Ayn Ghazal
Encyclopedia
Ayn Ghazal was a Palestinian
Arab
village located 21 kilometres (13 mi) south of Haifa
. Depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
as a result of an Israeli military assault during Operation Shoter
, the village was then completely destroyed. Incorporated into the State of Israel, it is now mostly a forested area. The Israeli moshav
of Ofer ("fawn") was established in 1950 on part of the former village's lands. Ein Ayala
, a moshav established in 1949, lies just adjacent; its name being the Hebrew
translation of Ayn Ghazal.
like much of the rest of Palestine
in the late 19th century, Ayn Ghazal was described as a small village built of stone and mud
, with about 450 residents. The villagers cultivated 35 Faddans of land (1 faddan =100-250 dunam
s). In the early twentieth century the number of inhabitants was given as 883, and a mosque and a school in the village was noted by travellers.
Much of the land in the Ayn Ghazal and the neighbouring villages of Ja'ba, Khubiza, Tira, and Sarafand
was owned by the sons of Abdel al-Latif al-Salah, who himself owned the entire village of Ji'ara. All these villages became entirely dependent upon the Salah family because of loans they took from them or as a result of the family's commercial activities.
Ayn Ghazal had two schools: an elementary school for boys founded by the Ottomans in 1886, and an elementary school for girls. The village also had a cultural club and an athletic club. The villagers were Muslim
, and they maintained a shrine for a local sage named Sheikh
Shahada. Towards the end of British rule in Mandate Palestine
in 1945, the population was 2,170, and there were an estimated 432 houses in the village in 1948. In 1944-45, 1,400 dunum
s of land in the village were planted with olive
trees, while 8,472 dunums were used for the cultivation of cereal
s.
of Mandate Palestine to the proposed Jewish state
, which alongside the Arab state, was to be established upon termination of the British Mandate, scheduled for May 15, 1948. Ayn Ghazal and the neighboring village of Ayn Hawd were attacked on the evening of April 11, 1948, according to the Palestinian newspaper Filastin
, who reported that a group of 150 Jewish troops were unsuccessful in driving out the inhabitants. Arab states responded to Israel's Declaration of Independence on May 15, 1948 by sending in Arab troops, kicking off the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. On May 20, the Associated Press
reported that another attack on Ayn Ghazal and Ayn Hawd had been thwarted.
In early June 1948, an Israel Defense Forces
(IDF) report shows that Ayn Ghazal, together with Ijzim
and Ja'ba, were asking the IDF, "to open negotiation for surrender." Nothing resulted from the request. On 14 July, before the Second truce of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the Israeli cabinet discussed the three villages in "The Little Triangle". Ben-Gurion
said that there was no need to hurry:
The second truce, beginning on the 18 July, was not violated by the villagers.
According to Meron Benvenisti
, IDF
actions over course of the Second Truce were concentrated on "cleansing" small clusters of Arab villages located in "strategic" areas. 'Ayn Ghazal was depopulated along with two other villages (Ijzim
and Ja'ba) located on the western slopes of the Carmel mountains between July 24 and 26. A week after the start of the truce, Israel undertook Operation Shoter
("Operation Policeman"), with the aim of conquering the "Little Triangle" villages. The operation was executed by a combination of brigades from the Israel Defense Forces
and the military police. On July 25, street fighting was reported from Ayn Ghazal and Ja'ba. On the morning of the next day, the villages were found deserted.
'Ayn Ghazal was one of dozens of Palestinian villages subjected to aerial bombardment after the IDF managed to procure B-17 bombers and fighter planes from the European and American black markets during the First Truce (June-July 1948). Salah Abdel Jawad writes that in addition to loss of civilian life, the air raids spread, "widespread demoralisation due to its indiscriminate character, and because Palestinians who had never experienced aerial bombardment before, had no defences against it." (Later, the then Israeli Foreign Minister Shertok
lied to a United Nations
mediator and said that "no planes were used".)
Azzam Pasha
, the Secretary General of the Arab League
issued a statement alleging that atrocities were committed during and after the attacks. In particular it was stated that 28 people from al-Tira were burnt alive. The IDF rejected these allegations but admitted that their soldiers had found 25–30 bodies at 'Ayn Ghazal in "an advanced state of decomposition," and that the soldiers made prisoners bury the remains. The IDF also buried about 200 bodies found in the three villages after the battle. On July 28, a United Nations observer visited the area, and found, according to Folke Bernadotte
, "no evidence to support claims of massacre." In early August, 1948, neighbouring Jewish settlers arrived in carts and looted Ayn Ghazal and Ja'ba.
