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| ===1948 War and aftermath=== | ===1948 War and aftermath=== | ||
| A significant foray into Burayr occurred in the early weeks of the war, on January 29, 1948. ]i forces entered in five armored vehicles, but were repulsed without any casualties. The following month, on February 14, an Israeli convoy exchanged fire with local militiamen and withdrew. Afterward, villagers built a barricade at the entrance of Burayr, although it was taken by British troops the next day. On April 20, ]ish ] veterans established a military settlement, Beror Chayil, on a hilltop less than a mile from Burayr. The '']'' reported that "when the Arabs of Burayr awoke they found the Jews setting up pre-fabricated houses and building a defensive wall and watchtower."<ref name="Khalidi"/> The villagers fired upon the settlers, but by noon of that day, ] was set up. On May 12–13, the ]'s ] and ] commenced ], resulting in the capture of Burayr, which they referred to as "the village of the killers".<ref name="Khalidi"/> |
A significant foray into Burayr occurred in the early weeks of the war, on January 29, 1948. ]i forces entered in five armored vehicles, but were repulsed without any casualties. The following month, on February 14, an Israeli convoy exchanged fire with local militiamen and withdrew. Afterward, villagers built a barricade at the entrance of Burayr, although it was taken by British troops the next day. On April 20, ]ish ] veterans established a military settlement, Beror Chayil, on a hilltop less than a mile from Burayr. The '']'' reported that "when the Arabs of Burayr awoke they found the Jews setting up pre-fabricated houses and building a defensive wall and watchtower."<ref name="Khalidi"/> The villagers fired upon the settlers, but by noon of that day, ] was set up. On May 12–13, the ]'s ] and ] commenced ], resulting in the capture of Burayr, which they referred to as "the village of the killers".<ref name="Khalidi"/> A large number of army-age villagers were killed and a teenage girl was reportedly raped. All of the inhabitants fled to Gaza.<ref>Morris, 2004, p.258.</ref> | ||
| According to Palestinian historian, ], |
According to Palestinian historian, ], the village still contains remnants of houses, streets and a cement wall. Israel established ] and ] in 1950, ] in 1955, and ] in 1956.<ref name="Khalidi"/> | ||
| ==See also== | ==See also== | ||
Revision as of 19:34, 10 February 2014
Template:Infobox former Arab villages in Palestine Burayr (Template:Lang-ar) was a Palestinian Arab village in the District of Gaza, 18 kilometers (11 mi) northeast of Gaza City. Its population in 1945 was 2,740 and it was depopulated in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It had an average elevation of 100 meters (330 ft).
History
In the 1st century CE Burayr was a Jewish town by the name of Bror Hayil and the site of a yeshiva headed by Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai. Ceramics from the Byzantine period have been found.
When it came under the control of the Roman Empire along with all of Palestine, it was renamed Buriron. The village's current name dates from the Arab conquest of Palestine in the 7th century.
During Mamluk rule, it was positioned on a main highway leading from Gaza to Beit Jibrin, branching off the Via Maris at Beit Hanoun. Burayr had its own independent source for water, making it a desired rest place for travelers. In the ruins of the village was discovered Fatimid inscriptions dating from the 10th centuries.
Burayr was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517 with all of Palestine and in 1596, it was under the administration of the Nahiya of Gaza, part of the Sanjak of Gaza. The village paid taxes on wheat, barley, fruits, beehives, and goats.
In 1838, Edward Robinson found that Burayr was "a flourishing village forming a sort of central point in the plain.. a large public well, at which camels were drawing water by means of a Sakieh, or water wheel with jars..." In 1863, Burayr was described as a "large and prosperous village of 1,000" and all of its houses were made of mud, except for that of the village sheikh whose home was built of stone, and "round the well, which is broad and deep, ten ancient shafts in greyish white marble are built up in masonry, serving to make a trough."
An official Ottoman village list from about 1870 showed that Bureir had 167 houses and a population of 579, counting only the men. In 1883, the SWP described the village as large, with a water wheel to the east, a pool to the north and a garden to the south.
Burayr was strategically important in World War I and on November 9, 1917, was one of the first places captured by the Allied Forces from the Ottoman Empire, consolidating British hold on positions controlling the approaches to Jaffa and Jerusalem.
During the British Mandate period, Burayr expanded westward, a mosque was built in the center of the village along with a clinic and grain mill. There were two primary schools—one for girls and one for boys—founded in 1920. Water was supplied by three wells inside the village and toward the end of the Mandate, villagers had drilled artesian wells. The local economy boosted in the 1940s when the Iraqi Petroleum Company discovered oil in the vicinity of Burayr and drilled an oil well. The activities of the marketplace were supplemented by a weekly Wednesday market that attracted other villagers and Bedouin. Agriculture and animal husbandry employed most of the residents and the main crops were citrus, grapes, and figs.
