Al-Birwa
Encyclopedia
Al-Birwa was a Palestinian
Arab
village, located 10.5 kilometres (6.5 mi) east of Acre
(Akka). Mentioned by Arab geographers in the 11th century, it was known to the Crusaders as Broet. Al-Birwa was captured from the Mamluk
s by the Ottomans
in the 16th century. In the 19th century, it had a mosque, a church, and an elementary school for boys. A school for girls was built during the British Mandate. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli war
, al-Birwa was occupied by the Israel Defense Forces
. The inhabitants fled to nearby villages or refugee camps in Lebanon
. Kibbutz
Yas'ur and Moshav
Ahihud
were established on the lands of al-Birwa in 1949 and 1950.
geographer Nasir Khusraw
visited al-Birwa in 1047 while it was under Fatimid
rule. He describes it as lying "between Acre and Damun," and reports having visited what he described as the tombs of Simeon
and Esau
there. While under Crusader
rule, al-Birwa was called Broet. It was mentioned as part of the domain of the Crusaders during the hudna
between the Crusaders based in Acre
and the Mamluk
sultan al-Mansur (Qalawun
) declared in 1283. In the late 12th and early 13th centuries, it came under Mamluk
rule after the defeat of the Crusaders. The Ottomans
ruled from 1517, after the village was captured in the Battle of Marj Dabiq
. In 1596, al-Birwa was a small village in the nahiya ("subdistrict") of Akka, part of the sanjak
("district") of Safad. Most of the houses were built of stone and mud. The village paid taxes on wheat, barley, fruit, beehives, and goats.
In the 19th century, al-Birwa grew to be a large village, with a well in its southern area. To the north, lay "beautiful olive-groves and fruitful wheatfields," as they were described by one Western traveller to the region in the mid-19th century. Edward Robinson
, also writing at this time, lists al-Birwa as one of 18 villages in Palestine
with an operating (Eastern Orthodox) Christian church. In 1888, the Ottomans built an elementary school for boys.
130 Christians
lived in the village during the British Mandate period. Cement roofs were added at this time and the main source of income was agriculture. Cultivated crops included, olives, wheat, barley, corn, sesame, and watermelons. There were three olive presses, a mosque and a church. In 1936, the inhabitants of al-Birwa participated in the 1936-1939 Arab revolt in Palestine. The commander of the revolt in the Lower Galilee region, Sheikh Yihya Hawash, was from al-Birwa. He was arrested by the British and sentenced to life imprisonment. The British also executed eight villagers from al-Birwa who had participated in the revolt.
Prominent families and landowners included the Saads, Darwiche, Abdullah, Kayal, Sakas, al-Wakid, al-Joudi, Najm, al-Dabdoub, Khalid, Akawi, Hissian, Hawash and al-Sheikha. The Mougrabis, Adlabis and al-Zayyats were tenant farmers who served as mediators for nearby villages when feuds occurred. In the late 1940s, Birwa had 600 head of cattle, 3,000 goats and 1,000 chickens. An elementary school for girls was established in 1943. Al-Birwa was the birthplace and childhood residence of the poet Mahmoud Darwish
.
i forces of the Carmeli Brigade first captured al-Birwa and positions overlooking it on June 11, 1948 in the wake of Operation Ben-Ami, a day before the first truce of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
. During the fighting, 45 elderly residents hid in the church with the priest. The defenders of the village surrendered after losing men and running out of ammunition. The residents took refuge in nearby villages for thirteen days. Nevertheless, clashes continued during the truce. According to local militiamen from al-Birwa, 96 men from the village all armed with rifles, and an equal amount of unarmed men and women assembled near the front lines of the Arab Liberation Army
(ALA). They claimed the ALA did not participate since they were not ordered to by their superiors. The rifle armed local force charged first across the front lines shouting, then the unarmed men with axes, shovels, and sticks, followed by the women who carried water to help the wounded. They took the small Haganah
force by surprise and forced them back a kilometer west of al-Birwa, and then harvested their crops. They remained in the village until June 24, when ALA commanders suggested they join their families in the nearby villages.
Israelis announced that they had battled ALA units in the area, inflicting 100 casualties on June 25. The New York Times reported there was fighting in the village for two days and United Nations
observers were there investigating truce violations. It added that "a small Israeli garrison held al-Birwa prior to the [first] truce", but it fell to ALA troops based in Nazareth
who launched a surprise attack. Some residents camped in the outskirts of the village and occasionally managed to enter and gather personal belongings. After the end of the first truce in mid-July, al-Birwa was captured by Israel in Operation Dekel
. The ALA continued to fight Israeli forces for its recapture, but by July 18, it was firmly behind Israeli lines.