In mid-September 1948, UN investigators placed the number of killed or missing in the three villages (Ayn Ghazal, Ijzim and Ja'ba) at 130. Bernadotte condemned Israel's "systematic" destruction of Ayn Ghazal and Ja'ba, and asked that the Israeli government restore at its own expense all houses damaged or destroyed during and after the attack. Bernadotte said that a total of 8,000 people had been driven out of the three villages, and demanded that they be allowed to return
; however, Israel rejected these demands.
One of a number of Palestinian villages that was completely obliterated and then reforested by Israeli authorities, Ayn Ghazal, like Mujeidel, Ma'alul, and Mi'ar
, was planted with pine
or cypress
trees. Ein Ayala
is an Israeli moshav
established in 1949 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) southeast of the village site. Benny Morris
writes that it is on village land; however, Walid Khalidi
writes that this is not correct. According to Khalidi, the settlement of Ofer is on village land, established in 1950 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) southeast of the built up portion of the village. Describing the village remains in 1992, Khalidi writes:
Zochrot
, an Israeli-Jewish organization that aims to raise awareness of the Nakba
has produced a booklet on Ayn Ghazal and organized tours to the site of the destroyed village. The booklet was produced in collaboration with Ali Hamude, an Internally displaced Palestinian refugee from Ayn Ghazal, who currently lives in Furaydis. Hundreds of copies of the booklet were distributed by Hamude, and a village school in Furaydis uses the booklet during class trips to Ayn Ghazal to educate students on its history.
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 21 kilometres (13 mi) south of Haifa
Haifa
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...
. Depopulated 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...
as a result of an Israeli military assault during Operation Shoter
Operation Shoter
Operation Shoter , also Operation Jaba, was a three-day Israeli operation during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War against an area called the "Little Triangle" south of Haifa. It was launched a week after the start of the second truce imposed by United Nations...
, the village was then completely destroyed. Incorporated into the State of Israel, it is now mostly a forested area. The Israeli 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...
of Ofer ("fawn") was established in 1950 on part of the former village's lands. Ein Ayala
Ein Ayala
Ein Ayala is a semi-cooperative moshav in northern Israel. Located at the foot of Mount Carmel around 20 km south of Haifa, it falls under the jurisdiction of the Hof HaCarmel Regional Council...
, a moshav established in 1949, lies just adjacent; its name being the Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
translation of Ayn Ghazal.
History
Under Ottoman ruleOttoman 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...
like much of the rest of 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....
in the late 19th century, Ayn Ghazal was described as a small village built of stone and mud
Adobe
Adobe is a natural building material made from sand, clay, water, and some kind of fibrous or organic material , which the builders shape into bricks using frames and dry in the sun. Adobe buildings are similar to cob and mudbrick buildings. Adobe structures are extremely durable, and account for...
, with about 450 residents. The villagers cultivated 35 Faddans of land (1 faddan =100-250 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). In the early twentieth century the number of inhabitants was given as 883, and a mosque and a school in the village was noted by travellers.
Much of the land in the Ayn Ghazal and the neighbouring villages of Ja'ba, Khubiza, Tira, and Sarafand
Al-Sarafand
Al-Sarafand was an Arab village near the Mediterranean shore south of Haifa. In Ottoman tax records, it is shown that the village had a population of 61 inhabitants in 1596...
was owned by the sons of Abdel al-Latif al-Salah, who himself owned the entire village of Ji'ara. All these villages became entirely dependent upon the Salah family because of loans they took from them or as a result of the family's commercial activities.
Ayn Ghazal had two schools: an elementary school for boys founded by the Ottomans in 1886, and an elementary school for girls. The village also had a cultural club and an athletic club. The villagers were 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...
, and they maintained a shrine for a local sage named Sheikh
Sheikh
Not to be confused with sikhSheikh — also spelled Sheik or Shaikh, or transliterated as Shaykh — is an honorific in the Arabic language that literally means "elder" and carries the meaning "leader and/or governor"...
Shahada. Towards the end of British rule in Mandate Palestine
Mandate Palestine
Mandate Palestine existed while the British Mandate for Palestine, which formally began in September 1923 and terminated in May 1948, was in effect...
in 1945, the population was 2,170, and there were an estimated 432 houses in the village in 1948. In 1944-45, 1,400 dunum
Dunum
Dunum is a municipality in the district of Wittmund, in Lower Saxony, Germany....
s of land in the village were planted with olive
Olive
The olive , Olea europaea), is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin as well as northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the...
trees, while 8,472 dunums were used for the cultivation of cereal
Cereal
Cereals are grasses cultivated for the edible components of their grain , composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran...
s.
