Al-Na'ima

Al-Na'ima
الناعمة
Etymology: The soft soil[1]
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Al-Na'ima (click the buttons)
Al-Na'ima is located in Mandatory Palestine
Al-Na'ima
Al-Na'ima
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 33°11′17″N 35°35′42″E / 33.18806°N 35.59500°E / 33.18806; 35.59500
Palestine grid206/288
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictSafad
Date of depopulationMay 14, 1948[4]
Area
[3]
 • Total
7,155 dunams (7.155 km2 or 2.763 sq mi)
Population
 (1945)
 • Total
1,240 (1,340 Arabs and 210 Jews)[2][3]
Cause(s) of depopulationInfluence of nearby town's fall
Current LocalitiesNeot Mordechai,[5] Kefar Blum,[5] and Beyt Hillel[5]

Al-Na'ima (Arabic: الناعمة) was a Palestinian Arab village in the Safad Subdistrict of Mandatory Palestine located 26 kilometres (16 mi) northeast of Safad, near the al-Hula Plain. The settlement was depopulated during the 1947-1948 civil war on May 14, 1948 by the Israeli Palmach's First Battalion as part of Operation Yiftach.

In the 1945 statistics it had a population of 1,240 of whom 210 were Jews.[2]

History

In 1881, during the late Ottoman period, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described the village as a "Stone and mud village, on the Huleh Plain, containing about 100 Moslems".[6]

British Mandate era

The village had a boys' elementary school.[5] A shrine dedicated to local sage al-Shaykh al-Wayzi lay about 0.5 kilometres (0.31 mi) from the site as did a stone quarry.

In the 1931 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, En Na'ima had a population of 858, all Muslims, in a total of 174 houses.[7]

Al-Naima, 1946

Types of land use in dunams in the village in the 1945 statistics:[8][9]

Land Usage Arab Jewish
Irrigated and plantation 4,122 2,197
Cereal 156 217
Cultivable 4,278 2,414
Urban 112 0
Non-cultivable 60 0

The land ownership of the village before occupation in dunams:[3]

Owner Dunams
Arab 4,450
Jewish 2,414
Public 291
Total 7,155
Threshing: Al-Na'ima, 1943

1948, and aftermath

During the 1948 war, Al-Na'ima was depopulated during Operation Yiftach which targeted Safad and the surrounding district. When the city of Safad was finally attacked between the 10 and 11 May 1948, morale in the village was low; according to an Israeli intelligence report, many residents fled on 14 May shortly before advancing Israeli troops entered.[5]

The settlement of Neot Mordechai was built in 1946 to the south of the village while to the north is the settlement of Beyt Hillel, built in 1940. Kefar Blum, built in 1943 lies 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) to the southeast.[5]

References

  1. ^ Palmer, 1881, p. 31
  2. ^ a b Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 10
  3. ^ a b c Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 70 Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Morris, 2004, p. xvi, village #19. Also gives cause of depopulation.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Khalidi, 1992, p. 482
  6. ^ Conder and Kitchener, 1881, p. 89
  7. ^ Mills, 1932, p. 109
  8. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 120
  9. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 170

Bibliography