ...

1880–1946

Arab villages

A number of these villages, those in the

Jezreel Valley The Jezreel Valley (from the ), or Marj Ibn Amir (), also known as the Valley of Megiddo, is a large fertile plain and inland valley in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. It is bordered to the north by the highlands o ...

, were inhabited by tenants of land which was sold by a variety of owners, some local and others

absentee landlord In economics, an absentee landlord is a person who owns and rents out a profit-earning property, but does not live within the property's local economic region. The term "absentee ownership" was popularised by economist Thorstein Veblen's 1923 b ...

families, such as the Karkabi, Tueini, Farah and Khuri families and Sursock family of

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

. In some cases land was sold directly by local ''fellahim'' (peasant owners).Said and Hitchens, 2001, p
217
notes 28, 29, on p
232
/ref> The sale of land to Jewish organizations meant that tenant farmers were displaced. List of Palestinian villages from which tenant farmers were uprooted before 1948, with the cause of the uprooting (i.e., sale by landlord or some other cause) given along with the name of Jewish settlements on newly acquired land (in parentheses) can be seen below. Safed district * al-Mutila, 1896 ( Metula) Land, 12,800

dunam A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; ; ; ), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area analogous in role (but not equal) to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amo ...

s, sold under Ottoman law by landlord, a Christian from

Sidon Sidon ( ) or better known as Saida ( ; ) is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast in the South Governorate, Lebanon, South Governorate, of which it is the capital. Tyre, Lebanon, Tyre, t ...

named Jabur Bey, to Baron de Rothschild's chief officer Joshua Ossovetski. Druze villagers displaced.Avneri, 1984, pp
96
98 * Difna, 1939 ( Dafna) * al-Manara, unknown date ( Manara) 2538 dunams of land purchased by the

Jewish National Fund The Jewish National Fund (JNF; , ''Keren Kayemet LeYisrael''; previously , ''Ha Fund HaLeumi'') is a non-profit organizationProfessor Alon Tal, The Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, The Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben Gurion ...

from the landlord, Asa'ad Bey Khuri of

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

.Avneri, 1984, p
203
/ref> * Najmat as-Subah, unknown date (

Ayelet HaShahar Ayelet HaShahar () is a kibbutz in northern Israel acquired in 1892 and settled in the second Aliyah, located on the Korazim Plateau, by the Rosh Pina – Metulla road, it is approximately south of the city of Kiryat Shmona and falls under the jur ...

) Acre district * Ja'atoun, unknown date ( Ga'aton) * Khirbat Jiddin, 1946, other sources says 1948 ( Yehiam) Tiberias district * Um al-Junah, unknown date ( Degania Bet)Karmon, 1960, p
167
/ref> * Malhamiyah, 1902 According to Edward Said, the Jewish farming village of

Menahemia Menahemia () is a village in the Jordan Valley in north-eastern Israel. Located near Highway 90 (Israel–Palestine), Highway 90 between Beit She'an and Tzemah Junction 5 km south of Tzemah, it falls under the jurisdiction of Valley of Spring ...

) was established in 1902 on land purchased by the Jewish Colonization Association in 1901; 3,000 dunams were purchased directly from local ''fellahim'', 700 dunhams from local landlords, and over 60,000 dunams from landlords in Beirut; the Sursuq, Tuenis, and Mudawwar families. The Arab tenant farmers were evicted by Ottoman authorities. * Sha’arah, beginning of the 20th century (Omer Sha’ara, today Shadmot Dvora) * Sarona, 1910 ( Sharona) * Sarjuna, unknown date (Shorshim, today HaZor'im) * Yammah, 1901 ( Yavniel) Nazareth district * Jabata, 1926 ( Gvat)

Moshe Dayan Moshe Dayan (; May 20, 1915 – October 16, 1981) was an Israeli military leader and politician. As commander of the Jerusalem front in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Chief of General Staff (Israel), Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defe ...

, cited in Rogan and Shlaim, 2001, p
207
/ref> * Khunaifis, 1926 ( Sarid) * Ganigar, Jinjar, Jenjar, Junjar, 1922, Ginegar, * Rab an-Nasrah, unknown date (Mazra) * Tal al-’Adas, unknown date ( Tel Adashim) * al-'Afoulah, 1925 (

Afula Afula () is a city in the Northern District of Israel, often known as the "Capital of the Valley" due to its strategic location in the Jezreel Valley. As of , the city had a population of . Afula's ancient tell (settlement mound) suggests habit ...

