Wadi Ara, Haifa

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This article is about the former Palestinian village in Haifa Sub-district. For the valley, see Wadi Ara. For other uses, see Zababida (disambiguation).
Wadi Ara
وادي عارة
Old Arab house of Wadi Ara, now part of Kibbutz Barkai
Old Arab house of Wadi Ara, now part of Kibbutz Barkai
Etymology: Khurbet ez Zebadneh=The ruin if the people of Zebdah[1]
Historical map series for the area of Wadi Ara, Haifa (1870s).jpg
Historical map series for the area of Wadi Ara, Haifa (1940s).jpg
Historical map series for the area of Wadi Ara, Haifa (modern).jpg
Historical map series for the area of Wadi Ara, Haifa (1940s with modern overlay).jpg
A series of historical maps of the area around Wadi Ara, Haifa (click the buttons)
Wadi Ara is located in Mandatory Palestine
Wadi Ara
Wadi Ara
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 32°28′31″N 35°01′55″E / 32.47528°N 35.03194°E / 32.47528; 35.03194Coordinates: 32°28′31″N 35°01′55″E / 32.47528°N 35.03194°E / 32.47528; 35.03194
Palestine grid153/209
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictHaifa
Date of depopulationFebruary 27, 1948[4]
Area
[3]
 • Total9,795 dunams (9.795 km2 or 3.782 sq mi)
Population
 (1945)
 • Total230[2][3]
Cause(s) of depopulationFear of being caught up in the fighting
Current LocalitiesEin Iron, Barkai[5]

Wadi Ara (Arabic: وادي عارة‎) was an Arab village located 38.5 km south of the city of Haifa. It is named after the nearby stream that is known in Arabic as Wadi 'Ara. The village was particularly small with a population of 230 and a land area of approximately 9,800 dunums.

History and archaeology[]

En Esur: Early Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age[]

At En Esur (Hebrew) or 'Ein Asawir (Arabic), a 2019 salvage excavation has brought to light a remarkably large settlement from the Early Chalcolithic period, some 7,000 years ago.[6] Researchers are cautious about calling it a proto-city, although its size (400 dunams or 400,000 m²) and clear presence of some elements of urbanisation, are compelling researchers to rethink the beginnings of urban development in the region, possibly dating earlier than the late fourth millennium BCE, which had been the consensus so far.[6]

Above the Early Chalcolithic settlement, a large walled Early Bronze Age city with an estimated population of up to 6,000 inhabitants was discovered.[6] The 0.65 km² or 160 acres city was a complete surprise as well, as researchers had neither known, nor predicted any urban settlement of this magnitude in the Southern Levant dating back c. 5,000 years.[6] Findings of pottery originating in the Jordan Valley and even Egypt are proof for the strong trading contacts with rather distant regions.[6]

The archaeological mound of Tell el-Asawir, part of the wider archaeological site of En Esur, is located northwest of the former village. Burial caves dating from the fourth to the second millennium BCE were found there when the site was excavated in 1953.[7] The Tell el-Asawir necropolis, located near a stone quarry, underwent a salvage excavation in 2003, resulting in a find presented to the press as "the largest Bronze Age necropolis in the world".[8] The Ministry of Religious Affairs intervened and the thousands of human skeletons excavated from burial chambers measuring up to 100 m² had to be reburied before they could be scientifically studied, although their age excluded the possibility of them being the remains of Jews, which are not to be disturbed under Jewish religious laws.[8] A few years later there was hardly anything to be found online about the findings, almost as if they had never been made.[9]

Roman to Late Ottoman periods[]

Ceramics from the late Roman, Byzantine, and early Muslim and Middle ages have been found at Khirbet ez-Zebadneh.[10][11]

The Muslim geographer Ibn Khurdadhbi (d. 912) described it as a stopping place on the road between al-Lajjun and Qalansuwa.[7]

In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described it a small hamlet known as Khurbet ez Zebadneh.[12]

British Mandate[]

During the British Mandate of Palestine, the village was classified as a hamlet in the Palestine Index Gazetteer.[7] In the 1922 census of Palestine Wadi Arah had a population of 68; all Muslims,[13] increasing in the 1931 census to 81; still all Muslim, in a total of 18 houses.[14]