1948, and aftermath
When the conflict started, the village was poorly armed. Israeli intelligence estimated the village arsenal at a total of 87 weapons by mid-1947; including 23 obsolete rifles and 45 pistols. The November 1947 United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine allocated Ayn Ghazal and other Arab villages in the Haifa districtHaifa District
Haifa District is an administrative district surrounding the city of Haifa, Israel. The district is one of six administrative districts of Israel, and its capital is Haifa...
of Mandate Palestine to the proposed Jewish state
Jewish state
A homeland for the Jewish people was an idea that rose to the fore in the 19th century in the wake of growing anti-Semitism and Jewish assimilation. Jewish emancipation in Europe paved the way for two ideological solutions to the Jewish Question: cultural assimilation, as envisaged by Moses...
, which alongside the Arab state, was to be established upon termination of the British Mandate, scheduled for May 15, 1948. Ayn Ghazal and the neighboring village of Ayn Hawd were attacked on the evening of April 11, 1948, according to the Palestinian newspaper Filastin
Filastin (newspaper)
Filastin was a twice-weekly newspaper published from 1911-1948 in Palestine. Published from Jaffa, the principal publishers were Isa al-Isa and his cousin Yusef al-Isa. Both al-Isas were Greek Orthodox, opponents of British administration, and supporters of pan-Arab unity...
, who reported that a group of 150 Jewish troops were unsuccessful in driving out the inhabitants. Arab states responded to Israel's Declaration of Independence on May 15, 1948 by sending in Arab troops, kicking off the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. On May 20, the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
reported that another attack on Ayn Ghazal and Ayn Hawd had been thwarted.
In early June 1948, an 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...
(IDF) report shows that Ayn Ghazal, together with Ijzim
Ijzim
Ijzim was a Palestinian village located in the Haifa district of British Mandate Palestine, 19.5 kilometers south of the city, that was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war...
and Ja'ba, were asking the IDF, "to open negotiation for surrender." Nothing resulted from the request. On 14 July, before the Second truce of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the Israeli cabinet discussed the three villages in "The Little Triangle". 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...
said that there was no need to hurry:
"these villages are in our pocket [...] We can act against them also after the [reinstitution of the] truce. This will be a police action... They are not regarded as enemy forces as their area is ours [i.e., in Israel] and they are not inhabitants of the state...[and] these villages do not represent a military danger."
The second truce, beginning on the 18 July, was not violated by the villagers.
According to 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...
, IDF
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...
actions over course of the Second Truce were concentrated on "cleansing" small clusters of Arab villages located in "strategic" areas. 'Ayn Ghazal was depopulated along with two other villages (Ijzim
Ijzim
Ijzim was a Palestinian village located in the Haifa district of British Mandate Palestine, 19.5 kilometers south of the city, that was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war...
and Ja'ba) located on the western slopes of the Carmel mountains between July 24 and 26. A week after the start of the truce, Israel undertook Operation Shoter
Operation Shoter
Operation Shoter , also Operation Jaba, was a three-day Israeli operation during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War against an area called the "Little Triangle" south of Haifa. It was launched a week after the start of the second truce imposed by United Nations...
("Operation Policeman"), with the aim of conquering the "Little Triangle" villages. The operation was executed by a combination of brigades from 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...
and the military police. On July 25, street fighting was reported from Ayn Ghazal and Ja'ba. On the morning of the next day, the villages were found deserted.
'Ayn Ghazal was one of dozens of Palestinian villages subjected to aerial bombardment after the IDF managed to procure B-17 bombers and fighter planes from the European and American black markets during the First Truce (June-July 1948). Salah Abdel Jawad writes that in addition to loss of civilian life, the air raids spread, "widespread demoralisation due to its indiscriminate character, and because Palestinians who had never experienced aerial bombardment before, had no defences against it." (Later, the then Israeli Foreign Minister Shertok
Moshe Sharett
Moshe Sharett on 15 October 1894, died 7 July 1965) was the second Prime Minister of Israel , serving for a little under two years between David Ben-Gurion's two terms.-Early life:...
lied to a 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...
mediator and said that "no planes were used".)
Azzam Pasha
Abdul Rahman Hassan Azzam
Abdul Rahman Hassan Azzam was an Egyptian diplomat, with family origins in Egypt. He served as the first secretary-general of the Arab League between 1945 and 1952.Azzam also had a long career as an ambassador and parliamentarian...
, the Secretary General of the Arab League
Arab League
The Arab League , officially called the League of Arab States , is a regional organisation of Arab states in North and Northeast Africa, and Southwest Asia . It was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945 with six members: Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan , Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. Yemen joined as a...
issued a statement alleging that atrocities were committed during and after the attacks. In particular it was stated that 28 people from al-Tira were burnt alive. The IDF rejected these allegations but admitted that their soldiers had found 25–30 bodies at 'Ayn Ghazal in "an advanced state of decomposition," and that the soldiers made prisoners bury the remains. The IDF also buried about 200 bodies found in the three villages after the battle. On July 28, a United Nations observer visited the area, and found, according to Folke Bernadotte
Folke Bernadotte
Folke Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg was a Swedish diplomat and nobleman noted for his negotiation of the release of about 31,000 prisoners from German concentration camps during World War II, including 450 Danish Jews from Theresienstadt released on 14 April 1945...