In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Bureir had a population of 1,591, all Muslims, increasing in the 1931 census to 1894, still all Muslim, in 414 houses.
In 1945 Bureir had a population of 2,740, all Arabs, with 44,220 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 409 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 43,319 used for cereals, while 130 dunams were built-up land.
1948 War and aftermath
A significant foray into Burayr occurred in the early weeks of the war, on January 29, 1948. Israeli forces entered in five armored vehicles, but were repulsed without any casualties. The following month, on February 14, an Israeli convoy exchanged fire with local militiamen and withdrew. Afterward, villagers built a barricade at the entrance of Burayr, although it was taken by British troops the next day. On April 20, Jewish World War II veterans established a military settlement, Beror Chayil, on a hilltop less than a mile from Burayr. The New York Times reported that "when the Arabs of Burayr awoke they found the Jews setting up pre-fabricated houses and building a defensive wall and watchtower." The villagers fired upon the settlers, but by noon of that day, Bror Hayil was set up. On May 12–13, the Palmach's Negev Brigade and Givati Brigade commenced Operation Barak, resulting in the capture of Burayr, which they referred to as "the village of the killers". A large number of army-age villagers were killed and a teenage girl was reportedly raped. All of the inhabitants fled to Gaza.
According to Palestinian historian, Walid Khalidi, the village still contains remnants of houses, streets and a cement wall. Israel established Telamim and Heletz in 1950, Sde David in 1955, and Zohar in 1956.
See also
References
- A History of the Jewish People, Abraham Malamat, Haim H. Ben-Sasson, Harvard University Press
- Dauphin, 1998, p. 881
- ^ Sharon, 2004, p.XLVI ff
- Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 144. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p.91.
- Robinson and Smith, 1842, II, p. 370 Cited in Khalidi, 1992, p. 92 (Note: typing-error in Khalidi; he writes p.35)
- ^ Guérin, 1869, p. 293
- Sharon, 2004, p.XLVIII.
- SWP, 1883, p.274
- Socin, 1879, p. 149
- SWP, 1883, p.259. Cited in Khalidi, 1992, p. 92
- ^ Khalidi, 1992, p.92.
- J. B. Barron, ed. (1923). Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922. Government of Palestine. Table V, Sub-district of Gaza.
- Mills, 1932, p. 3.
- Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in S. Hadawi, Village Statistics, 1945. PLO Research Center, 1970, p. 45
- Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in S. Hadawi, Village Statistics, 1945. PLO Research Center, 1970, p. 86
- Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in S. Hadawi, Village Statistics, 1945. PLO Research Center, 1970, p. 136
- Morris, 2004, p.258.
Bibliography
- Barron, J. B., ed. (1923). Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922. Government of Palestine.
- Conder, Claude Reignier; Kitchener, H. H. (1883). The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology. Vol. 3. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
- Dauphin, Claudine (1998). La Palestine byzantine, Peuplement et Populations, Vol. III : Catalogue. BAR International Series 726. Oxford: Archeopress.
- Guérin, Victor (1869). Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine. Vol. 1:Judee, pt. 2.
- Hadawi, Sami (1970), Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine, Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center
- Hütteroth, Wolf-Dieter; Abdulfattah, Kamal (1977). Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century. Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft. ISBN 0-88728-224-5.
- Khalidi, Walid (1992), All That Remains, Washington D.C.: Institute for Palestine Studies, ISBN 0-88728-224-5
- Mills, E., ed. (1932). Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas (PDF). Jerusalem: Government of Palestine.
- Morris, Benny (2004): The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited, Cambridge University Press ISBN 0-521-00967-7
- Palmer, E. H. (1881). The Survey of Western Palestine: Arabic and English Name Lists Collected During the Survey by Lieutenants Conder and Kitchener, R. E. Transliterated and Explained by E.H. Palmer. Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
- Robinson, Edward; Smith, Eli (1841). Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838. Vol. 2. Boston: Crocker & Brewster.
- Sharon, Moshe (2004), Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum Palaestinae, Vol. III, D-F, BRILL, ISBN 978-90-04-13197-2
- Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins (1878), Volume: 1-2, 1878
- with A. Socin (1879). "Alphabetisches Verzeichniss von Ortschaften des Paschalik Jerusalem". Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palaestina-Vereins. II. Leipzig: 133–163.
External links
- Welcome to Burayr, palestineremembered.com
- Burayr, from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center