The moshav of Ein Iron was built in 1934 on what were traditionally village lands.[15]

In the 1945 statistics Wadi Ara had a population of 230 Muslims,[2] with a total of 9,795 dunams of land.[3] Of this, Arabs used 6,400 dunums of land for cereals,[16] while 1,446 dunams were classified as uncultivable land.[17]

  • Wadi 'Ara 1942 1:20,000

  • Wadi 'Ara 1945 1:250,000

1948 War and aftermath[]

During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War the village was successfully defended by Arab Liberation Army volunteers and Iraqi forces patrolling the nearby city of Tulkarm. However, locals in the area experienced violence at the hands of Israeli forces; A member of kibbutz Be'eri, assigned to the Guard Milices testified in a study undertaken by Israeli historian and Uri Milstein: "We were in Wadi 'Ara. We raided a nearby Palestinian post and brought a prisoner for interrogation. A soldier beheaded him and scalped his head by knife. He raised the head on a pole to strike fear among Palestinians. Nobody stopped him."[18] Most non-Jewish residents were removed on February 27, 1948 prior to the official founding of the modern state of Israel, those remaining were removed by the end of July 1949.

In March 1949 as the Iraqi forces withdrew from Palestine and handed over their positions to the smaller Jordanian legion, three Israeli brigades manoeuvred into threatening positions in Operation Shin-Tav-Shin in a form of coercive diplomacy. The operation allowed Israel to renegotiate the ceasefire line in the Wadi Ara area of the northern West Bank in a secret agreement reached on 23 March 1949 and incorporated into the General Armistice Agreement. The green line was then redrawn in blue ink on the southern map to give the impression that a movement in the green line had been made.[19] Jordan ceded the entire Wadi Ara region to Israel on May 3, 1949.

Following the area's incorporation into Israel, kibbutz Barkai was established on the site of Wadi Ara on May 10, 1949.[15] In 1992 Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi described the remaining structures on the village land: "Only two village houses remain, both on the eastern edge of the site. One of them has arched windows and a spiral staircase leading up to a room on the roof. The second has a large entrance that is used today as a gate for the kibbutz's swimming pool."[15]

Petersen inspected the remaining buildings in 1994, and described them as "a large rectangular building which appears to be of late Ottoman date. On the ground floor is a long hall (18.8m x 6.9m) roofed by three cross-vaults. On the upper floor is a large terrace and a single cross-vaulted room. South of this building are the remains of a high wall and a monumental gateway which now gives access to the Kibbutz swimming pool. It is likely that both buildings date to the latter part of the Ottoman period (i.e. 1880-1917)"[20]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Palmer, 1881, p. 150
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 15
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 49
  4. ^ Morris, 2004, p. xviii, village # 146. Also gives cause of depopulation
  5. ^ Morris, 2004, p. xxii, settlement # 126, 1949
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e "Gigantic Prehistoric City Found in Israel During Roadworks". Ariel David for Haaretz. 8 October 2019. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b c Khalidi, 1992, p. 201
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b "Grösste bronzezeitliche Grabanlage der Welt in Israel entdeckt" [Largest Bronze Age Necropolis in the World Discovered in Israel]. Jesus.ch (in German). 31 July 2003. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  9. ^ "Geschichtsklitterung im Namen des israelischen Religionsministeriums" [History Falsified on Behalf of the Israeli Religious Affairs Ministry]. forum.hagalil.com (in German). 26 October 2009. Retrieved 26 October 2009.[dead link]
  10. ^ Dauphin, 1998, p. 749
  11. ^ Zertal, 2016, p.159
  12. ^ Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 42. Quoted in Petersen, 2001, p.310
  13. ^ Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Haifa, p. 34
  14. ^ Mills, 1932, p. 87
  15. ^ Jump up to: a b c Khalidi, 1992, p. 202
  16. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 92
  17. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 142
  18. ^ The Palestinian Nabka: Register of Depopulated Localities in Palestine, Compiled by Salman Abu Sitta The Palestinian Return Centre: London, September 2000, page 18
  19. ^ Shlaim, 2004, pp. 299, 312
  20. ^ Petersen, 2001, p. 310

Bibliography[]

External links[]

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