) * al-Foulah, 1910 ( Merhavia) * Mashah, 1902 ( Kfar Tavor) * Samouniyah, unknown date (

Shimron Tel Shimron (Hebrew: תל שמרון) is an archaeological site and nature reserve in the Jezreel Valley. Shimron was a major city in the north of Israel mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. In later times it was also known as Shim'on. It became a ...

nature reserve, Timrat) * Umm Kubei, unknown dateKhalidi, 1992, p. xix Beisan district * Khirbat Bayt Ilfa, unknown date ( Beit Alpha) * Shatah, unknown date ( Beit HaShita) * Tall al-Fir, 1922 (none) * Jaloud, 1922 (

Ein Harod Ein Harod () was a kibbutz in northern Israel near Mount Gilboa. Founded in 1921, it became the center of Mandatory Israel's kibbutz movement, hosting the headquarters of the largest kibbutz organisation, HaKibbutz HaMeuhad. In 1923 part of the ...

) * Zarra'a,

bought the land in the 1930s, Tirat Tzvi established on the site in 1938 * Jisr MajamiBarron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Baisan, p
31
/ref>Mills, 1932, p
79
/ref> Haifa district * Jadroun, 1925 ( Kfar Bialik) * Kurdani, unknown date ( Afek) * Kafr Ata, 1925 (Kfar Ata – today Kiryat Ata) * al-Majdal, 1925 (none) * al-Harbaj, 1924 ( Kfar Hasidim)Avneri, 1984, pp
156-7
/ref> * al-Harithiyah, 1924 ( Sha'ar HaAmakim) * Tab’oun, unknown date (Tivon, today Kiryat Tivon) * Qusqous, unknown date ( Alonim) * Jida, 1925 ( Ramat Yishai)Department of Statistics, 1945, p
14
/ref>Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945''. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p
49
/ref> * Tal ash-Shamam, 1925 (

Kfar Yehoshua Kfar Yehoshua () is a moshav in northern Israel. Located between Haifa and Nazareth, it falls under the jurisdiction of Jezreel Valley Regional Council. In it had a population of . History Ottoman era Near the village there is an archaeologic ...

) * Qamoun, 1925 ( Yokneam) * Ja’ara, unknown date ( Ein HaShofet)Department of Statistics, 1945, p
13
/ref>Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945''. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p
47
/ref> * Um ad-Dafouf, unknown date ( Dalia)Avneri, 1984, p
210
note #87, on p.
297
/ref>Khalidi, 1992, p. 158 * Um at-Tout, unknown date (none) * Shifiyah, unknown date ( Meir Shfeya) * Zamarin (

Zikhron Ya'akov Zikhron Ya'akov () often shortened to just Zikhron, is a local council (Israel), town in northern Israel, south of the city of Haifa, and part of the Haifa District. It is located at the southern end of the Mount Carmel, Carmel mountain range over ...

), 1948 – Following Jewish settlement in 1882, Arabs continued to live and work in the community alongside Jews. * Um al-’Alaq, unknown date, (

Ramat HaNadiv Ramat HaNadiv (, ''Heights of the Benefactor''), is a nature park and garden in northern Israel, covering at the southern end of Mount Carmel between Zikhron Ya'akov to the north and Binyamina to the south. The Jewish National Fund planted pine a ...

) * ash-Shounah, unknown date (none), maybe identical to Khirbat al-Shuna destroyed in 1948 * Zarghaniyah, unknown date ( Binyamina) * al-Buraij, unknown date ( Binyamina) * Natalah, unknown date (No data) * Nazlah, unknown date (none) * Safsaf, unknown date (none) * Hadidun, unknown date (none) * Karkour, unknown date ( Ein Shemer, Gan HaShomron, Karkur, Tel Shalom) * Bidous, unknown date ( Maanit) * Shaikh Hilw, unknown date ( Nahliel, now part from Hadera) * Zardarah, unknown date ( Gan Shmuel) * Baika, unknown date (

Hadera Hadera (, ) is a city located in the Haifa District of Israel, in the northern Sharon plain, Sharon region, approximately 45 kilometers (28 miles) from the major cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa. The city is located along 7 km (5 mi) of ...

) * al-Marah, 1903 (

Givat Ada Binyamina-Giv'at Ada () is a local council (Israel), town in the Haifa District in northern Israel. It is the result of the 2003 merger between the two local councils of Binyamina and Giv'at Ada. In 2019 its population was 17,371. Before the me ...

) * ’Aabiyah, 1929 (

Pardes Hanna Pardes Hanna-Karkur () is a town in the Haifa District of Israel. In it had a population of . It has been characterized as having a hipster culture. History An Arab village named Karkur had stood at this location by the time the Palestine Exp ...