On August 20, 1948, the Jewish National Fund
called for building a settlement on some of the village lands, and on January 6, 1949, Yas'ur, a kibbutz
, was established. In 1950, the moshav of Ahihud
was inaugurated on the western village lands. According to Walid Khalidi
, one of the schools, two shrines for local sages, and three houses remained standing today. One of the shrines is made of stone and has a dome. Most of the structures stand amid cactuses, weeds, olive and fig groves, and mulberry trees. Most of al-Birwa's inhabitants fled to the nearby Arab towns and villages including Tamra
, Kabul and other localities. Some fled to Lebanon, and ended up in the Shatila refugee camp
, Beirut
, where Palestinian historian Nafez Nazzal interviewed them in 1973.
After the establishment of Israel
, in 1950, Arab
Knesset member Tawfik Toubi
raised the issue of the internally displaced refugees
of al-Birwa in the Israeli Knesset
, demanding that they be allowed to return to their homes. David Ben-Gurion
, then Prime Minister of Israel, replied in the negative, stating, "The questioner presented the facts inaccurately. Birwa is an abandoned village which was destroyed in the fighting. Its inhabitants cooperated with Kaukji's gangs. The Israel Defense Forces and the government did not treat them as they deserved, but permitted them to remain in villages near Birwa, and to become residents of Israel. The government of Israel treats them as it does the other residents of Israel and those lacking means of subsistence. A special body was established to deal with these refugees, to resettle and rehabilitate them, not necessarily in their former villages, and the resettlement of the refugees in Nazareth has already begun."
In December 1951, the village site was declared to be a closed area by the Military Government.
. Located 10.5 kilometers east of Acre, other nearby localities include the destroyed village of Damun to the south, the surviving Arab
towns of Jadeida to the northwest, Julis
to the north, Sha'ab to the east, and Majd al-Kurum to the northeast.
It consisted of a total of 13,542 dunam
s, of which 59 dunams were built-up areas. Cultivable land accounted for 77% of the total land area. Orchards were planted on 1,548 dunams of which 1,500 were used for olive groves, while 8,457 were allotted to grains. The residents of the town sold 536 dunams to Jews, and most of the rest was Arab-owned.
, this had increased to 904 Muslims and 92 Christians, in 224 occupied houses. The British land and population survey of 1945 counted 1330 Muslims and 130 Christians. Meron Benvenisti
claimed there were 240 families living in the village, most of them Muslim
s, however, there were 100 Palestinian Christians
. Of the families, 140 worked for the tenant farmers. At that time there were approximately 300 houses in al-Birwa. The main clans of the village were al-Moughrabi, al-Zayyat and Adlabi.
. Finds include a large building, numerous potsherds from the Late Roman period, a bronze coin from the first or second century CE, remains of an ancient olive press, glass vessels such as a wine goblet and bottles dated to the Late Byzantine and Umayyad periods (seventh and first half of eighth centuries CE) and an underground water reservoir A few potsherds from the Crusader and Mamluk periods were also found.
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
village, located 10.5 kilometres (6.5 mi) east of Acre
Acre, Israel
Acre , is a city in the Western Galilee region of northern Israel at the northern extremity of Haifa Bay. Acre is one of the oldest continuously inhabited sites in the country....
(Akka). Mentioned by Arab geographers in the 11th century, it was known to the Crusaders as Broet. Al-Birwa was captured from the Mamluk
Mamluk
A Mamluk was a soldier of slave origin, who were predominantly Cumans/Kipchaks The "mamluk phenomenon", as David Ayalon dubbed the creation of the specific warrior...
s by the Ottomans
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
in the 16th century. In the 19th century, it had a mosque, a church, and an elementary school for boys. A school for girls was built during the British Mandate. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli war
1948 Arab-Israeli War
The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, known to Israelis as the War of Independence or War of Liberation The war commenced after the termination of the British Mandate for Palestine and the creation of an independent Israel at midnight on 14 May 1948 when, following a period of civil war, Arab armies invaded...
, al-Birwa was occupied by the Israel Defense Forces
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
. The inhabitants fled to nearby villages or refugee camps in Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
. Kibbutz
Kibbutz
A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...
