Naghnaghiya (Arabic: النغْنغية, Al-Naghnaghiyya) was a Palestinian Arab village, 28.5 kilometers (17.7 mi) southeast of Haifa.[3] It was depopulated before the outbreak of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.[4]

Naghnaghiya
النغْنغية
Al-Naghnaghiyya
Village
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Naghnaghiya (click the buttons)
Naghnaghiya is located in Mandatory Palestine
Naghnaghiya
Naghnaghiya
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 32°36′12″N 35°09′27″E / 32.60333°N 35.15750°E / 32.60333; 35.15750
Palestine grid164/223
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictHaifa
Date of depopulation12-13 April 1948[2]
Area
 • Total12,139 dunams (12.139 km2 or 4.687 sq mi)
Population
 (1931)
 • Total416[1]
Cause(s) of depopulationMilitary assault by Yishuv forces

Location

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The village was on the north edge of a hill at the edge of a wadi bed, overlooking the Jezreel Valley and the Nazareth hills to the north and northeast. It was the smallest of a group of three villages (known collectively as al-Ghubayyat) located together; the others were Al-Ghubayya al-Fawqa and Al-Ghubayya al-Tahta. Next to al- Naghnaghiya was an artificial mound that bore the same name. Two kilometers to the southeast, on the highway to Jenin was Tall al-Mutasallim, identified with Megiddo.[3]

 
Naghnaghiya in historical context

History

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In 1888, during Ottoman rule, an elementary school was built that was shared by the three al-Ghubayyat villages.[3]

British Mandate era

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In the British Mandate of Palestine period, in the 1922 census of Palestine Al Naghnaghiyeh had a population of 272; all Muslims,[5] increasing in the 1931 census to 416, still all Muslims, in a total of 78 houses.[1]

In the 1945 statistics the population of Al-Ghubayya al-Fawqa, Al-Ghubayya al-Tahta and Naghnaghiya was 1,130, all Muslims,[6] and it had 12,139 dunams of land according to an official land and population survey.[7] 209 dunams were for plantations and irrigable land, 10,883 for cereals,[8] while no data were given for built-up (urban) land.[9]

In addition to agriculture, residents practiced animal husbandry which formed was an important source of income for the town. In 1943, they owned 139 heads of cattle, 6 water buffalos, 1090 sheep over a year old, 369 goats over a year old, 20 camels, 31 horses, 81 donkeys, 908 fowls, and 29 pigeons.[10]

1948, and after

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Before the outbreak of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, on the night of the 12–13 April 1948, Naghnaghiya and the neighbouring village of al-Mansi were attacked by the Palmach, a Jewish militia.[4] By 15 April, both villages had been depopulated, and they were then blown up by the Jewish militia forces in order to block the return of the villagers.[11]

According to the Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi, describing the village in 1992: "The remains of houses are scattered on the slope of one hill. The site, traversed by the Haifa-Megiddo highway and partly occupied by an Israeli soccer field, is difficult to identify."[12]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Mills, 1932, p. 95
  2. ^ Morris, 2004, p. xviii village #149. Also gives cause of depopulation
  3. ^ a b c Khalidi, 1992, p. 179
  4. ^ a b Morris, 2004, p. 242
  5. ^ Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Haifa, p. 35
  6. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 13
  7. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 47
  8. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 90
  9. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 140
  10. ^ Marom, Roy; Tepper, Yotam; Adams, Matthew J. (2024-01-03). "Al-Lajjun: a Social and geographic account of a Palestinian Village during the British Mandate Period". British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies: 20. doi:10.1080/13530194.2023.2279340. ISSN 1353-0194.
  11. ^ Morris, 2004, p. 346
  12. ^ Khalidi, 1992, p. 180

Bibliography

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