) * Sheikh Bureik Sold during the early 1920s, by the Sursuk family to the

.Avneri, 1984, p
122
/ref> The Arab tenants were evicted and in 1925 an agricultural settlement also named Sheikh Abreik was established there by the

Hapoel HaMizrachi File:Pre-State_Zionist_Workers'_Parties_chart.png, chart of zionist workers parties, 360px, right rect 167 83 445 250 Hapoel Hatzair rect 450 88 717 265 Non Partisans rect 721 86 995 243 Poalei Zion rect 152 316 373 502 HaPoel HaMizrachi rec ...

, a Zionist political party. Tulkarm district * Shaikh Muhammad, unknown date ( Elyashiv) Jerusalem district *

Beit Jimal Beit Jimal (or Beit Jamal; ; ), Beit el Jemâl, meaning "The house of the camel"Palmer, 1881, p286/ref> is a Catholic monastery run by Salesians of Don Bosco, Salesian priests and brothers near Beit Shemesh, Israel. The Christian tradition identi ...

Ramla district * Kafr Wariyah, unknown date ( Kfar Uria) * Jindas ( Ginaton)

Jewish villages

1929 Palestine riots

During the 1929 Palestine riots: *

Bat Yam Bat Yam ( ) is a city on Israel's Mediterranean Sea coast, on the Central Coastal Plain just south of Tel Aviv. It is part of the Gush Dan metropolitan area and the Tel Aviv District. In , it had a population of . History British Mandate Bat Y ...

* Be'er Tuvia * Giv'on HaHadashah * Hartuv * Kfar Uria * Kiryat Ata * Motza * Ramat Rachel *

Hebron Hebron (; , or ; , ) is a Palestinian city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Hebron is capital of the Hebron Governorate, the largest Governorates of Palestine, governorate in the West Bank. With a population of 201,063 in ...

1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine

During the

1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine A popular uprising by Palestinian Arabs in Mandatory Palestine against the British administration, later known as the Great Revolt, the Great Palestinian Revolt, or the Palestinian Revolution, lasted from 1936 until 1939. The movement sought i ...

: * Kfar Shiloah * Silwan Jewish population removed by the Kehillah Welfare Bureau and later the British authorities during the

* Kfar Etzion *

1948 Arab–Israeli War

Arab villages

Palestinian Arab residents were expelled from hundreds of towns and villages by the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

, or fled in fear as the Israeli army advanced. Around 400 Arab towns and villages were depopulated.

Jewish villages

The main Jewish areas depopulated in 1948 were the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem and the

Gush Etzion Gush Etzion (, ' Etzion Bloc) is a cluster of Israeli settlements located in the Judaean Mountains, directly south of Jerusalem and Bethlehem in the West Bank. The core group includes four Jewish agricultural villages that were founded in 1943� ...

. Approximately 30-40km² of land was owned by Jews in the areas which became the West Bank and Gaza Strip (approximately 6,000km²); some of this land was uninhabited. ;In areas that became the

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

* North Jerusalem bloc ( Atarot and Neve Yaakov) * Dead Sea block ( Kalia and Beit HaArava) *

Jewish Quarter (Jerusalem) The Jewish Quarter (; ) is one of the four traditional quarters of the Old City (Jerusalem), Old City of Jerusalem. The area lies in the southwestern sector of the walled city, and stretches from the Gates in Jerusalem's Old City Walls, Zion Ga ...

blocHistory of the Etzion Bloc: The Siege and Fall
Page 8 of 11 near Jerusalem ( Ein Tzurim, Kfar Etzion,

Masuot Yitzhak Masu'ot Yitzhak (, ''lit.'' Yitzhak's Beacons) is a moshav shitufi in southern Israel. Located near Ashkelon, it falls under the jurisdiction of Shafir Regional Council. The original kibbutz in Gush Etzion was destroyed and depopulated in the 194 ...

, Revadim) ;In areas that became Gaza Strip (All-Palestine protectorate): * Kfar Darom (''resettled but evacuated as part of the

Israeli disengagement from Gaza In 2005, Israel disengaged from the Gaza Strip by dismantling all 21 Israeli settlements there. As part of this process, four Israeli settlements in the West Bank were dismantled as well. The disengagement was executed unilaterally: Israeli a ...

in 2005'') ;In Transjordan * Tel Or Many of these areas were repopulated after the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...

Six-Day War

West Bank

Three Arab villages, Bayt Nuba, Imwas and

Yalo Yalo (, also transliterated Yalu) is a depopulated Palestinian people, Palestinian Arab village located 13 kilometres southeast of Ramla. Identified by Edward Robinson (scholar), Edward Robinson as the ancient Canaanite and Israelites, Israelite ...