Yas'ur and Moshav
Moshav
Moshav is a type of Israeli town or settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists during the second aliyah...
Ahihud
Ahihud
Ahihud - brother of union. A son of Bela, the sonof Benjamin . Name different in Hebrew, meaning father of Judah. Chief Slaveof the tribe of Asher; one of those appointed by Moses to...
were established on the lands of al-Birwa in 1949 and 1950.
History
The PersianPersian people
The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians and themselves part of...
geographer Nasir Khusraw
Nasir Khusraw
Abu Mo’in Hamid ad-Din Nasir ibn Khusraw al-Qubadiani or Nāsir Khusraw Qubādiyānī [also spelled as Nasir Khusrow and Naser Khosrow] Abu Mo’in Hamid ad-Din Nasir ibn Khusraw al-Qubadiani or Nāsir Khusraw Qubādiyānī [also spelled as Nasir Khusrow and Naser Khosrow] Abu Mo’in Hamid ad-Din Nasir ibn...
visited al-Birwa in 1047 while it was under Fatimid
Fatimid
The Fatimid Islamic Caliphate or al-Fāṭimiyyūn was a Berber Shia Muslim caliphate first centered in Tunisia and later in Egypt that ruled over varying areas of the Maghreb, Sudan, Sicily, the Levant, and Hijaz from 5 January 909 to 1171.The caliphate was ruled by the Fatimids, who established the...
rule. He describes it as lying "between Acre and Damun," and reports having visited what he described as the tombs of Simeon
Simeon (Hebrew Bible)
According to the Book of Genesis, Simeon was, the second son of Jacob and Leah, and the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Simeon. However, some Biblical scholars view this as postdiction, an eponymous metaphor providing an etiology of the connectedness of the tribe to others in the Israelite...
and Esau
Esau
Esau , in the Hebrew Bible, is the oldest son of Isaac. He is mentioned in the Book of Genesis, and by the minor prophets, Obadiah and Malachi. The New Testament later references him in the Book of Romans and the Book of Hebrews....
there. While under Crusader
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...
rule, al-Birwa was called Broet. It was mentioned as part of the domain of the Crusaders during the hudna
Hudna
Hudna is an Arabic term meaning a temporary "truce" or "armistice" as well as "calm" or "quiet", coming from a verbal root meaning "calm". It is sometimes translated as "cease-fire"...
between the Crusaders based in Acre
Acre, Israel
Acre , is a city in the Western Galilee region of northern Israel at the northern extremity of Haifa Bay. Acre is one of the oldest continuously inhabited sites in the country....
and the Mamluk
Mamluk
A Mamluk was a soldier of slave origin, who were predominantly Cumans/Kipchaks The "mamluk phenomenon", as David Ayalon dubbed the creation of the specific warrior...
sultan al-Mansur (Qalawun
Qalawun
Saif ad-Dīn Qalawun aṣ-Ṣāliḥī was the seventh Mamluk sultan of Egypt...
) declared in 1283. In the late 12th and early 13th centuries, it came under Mamluk
Mamluk
A Mamluk was a soldier of slave origin, who were predominantly Cumans/Kipchaks The "mamluk phenomenon", as David Ayalon dubbed the creation of the specific warrior...
rule after the defeat of the Crusaders. The Ottomans
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
ruled from 1517, after the village was captured in the Battle of Marj Dabiq
Battle of Marj Dabiq
The battle of Marj Dābiq was a decisive military clash in Middle Eastern history, fought on 24 August 1516, 44 km north of Halab , Syria.- Battle preparations :...
. In 1596, al-Birwa was a small village in the nahiya ("subdistrict") of Akka, part of the sanjak
Sanjak
Sanjaks were administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire. Sanjak, and the variant spellings sandjak, sanjaq, and sinjaq, are English transliterations of the Turkish word sancak, meaning district, banner, or flag...
("district") of Safad. Most of the houses were built of stone and mud. The village paid taxes on wheat, barley, fruit, beehives, and goats.
In the 19th century, al-Birwa grew to be a large village, with a well in its southern area. To the north, lay "beautiful olive-groves and fruitful wheatfields," as they were described by one Western traveller to the region in the mid-19th century. Edward Robinson
Edward Robinson (scholar)
Edward Robinson was an American biblical scholar, known as the “Father of Biblical Geography.” He has been referred to as the “founder of modern Palestinology.” -Biography:...
