Wikipedia

Dayr al-Hawa

(Redirected from Deir al Hawa)

Dayr al-Hawa (Arabic: دير الهوا) was a Palestinian Arab village in the Jerusalem Subdistrict. The village was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War on October 19, 1948, by the Fourth Battalion of the Har'el Brigade of Operation ha-Har. It was located 18.5 km west of Jerusalem.

Dayr al-Hawa
دير الهوا
Etymology: The Monastery of the Wind[1]
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Dayr al-Hawa (click the buttons)
Dayr al-Hawa is located in Mandatory Palestine
Dayr al-Hawa
Dayr al-Hawa
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 31°45′05″N 35°02′14″E / 31.75139°N 35.03722°E / 31.75139; 35.03722
Palestine grid153/128
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictJerusalem
Date of depopulationOctober 19–20, 1948[5]
Area
 • Total5,907 dunams (5.907 km2 or 2.281 sq mi)
Population
 (1945)
 • Total60[2][3][4]
Cause(s) of depopulationMilitary assault by Yishuv forces

History

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Ottoman era

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Dayr al-Hawa is not mentioned in 16th century records, and was likely first settled in a later period.[6]

In 1838, Edward Robinson called it a "lofty" village, on the brink of a valley.[7] It was further noted as a Muslim village, located in the District of el-Arkub, southwest of Jerusalem.[8] In 1856 the village was named D. el Hawa on Kiepert's map of Palestine published that year.[9]

Victor Guérin, visiting the village in 1863, wrote that Dayr al-Hawa "probably owes its name, monastery of the wind, to its high position".[10]

An Ottoman village list from around 1870 showed that Der el-Hawa had 32 houses and a population of 103, though the population count included men, only.[11][12]

In 1883, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described it as "a village standing high, on a knoll rising from a high ridge, with a deep valley to the north. It has several high houses in it. On the west is a good spring. The ground is covered with brushwood all round the place."[13]

In 1896 the population of Der el-hawa was estimated to be about 162 persons.[14]

British Mandate era

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Dayr el-Hawa 1948

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted i by the British Mandate authorities, Dair al-Hawa had a population of 38 residents; all Muslims,[15] increasing in the 1931 census to 47 inhabitants, in 11 houses.[16]

In the 1945 statistics the village had a population of 60 Muslims,[3] with a total of 5,907 dunums of land.[4] Of this, 58 dunams were for irrigable land or plantations, 1,565 for cereals,[17] while 4 dunams were built-up land.[18]

A mosque was located in the western part of the village and there was a shrine for a local sage known as al-Shaykh Sulayman. Near the ruins of the old village now stands the Israeli moshav, Nes Harim,[19] however, it is not on village land. (It is on the land of Bayt 'Itab.)[20]

During the 1948 it was defended by the local militia and the Egyptian Army/Muslim Brotherhood Battalion.[citation needed]

  •  
    Dayr al-Hawa, Mandate survey, 1:20,000
  •  
    Dayr al-Hawa, 1945, 1:20,000

Archaeology

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Coins and ceramics from the Byzantine era have been found here.[21]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Palmer, 1881, p.293
  2. ^ Khalidi, 1992, p. 285
  3. ^ a b Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 24
  4. ^ a b Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 56
  5. ^ Morris, 2004, p. xx, village #339. Also gives cause of depopulation.
  6. ^ Grossman, D. (1986). "Oscillations in the Rural Settlement of Samaria and Judaea in the Ottoman Period". in Shomron studies. Dar, S., Safrai, S., (eds). Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishing House. p. 364
  7. ^ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 2, pp. 326, 340, 342, 426
  8. ^ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. 125
  9. ^ Kiepert, 1856, Map of Southern Palestine
  10. ^ Guerin, 1869, p. 321
  11. ^ Socin, 1879, p. 152 It was noted in the Hebron district
  12. ^ Hartmann, 1883, p. 145 also showed 32 houses
  13. ^ Conder and Kitchener, 1883, p. 24
  14. ^ Schick, 1896, p. 125
  15. ^ Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Ramleh, p. 21
  16. ^ Mills, 1932, p. 19
  17. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 102
  18. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 152
  19. ^ Zvi Dror, Har'el: Palmach brigade in Jerusalem, Ha-kibbutz ha-meuchad 2005, p. 269 (Hebrew)
  20. ^ Khalidi, 1992, p. 286
  21. ^ Dauphin, 1998, p. 908

Bibliography

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