, "no evidence to support claims of massacre." In early August, 1948, neighbouring Jewish settlers arrived in carts and looted Ayn Ghazal and Ja'ba.
In mid-September 1948, UN investigators placed the number of killed or missing in the three villages (Ayn Ghazal, Ijzim and Ja'ba) at 130. Bernadotte condemned Israel's "systematic" destruction of Ayn Ghazal and Ja'ba, and asked that the Israeli government restore at its own expense all houses damaged or destroyed during and after the attack. Bernadotte said that a total of 8,000 people had been driven out of the three villages, and demanded that they be allowed to return
Palestinian right of return
The Palestinian right of return is a political position or principle asserting that Palestinian refugees, both first-generation refugees and their descendants, have a right to return, and a right to the property they or their forebears left or which they were forced to leave in what is now Israel...
; however, Israel rejected these demands.
One of a number of Palestinian villages that was completely obliterated and then reforested by Israeli authorities, Ayn Ghazal, like Mujeidel, Ma'alul, and Mi'ar
Mi'ar
Mi'ar was a Palestinian village located 17.5 kilometers east of Acre, depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.-History:...
, was planted with pine
Pine
Pines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...
or cypress
Cypress
Cypress is the name applied to many plants in the cypress family Cupressaceae, which is a conifer of northern temperate regions. Most cypress species are trees, while a few are shrubs...
trees. Ein Ayala
Ein Ayala
Ein Ayala is a semi-cooperative moshav in northern Israel. Located at the foot of Mount Carmel around 20 km south of Haifa, it falls under the jurisdiction of the Hof HaCarmel Regional Council...
is an Israeli 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...
established in 1949 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) southeast of the village site. Benny Morris
Benny Morris
Benny Morris is professor of History in the Middle East Studies department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in the city of Be'er Sheva, Israel...
writes that it is on village land; however, 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...
writes that this is not correct. According to Khalidi, the settlement of Ofer is on village land, established in 1950 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) southeast of the built up portion of the village. Describing the village remains in 1992, Khalidi writes:
"The dilapidated shrine of Sheikh Shahada is the only standing structure on the village site. Ruins of walls and piles of stones can be seen all over the site, as well as stands of pine, cactus, and fig and pomegranatePomegranateThe pomegranate , Punica granatum, is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub or small tree growing between five and eight meters tall.Native to the area of modern day Iran, the pomegranate has been cultivated in the Caucasus since ancient times. From there it spread to Asian areas such as the Caucasus as...
trees. The site has recently been fenced in for use as a grazing area. The flat lands around it are also used for growing vegetables, bananas, and other types of fruit. Parts of the slopes are planted with almondAlmondThe almond , is a species of tree native to the Middle East and South Asia. Almond is also the name of the edible and widely cultivated seed of this tree...
trees."
Zochrot
Zochrot
Zochrot 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...
, an Israeli-Jewish organization that aims to raise awareness of the Nakba
1948 Palestinian exodus
The 1948 Palestinian exodus , also known as the Nakba , occurred when approximately 711,000 to 725,000 Palestinian Arabs left, fled or were expelled from their homes, during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the Civil War that preceded it. The exact number of refugees is a matter of dispute...
has produced a booklet on Ayn Ghazal and organized tours to the site of the destroyed village. The booklet was produced in collaboration with Ali Hamude, an Internally displaced Palestinian refugee from Ayn Ghazal, who currently lives in Furaydis. Hundreds of copies of the booklet were distributed by Hamude, and a village school in Furaydis uses the booklet during class trips to Ayn Ghazal to educate students on its history.
External links
- Welcome To 'Ayn Ghazal
- Ayn Ghazal from the 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...
- 3ein Ghazal, from Dr. Moslih Kanaaneh
- Ali Hamoudi, Ayn Ghazzal, testimony, 1 March, 2003, from 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 and signposting at Ayn Ghazzal, 6.6.03, 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...
- Remembering Ayn Ghazal, Booklet from Zochrot, 07/2003
- "Memoirs" "Refugee Interviews" in Journal of Palestine StudiesJournal of Palestine StudiesThe Journal of Palestine Studies is an academic journal established in 1971. It is published and distributed by University of California Press on behalf of the Institute for Palestine Studies. The current editor is Rashid Khalidi of Columbia University....
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