, also writing at this time, lists al-Birwa as one of 18 villages in Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
with an operating (Eastern Orthodox) Christian church. In 1888, the Ottomans built an elementary school for boys.
British Mandate period
Palestinian Christians
Palestinian Christians are Arabic-speaking Christians descended from the people of the geographical area of Palestine. Within Palestine, there are churches and believers from many Christian denominations, including Oriental Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholic , Protestant, and others...
lived in the village during the British Mandate period. Cement roofs were added at this time and the main source of income was agriculture. Cultivated crops included, olives, wheat, barley, corn, sesame, and watermelons. There were three olive presses, a mosque and a church. In 1936, the inhabitants of al-Birwa participated in the 1936-1939 Arab revolt in Palestine. The commander of the revolt in the Lower Galilee region, Sheikh Yihya Hawash, was from al-Birwa. He was arrested by the British and sentenced to life imprisonment. The British also executed eight villagers from al-Birwa who had participated in the revolt.
Prominent families and landowners included the Saads, Darwiche, Abdullah, Kayal, Sakas, al-Wakid, al-Joudi, Najm, al-Dabdoub, Khalid, Akawi, Hissian, Hawash and al-Sheikha. The Mougrabis, Adlabis and al-Zayyats were tenant farmers who served as mediators for nearby villages when feuds occurred. In the late 1940s, Birwa had 600 head of cattle, 3,000 goats and 1,000 chickens. An elementary school for girls was established in 1943. Al-Birwa was the birthplace and childhood residence of the poet Mahmoud Darwish
Mahmoud Darwish
Mahmoud Darwish was a Palestinian poet and author who won numerous awards for his literary output and was regarded as the Palestinian national poet...
.
1948 war and aftermath
IsraelIsrael
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i forces of the Carmeli Brigade first captured al-Birwa and positions overlooking it on June 11, 1948 in the wake of Operation Ben-Ami, a day before the first truce of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
1948 Arab-Israeli War
The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, known to Israelis as the War of Independence or War of Liberation The war commenced after the termination of the British Mandate for Palestine and the creation of an independent Israel at midnight on 14 May 1948 when, following a period of civil war, Arab armies invaded...
. During the fighting, 45 elderly residents hid in the church with the priest. The defenders of the village surrendered after losing men and running out of ammunition. The residents took refuge in nearby villages for thirteen days. Nevertheless, clashes continued during the truce. According to local militiamen from al-Birwa, 96 men from the village all armed with rifles, and an equal amount of unarmed men and women assembled near the front lines of the Arab Liberation Army
Arab Liberation Army
The Arab Liberation Army , also translated as Arab Salvation Army, was an army of volunteers from Arab countries led by Fawzi al-Qawuqji...
(ALA). They claimed the ALA did not participate since they were not ordered to by their superiors. The rifle armed local force charged first across the front lines shouting, then the unarmed men with axes, shovels, and sticks, followed by the women who carried water to help the wounded. They took the small Haganah
Haganah
Haganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.- Origins :...
force by surprise and forced them back a kilometer west of al-Birwa, and then harvested their crops. They remained in the village until June 24, when ALA commanders suggested they join their families in the nearby villages.
Israelis announced that they had battled ALA units in the area, inflicting 100 casualties on June 25. The New York Times reported there was fighting in the village for two days and United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
observers were there investigating truce violations. It added that "a small Israeli garrison held al-Birwa prior to the [first] truce", but it fell to ALA troops based in Nazareth
Nazareth
Nazareth is the largest city in the North District of Israel. Known as "the Arab capital of Israel," the population is made up predominantly of Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel...
who launched a surprise attack. Some residents camped in the outskirts of the village and occasionally managed to enter and gather personal belongings. After the end of the first truce in mid-July, al-Birwa was captured by Israel in Operation Dekel
Operation Dekel
Operation Dekel , was the largest offensive in the north of Israel after the first truce of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It was carried out by the 7th Armoured Brigade, a battalion from the Carmeli Brigade along with some elements from the Golani Brigade between 8–18 July. Its objective was to...
. The ALA continued to fight Israeli forces for its recapture, but by July 18, it was firmly behind Israeli lines.
