Al-Husayniyya, Safad

For other villages and towns with a similar name, see Hussainiya (disambiguation).
Al-Husayniyya
الحسينية
Al-Husayniyya
Village
Etymology: Khirbat Al-Husayniyya: The ruin of el Hasanîyeh, named after Hasan ibn Ali[1]
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Al-Husayniyya, Safad (click the buttons)
Al-Husayniyya is located in Mandatory Palestine
Al-Husayniyya
Al-Husayniyya
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 33°02′23″N 35°34′58″E / 33.03972°N 35.58278°E / 33.03972; 35.58278
Palestine grid204/271
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictSafad
Date of depopulation21 April 1948[4]
Area
[3]
 • Total
5,324 dunams (5.324 km2 or 2.056 sq mi)
Population
 (1945)
 • Total
340 (together with Tulayl)[2][3]
Cause(s) of depopulationInfluence of nearby town's fall
Current LocalitiesChulata, Sde Eliezer[5]

Al-Husayniyya (Arabic: الحسينية) was a Palestinian village, depopulated in 1948.

During the 1948 Palestine war, the village was attacked twice by the Palmach; first on 12 March 1948 and again on 16-17 March. Historian Walid Khalidi writes that over 45 villagers were killed in these attacks.[6] Many in the village fled seeking shelter in Lebanon and Syria.[citation needed]

Location

The village was located 11 kilometres northeast of Safed, on a slightly elevated hill in the southwestern corner of the al-Hula Plain. It stood along the eastern side of a highway that led to Safad and Tiberias.[7]

History

The Arab geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi noted its ancient buildings and praised one of them, which he claimed had originally been a temple and perhaps was built by Solomon.[6][8]

Ottoman era

In 1881, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described the place as having "a few ruined cattle-sheds".[9]

In the second half of the 19th century, after the Algerian followers of Abdelkader El Djezairi had been defeated by the French in Algeria, they sought refuge in another part of the Ottoman Empire. They were given lands in various locations in Ottoman Syria, including al-Husayniyya, and the nearby villages of Dayshum, Ammuqa, Marus and Tulayl.[10]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, the Husainiyeh tribal area had a population of 127; all Muslims,[11] increasing to 274 in the 1931 census; still all Muslims, in a total of 64 houses.[12]

In the 1945 statistics the population the combined population of Tulayl and Al-Husayniyya was 340 Muslims,[2] with a total of 5,324 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.[3] All the villagers were Muslims.[13] A total of 3,388 dunums was allocated to cereals and 22 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards for Tuleil and Al-Husayniyya. The villagers also kept livestock, especially water buffalo, for ploughing, dairy production, and meat.[6][14]

1948, and aftermath

On the night of 12–13 March 1948, a Palmah strike against Husseiniyya resulted in a number of houses being blown up, and several dozen Arabs, who included members of an Iraqi volunteer contingent and women and children, were killed and another 20 wounded. According to reports, Husseiniyya's mukhtar was executed after being reassured by the raiders that he would not be harmed. The Palmah's Third Battalion lost three dead.[15] According to Palmah reports cited by Morris, "the village was completely evacuated".[16] Some of the villagers who escaped the massacres may have remained or returned in subsequent days; according to Israeli military intelligence, the residents of al-Husayniyya did not leave until 21 April.[5]

The settlement of Chulata, established in 1937, is 3 km (2 mi) east of the site, near Tulayl. The settlement of Sde Eliezer is on village land, about 1 km (1 mi) west of the village site.[5]

The Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi described the place in 1992: "Only piles of stone and sections of walls from demolished houses remain. The site itself is overgrown with thorns, grasses, and scattered Christ’s-thorn trees, and is used as pasture. The land in the vicinity is cultivated."[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ Palmer, 1881, p. 83
  2. ^ a b Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 11
  3. ^ a b c Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 71 Archived 2011-06-04 at the Wayback Machine, includes Tuleil
  4. ^ Morris, 2004, p. xvi, village #36. Also gives cause of depopulation.
  5. ^ a b c d Khalidi, 1992, p. 457
  6. ^ a b c Khalidi, 1992, p. 456
  7. ^ Khalidi, 1992, pp. 455-6
  8. ^ le Strange, 1890, p.340
  9. ^ Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 239
  10. ^ Abbasi, 2007 (Hebrew). Non-Hebrew version in The Maghreb Review, 28(1), 2003 pp. 41-59.
  11. ^ Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Safad, p. 42
  12. ^ Mills, 1932, p. 107
  13. ^ United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine, Appendix B Archived 2012-06-09 at the Wayback Machine, p. 6
  14. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 121 Archived 2018-09-26 at the Wayback Machine
  15. ^ Morris, 2004, p. 132, notes # 540, 541, p. 160
  16. ^ Morris, 2004, p. 344, Note # 15, Palmah HQ to HGS, "Daily Report", 13 Mar. 1948, IDFA 922\\75\\1066 and Palmah HQ to HGS, "Daily Report", 17 Mar. 1948, HA 105\62, p. 396

Bibliography