Mazra'a
Encyclopedia
Mazra'a is an Arab
town and local council
in northern Israel
, situated between Acre
and Nahariyya on the Mediterranean
coast.
The local council was founded in 1896 and was incorporated into the Matte Asher Regional Council in 1982, before proclaiming itself an independent local council again in 1996.
al-mazra'a (p. mazari), meaning "the sown land" or "farm", is a relatively common place name used to refer to cultivated lands outside of and dependent upon a primary settlement. In Crusader times, the village was known as le Mezera, according to Victor Guérin
, while to Arabs in medieval times, it was known as al-Mazra'ah.
between the Mamluk Sultan
Qalaun and the Latin Kingdom of the Crusaders
that controlled some territories in the Levant
between 1099 and 1291. At the time of the treaty, Mazra'a was said to be still under Crusaders
control. A 50 metre long wall at to the west of the village centre, dating from the period, is thought to be the remnants of a fortified structure, mentioned by travel writers.
Mazra'a was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire
in 1517 with all of Palestine and in 1596, the tax registers listed Mazra'a as forming part of the nahiya (subdistrict) of Acca (Acre). The population is recorded as 27 households, and the villagers paid taxes on wheat
, barley
, cotton
, "occasional revenues," goats, beehives, and water buffaloes.
In the 1760s, Mazra'a was one of five villages in nahiya ("subdistrict") of Sahil Akka ("Acre coast"), which was under the direct rule of Daher el-Omar
, the independent governor of the Galilee
, as one of his Viftlik estates. As such, villagers were exempt from paying the usual Ottoman taxes. (Other Viftlik estates were Judayda, Samiriyya, al-Makr, and Julis
.) After the death of Daher el-Omar in 1775, these villages were abandoned for a time, becoming known as places of lawlessness. Jezzar Pasha
, the new governor of Acre
, first returned the villages to their local sheikhs, later dividing the income collected from them between himself and the local official.
In 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte described El-Mazara as a village of hundreds of Christians.
Guérin, who visited Palestine
in the mid-19th century, described Mezra'a as a village with a very small number of inhabitants, sepulchral grottos, cistern
s, and a number of houses built of stone. The remains of a small castle fort are dated by him to the Middle Ages
, if not earlier. Not far from it lay a number of columns that once ornamented a church. Also close to the village was a khan
said to have been built by Jezzar Pasha from which an aqueduct
traveled through the valley under high arches.
In 1881, the Survey of Western Palestine described the place as "A stone and conglomerate village, having 200 Moslems, situated on the plain, with olive
s, pomegranate
s, mulberries, and arable land; the aqueduct supplies good water."
At the time of the 1931 census
, Mazra'a had 78 occupied houses and a population consisting of 307 Muslims, 5 Christians and 8 Bahais.
Mazra'a is one of the only Palestinian
Arab
coastal towns in the Western Galilee to have remained populated after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war
. It served as a collection point for villagers expelled from the neighbouring villages of al-Zeeb
and al-Bassa
, assaulted and depopulated during Operation Ben-Ami beginning on 13 May 1948, two days before the official outbreak of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. This caused the population to increase from 460 in 1946 to 620 in 1951.
The land area of 312 hectares owned by Mazra'a in 1945 was reduced to 30 hectares in 1962, for reasons that included an expropriation of 155 hectares by the Israeli government in 1953–54.
, in the old part of the village. The masonry
, composed of large (average size 1m x 0.5m) blocks, is consistent with a medieval date. Petersen, who visited the place in 1991 and 1994 and examined it, found two chambers, one long (11.4 x 6.35m) chamber aligned east-west, and one smaller chamber aligned north-south. Rock-cut trough
s found in the smaller room indicated that it might have been a stable
.
aqueduct
at the beginning of the nineteenth century. On the NE and the NW corners of the courtyard
are staircases leading to the flat roof. The south part of the building consists of a vault
ed hall, with an arcade
of six arch
es facing the courtyard.
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....
town and local council
Local council (Israel)
Local councils are one of the three types of local government found in Israel, with the other two being cities and regional councils. As of 2003, there were 144 local councils in Israel, these being settlements which pass a minimum threshold enough to justify their operations as independent...
in northern Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, situated between 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 Nahariyya on the Mediterranean
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
coast.