On August 20, 1948, the Jewish National Fund
Jewish National Fund
The Jewish National Fund was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Palestine for Jewish settlement. The JNF is a quasi-governmental, non-profit organisation...
called for building a settlement on some of the village lands, and on January 6, 1949, Yas'ur, a kibbutz
Kibbutz
A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...
, was established. In 1950, the moshav of Ahihud
Ahihud
Ahihud - brother of union. A son of Bela, the sonof Benjamin . Name different in Hebrew, meaning father of Judah. Chief Slaveof the tribe of Asher; one of those appointed by Moses to...
was inaugurated on the western village lands. According to Walid Khalidi
Walid Khalidi
Walid Khalidi is an Oxford University-educated Palestinian historian who has written extensively on the Palestinian exodus. He is General Secretary and co-founder of the Institute for Palestine Studies, established in Beirut in December 1963 as an independent research and publishing center...
, one of the schools, two shrines for local sages, and three houses remained standing today. One of the shrines is made of stone and has a dome. Most of the structures stand amid cactuses, weeds, olive and fig groves, and mulberry trees. Most of al-Birwa's inhabitants fled to the nearby Arab towns and villages including Tamra
Tamra
Tamra is an Israeli Arab city in the North District of Israel located in the Lower Galilee north of the city of Shefa-'Amr and approximately east of Akko . The name Tamra means date palm in Arabic...
, Kabul and other localities. Some fled to Lebanon, and ended up in the Shatila refugee camp
Shatila refugee camp
The Shatila refugee camp is a long-term refugee camp for Palestinian refugees, set up by UNRWA in 1949. The camp is located within the Lebanese capital Beirut. As of December 2003, it housed 12,235 registered refugees...
, Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
, where Palestinian historian Nafez Nazzal interviewed them in 1973.
After the establishment of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, in 1950, Arab
Arab citizens of Israel
Arab citizens of Israel refers to citizens of Israel who are not Jewish, and whose cultural and linguistic heritage or ethnic identity is Arab....
Knesset member Tawfik Toubi
Tawfik Toubi
-Biography:Toubi was born in Haifa to an Arab Orthodox family in 1922, and was educated at the Mount Zion School in Jerusalem. He joined the Palestine Communist Party in 1941 and later was one of the founders of the League for National Liberation, which originally opposed partition of Palestine but...
raised the issue of the internally displaced refugees
Internally displaced Palestinians
A present absentee is a Palestinian who fled or was expelled from his home in Palestine by Jewish or Israeli forces, before and during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, but who remained within the area that became the state of Israel. Present absentees are also referred to as internally displaced...
of al-Birwa in the Israeli Knesset
Knesset
The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...
, demanding that they be allowed to return to their homes. David Ben-Gurion
David Ben-Gurion
' was the first Prime Minister of Israel.Ben-Gurion's passion for Zionism, which began early in life, led him to become a major Zionist leader and Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization in 1946...
, then Prime Minister of Israel, replied in the negative, stating, "The questioner presented the facts inaccurately. Birwa is an abandoned village which was destroyed in the fighting. Its inhabitants cooperated with Kaukji's gangs. The Israel Defense Forces and the government did not treat them as they deserved, but permitted them to remain in villages near Birwa, and to become residents of Israel. The government of Israel treats them as it does the other residents of Israel and those lacking means of subsistence. A special body was established to deal with these refugees, to resettle and rehabilitate them, not necessarily in their former villages, and the resettlement of the refugees in Nazareth has already begun."
In December 1951, the village site was declared to be a closed area by the Military Government.
Geography
Al-Birwa stood on a rocky hill, with an average elevation of 60 meters above sea level, overlooking the Acre plain. It was situated at the intersection of two highways — one leading to Acre and one towards HaifaHaifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
. Located 10.5 kilometers east of Acre, other nearby localities include the destroyed village of Damun to the south, the surviving Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
towns of Jadeida to the northwest, Julis
Julis
Julis is a Druze village and local council in the Northern District of Israel.-Etymology:According to local legend, the name is derived from "Julius," the name of a Roman commander who camped in the area...
to the north, Sha'ab to the east, and Majd al-Kurum to the northeast.
It consisted of a total of 13,542 dunam
Dunam
A dunam or dönüm, dunum, donum, dynym, dulum was a non-SI unit of land area used in the Ottoman Empire and representing the amount of land that can be plowed in a day; its value varied from 900–2500 m²...
s, of which 59 dunams were built-up areas. Cultivable land accounted for 77% of the total land area. Orchards were planted on 1,548 dunams of which 1,500 were used for olive groves, while 8,457 were allotted to grains. The residents of the town sold 536 dunams to Jews, and most of the rest was Arab-owned.