, located in the Latrun Corridor were destroyed on the orders of

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 ...

due to the corridor's strategic location and route to Jerusalem and because of the residents' alleged aiding of

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

ian commandos in their attack on the city of Lod. The residents of the three villages were offered compensation but were not allowed to return. Hebron/Bethlehem areaUN Doc A/8389
of 5 October 1971 * Surit * Beit Awwa * Beit Mirsem * Shuyoukh Jordan Valley * al-Jiftlik (depopulated but soon repopulated) * Agarith * Huseirat Jerusalem area * Nabi Samwil In the Negev/Sinai Desert * Auja al-Hafir – A demilitarized zone

Golan Heights

Over 100,000

Golan Heights The Golan Heights, or simply the Golan, is a basaltic plateau at the southwest corner of Syria. It is bordered by the Yarmouk River in the south, the Sea of Galilee and Hula Valley in the west, the Anti-Lebanon mountains with Mount Hermon in t ...

residents were evacuated from about 25 villages whether on orders of the

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

n government or through fear of an attack by the

Israeli Defense Forces Israeli may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel * Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel * Modern Hebrew, a language * ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008 * Guni Israeli (b ...

and expulsion after the ceasefire. During the following months, more than a hundred Syrian villages were destroyed by Israel."The Fate of Abandoned Arab Villages, 1965–1969" by Aron Shai (History & Memory - Volume 18, Number 2, Fall/Winter 2006, pp. 86–106)

1979 Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty

Israeli settlements

Israeli settlements in the

Sinai Peninsula The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai ( ; ; ; ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is a land bridge between Asia and Afri ...

were evacuated as a result of the 1979

Egypt–Israel peace treaty The Egypt–Israel peace treaty was signed in Washington, D.C., United States, on 26 March 1979, following the 1978 Camp David Accords. The Egypt–Israel treaty was signed by Anwar Sadat, President of Egypt, and Menachem Begin, Prime Minist ...

. * Avshalom *

Dikla Dikla () was an Israeli settlement in the northeastern part of the Sinai Peninsula established during Israel's occupation of the peninsula from the end of the 1967 Six-Day War, until that part of the Sinai was handed over to Egypt in 1982 as part ...

Netiv HaAsara, Sinai Netiv HaAsara () was a moshav and Israeli settlement in the Sinai Peninsula. Located near Yamit, it was founded in 1973 and was named for ten soldiers that were killed in a helicopter accident south of Rafah in 1971. After the moshav was evacuat ...

* Ofira * Pri'el * Sufa * Talmei Yosef * Yamit

Israel's unilateral disengagement plan

As a part of

Israel's unilateral disengagement plan In 2005, Israel disengaged from the Gaza Strip by dismantling all 21 Israeli settlement, Israeli settlements there. As part of this process, four Israeli settlements in the West Bank were dismantled as well. The disengagement was executed unil ...

, 21 civilian

Israeli settlement Israeli settlements, also called Israeli colonies, are the civilian communities built by Israel throughout the Israeli-occupied territories. They are populated by Israeli citizens, almost exclusively of Israeli Jews, Jewish identity or ethni ...

s were forcibly evacuated, as well as an area in the northern West Bank containing four Israeli villages. The residential buildings were razed by Israel but public structures were left intact. The religious structures not removed by Israel were later destroyed by Palestinians.

Israeli settlements

Since 2005

On 5 November 2020,

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

i bulldozers demolished most of the village of Khirbet Humsa al-Fawqa and forced 73 of its Palestinian residents, including 41 children to leave in what was the largest demolition in years. On 4 February 2021, Israel razed for the second time because of what it claimed was an illegal settlement next to a military

firing range A shooting range, firing range, gun range or shooting ground is a specialized facility, sports venue, venue, or playing field, field designed specifically for firearm usage qualifications, training, practice, or shooting sport, competitions. ...

. On 7 July 2021, it was demolished by Israel again for at least the third time. In May 2023, the Israeli army destroyed the village of Ein Samiya, forcibly expelling 170 people.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

UN map of the 1947 plan

The Destroyed Villages on Google Earth - Arab only
{{DEFAULTSORT:Villages depopulated during the Arab-Israeli conflict Villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War Villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War Arab–Israeli conflict Lists of populated places Villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War Villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War Jewish exodus from the Muslim world

1880–1946

Arab villages

Jewish villages

1929 Palestine riots

1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine

1948 Arab–Israeli War

Arab villages

Jewish villages

Six-Day War

West Bank

Golan Heights

1979 Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty

Israeli settlements

Israel's unilateral disengagement plan

Israeli settlements

Since 2005

See also

References

Bibliography

External links