The local council was founded in 1896 and was incorporated into the Matte Asher Regional Council in 1982, before proclaiming itself an independent local council again in 1996.
Name
The ArabicArabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
al-mazra'a (p. mazari), meaning "the sown land" or "farm", is a relatively common place name used to refer to cultivated lands outside of and dependent upon a primary settlement. In Crusader times, the village was known as le Mezera, according to Victor Guérin
Victor Guérin
Victor Guérin was a French intellectual, explorer and amateur archaeologist. He published books describing the geography, archeology and history of the areas he explored, which included Greece, Asia Minor, North Africa, Syria and Palestine.-Biography:From 1840, Guerin was a professor of rhetoric...
, while to Arabs in medieval times, it was known as al-Mazra'ah.
History
Mazra'a is mentioned in the 1283 treatyHudna
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 Mamluk Sultan
Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)
The Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt was the final independent Egyptian state prior to the establishment of the Muhammad Ali Dynasty in 1805. It lasted from the overthrow of the Ayyubid Dynasty until the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517. The sultanate's ruling caste was composed of Mamluks, Arabised...
Qalaun and the Latin Kingdom of the Crusaders
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...
that controlled some territories in the Levant
Levant
The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...
between 1099 and 1291. At the time of the treaty, Mazra'a was said to be still under Crusaders
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...
control. A 50 metre long wall at to the west of the village centre, dating from the period, is thought to be the remnants of a fortified structure, mentioned by travel writers.
Mazra'a was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire
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 1517 with all of Palestine and in 1596, the tax registers listed Mazra'a as forming part of the nahiya (subdistrict) of Acca (Acre). The population is recorded as 27 households, and the villagers paid taxes on wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
, barley
Barley
Barley is a major cereal grain, a member of the grass family. It serves as a major animal fodder, as a base malt for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods...
, cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
, "occasional revenues," goats, beehives, and water buffaloes.
In the 1760s, Mazra'a was one of five villages in nahiya ("subdistrict") of Sahil Akka ("Acre coast"), which was under the direct rule of Daher el-Omar
Daher el-Omar
Daher el-Omar was the Arab-Bedouin ruler of the Galilee district of the southern Levant during the mid-18th century...
, the independent governor of the Galilee
Galilee
Galilee , is a large region in northern Israel which overlaps with much of the administrative North District of the country. Traditionally divided into Upper Galilee , Lower Galilee , and Western Galilee , extending from Dan to the north, at the base of Mount Hermon, along Mount Lebanon to the...
, as one of his Viftlik estates. As such, villagers were exempt from paying the usual Ottoman taxes. (Other Viftlik estates were Judayda, Samiriyya, al-Makr, and 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...
.) After the death of Daher el-Omar in 1775, these villages were abandoned for a time, becoming known as places of lawlessness. Jezzar Pasha
Jezzar Pasha
Ahmed al-Jazzar was the Ottoman ruler of Acre and the Galilee from 1775 until his death.-Biography:...
, the new governor 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....
, first returned the villages to their local sheikhs, later dividing the income collected from them between himself and the local official.
In 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte described El-Mazara as a village of hundreds of Christians.
Guérin, who visited 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 mid-19th century, described Mezra'a as a village with a very small number of inhabitants, sepulchral grottos, cistern
Cistern
A cistern is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by their waterproof linings...
s, and a number of houses built of stone. The remains of a small castle fort are dated by him to the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, if not earlier. Not far from it lay a number of columns that once ornamented a church. Also close to the village was a khan
Khan (title)
Khan is an originally Altaic and subsequently Central Asian title for a sovereign or military ruler, widely used by medieval nomadic Turko-Mongol tribes living to the north of China. 'Khan' is also seen as a title in the Xianbei confederation for their chief between 283 and 289...
said to have been built by Jezzar Pasha from which an aqueduct
Aqueduct
An aqueduct is a water supply or navigable channel constructed to convey water. In modern engineering, the term is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other structures used for this purpose....
traveled through the valley under high arches.
In 1881, the Survey of Western Palestine described the place as "A stone and conglomerate village, having 200 Moslems, situated on the plain, 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...
s, pomegranate
Pomegranate
The 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...
s, mulberries, and arable land; the aqueduct supplies good water."