Demographics
According to Ottoman authorities, in 1596, al-Birwa had 121 residents and Van Guerin recorded approximately 900 inhabitants in the 1880s. At the time of the 1922 census of Palestine, al-Birwa had a population of 735 Muslims and 72 Christians, mostly Orthodox Christians with a few Anglicans. By the 1931 census1931 census of Palestine
The 1931 census of Palestine was the second census carried out by the authorities of the British Mandate of Palestine. It was carried out on 18 November 1931 under the direction of Major E. Mills. The first census had been conducted in 1922...
, this had increased to 904 Muslims and 92 Christians, in 224 occupied houses. The British land and population survey of 1945 counted 1330 Muslims and 130 Christians. Meron Benvenisti
Meron Benvenisti
Meron Benvenisti is an Israeli political scientist who was Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem under Teddy Kollek from 1971 to 1978, during which he administered East Jerusalem and served as Jerusalem's Chief Planning Officer. He is a medieval scholar and published books and maps on the Crusader period in...
claimed there were 240 families living in the village, most of them Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s, however, there were 100 Palestinian Christians
Palestinian Christians
Palestinian Christians are Arabic-speaking Christians descended from the people of the geographical area of Palestine. Within Palestine, there are churches and believers from many Christian denominations, including Oriental Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholic , Protestant, and others...
. Of the families, 140 worked for the tenant farmers. At that time there were approximately 300 houses in al-Birwa. The main clans of the village were al-Moughrabi, al-Zayyat and Adlabi.
Archaeology
In October 2002, a salvage excavation was conducted at the site on behalf of the Israel Antiquities AuthorityIsrael Antiquities Authority
The Israel Antiquities Authority is an independent Israeli governmental authority responsible for enforcing the 1978 Law of Antiquities. The IAA regulates excavation and conservation, and promotes research...
. Finds include a large building, numerous potsherds from the Late Roman period, a bronze coin from the first or second century CE, remains of an ancient olive press, glass vessels such as a wine goblet and bottles dated to the Late Byzantine and Umayyad periods (seventh and first half of eighth centuries CE) and an underground water reservoir A few potsherds from the Crusader and Mamluk periods were also found.
External links
- Oral history of the fall of Birweh
- Al-Birwa, Khalil Sakakini Cultural CenterKhalil Sakakini Cultural CenterKhalil Sakakini Cultural Center is an organization established in 1996. It is located at 4 Raja Street, Ramallah in the West Bank. The traditional manor that houses the centre was the former family home of Khalil Salem Salah, the mayor of Ramallah between 1947/1951, is now owned by the Palestinian...
- Al-Birweh, from Dr. Moslih Kanaaneh
- All About... al-Birwa, ZochrotZochrotZochrot is an Israeli-Jewish non-profit organization founded in 2002. Based in Tel Aviv, its aim is to promote awareness of the Palestinian Nakba , the 1948 Palestinian exodus. The group's director is Eitan Bronstein...
- Fifth Procession of Return by ADRID in al-Birweh, 2002
- Al-Birwa, the story of an uprooted Palestinian village, 2002, ZochrotZochrotZochrot is an Israeli-Jewish non-profit organization founded in 2002. Based in Tel Aviv, its aim is to promote awareness of the Palestinian Nakba , the 1948 Palestinian exodus. The group's director is Eitan Bronstein...
- Tour of al-Birwa, July 2nd, 2011, ZochrotZochrotZochrot is an Israeli-Jewish non-profit organization founded in 2002. Based in Tel Aviv, its aim is to promote awareness of the Palestinian Nakba , the 1948 Palestinian exodus. The group's director is Eitan Bronstein...
- Fifth Procession of Return by ADRID in al-Birweh, Yosefa Mekaitun, 2002, Zochrot
- Inside a Palestinian refugee camp, Martin Asser BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, 14 May 2008. Interview with Muhammad Diab from al-Birwa, now refugee in the Shatila refugee campShatila refugee campThe Shatila refugee camp is a long-term refugee camp for Palestinian refugees, set up by UNRWA in 1949. The camp is located within the Lebanese capital Beirut. As of December 2003, it housed 12,235 registered refugees...
, LebanonLebanonLebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
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