At the time of the 1931 census
1931 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...
, Mazra'a had 78 occupied houses and a population consisting of 307 Muslims, 5 Christians and 8 Bahais.
Mazra'a is one of the only Palestinian
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...
coastal towns in the Western Galilee to have remained populated after 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...
. It served as a collection point for villagers expelled from the neighbouring villages of al-Zeeb
Al-Zeeb
Az-Zeeb or al-Zib was a Palestinian Arab village located north of Acre on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Mentioned in the Bible by its ancient name Achzib, evidence of human settlement at the site dates back to the 18th century BCE. By the 10th century BCE, it was a propersous and fortified...
and al-Bassa
Al-Bassa
al-Bassa was a Palestinian Arab village in the British Mandate of Palestine's District of Acre. It was situated close to the Lebanese border, north of the district capital, Akko , and above sea level.-Name:...
, assaulted and depopulated during Operation Ben-Ami beginning on 13 May 1948, two days before the official outbreak of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. This caused the population to increase from 460 in 1946 to 620 in 1951.
The land area of 312 hectares owned by Mazra'a in 1945 was reduced to 30 hectares in 1962, for reasons that included an expropriation of 155 hectares by the Israeli government in 1953–54.
Vaulted Medieval Building
The medieval building is located on the east side of the aqueductAqueduct
An aqueduct is a water supply or navigable channel constructed to convey water. In modern engineering, the term is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other structures used for this purpose....
, in the old part of the village. The masonry
Masonry
Masonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar; the term masonry can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are brick, stone, marble, granite, travertine, limestone; concrete block, glass block, stucco, and...
, composed of large (average size 1m x 0.5m) blocks, is consistent with a medieval date. Petersen, who visited the place in 1991 and 1994 and examined it, found two chambers, one long (11.4 x 6.35m) chamber aligned east-west, and one smaller chamber aligned north-south. Rock-cut trough
Trough
Trough may refer to:* Trough , the lowest turning point of a business cycle* Trough or manger, a container for animal feed* Watering trough, a receptacle of drinking water for domestic and non-domestic livestock...
s found in the smaller room indicated that it might have been a stable
Stable
A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals...
.
Khan al Waqif
The building is a square enclosure, located about 800 m. north of the village, and it is associated with the construction of the KabriAl-Kabri
Al-Kabri was a Palestinian Arab town in the Galilee located northeast of Acre. It was captured by the Israel Defence Forces during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. In 1945, it had a population of 1,520 and a total land area of 28,729 dunams. It is near the site of Tel Kabri.-History:Al-Kabri was known...
aqueduct
Aqueduct
An aqueduct is a water supply or navigable channel constructed to convey water. In modern engineering, the term is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other structures used for this purpose....
at the beginning of the nineteenth century. On the NE and the NW corners of the courtyard
Courtyard
A court or courtyard is an enclosed area, often a space enclosed by a building that is open to the sky. These areas in inns and public buildings were often the primary meeting places for some purposes, leading to the other meanings of court....
are staircases leading to the flat roof. The south part of the building consists of a vault
Vault (architecture)
A Vault is an architectural term for an arched form used to provide a space with a ceiling or roof. The parts of a vault exert lateral thrust that require a counter resistance. When vaults are built underground, the ground gives all the resistance required...
ed hall, with an arcade
Arcade (architecture)
An arcade is a succession of arches, each counterthrusting the next, supported by columns or piers or a covered walk enclosed by a line of such arches on one or both sides. In warmer or wet climates, exterior arcades provide shelter for pedestrians....
of six arch
Arch
An arch is a structure that spans a space and supports a load. Arches appeared as early as the 2nd millennium BC in Mesopotamian brick architecture and their systematic use started with the Ancient Romans who were the first to apply the technique to a wide range of structures.-Technical aspects:The...
es facing the courtyard.
Khan Evron
This building is located about 1 km north-east of the village, just south of the Kabri aqueduct. The design is very similar to the Khan al Waqif, and it is assumed that it they date to the same age.See also
- List of Arab localities in Israel
- Bahá'í World Centre buildings: Mazra'a