Al-Faluja
Encyclopedia
al-Faluja was an Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...

 village in the British Mandate of Palestine, located 30 kilometers northeast of Gaza City. The village and the neighbouring village of Iraq al-Manshiyya
Iraq al-Manshiyya
Iraq al-Manshiyya is a former Palestinian town located 32 km northeast of Gaza City. Its total land area consisted of 13,838 dunams. According to the British Mandate, the town had a population of 2,010 Arabs and 210 Jews in 1945...

 formed part of the Faluja pocket, where 4,000 Egyptian troops
Military of Egypt
The Egyptian Armed Forces are the largest in Africa, and the Arab World, and is the tenth largest in the world, consisting of the Egyptian Army, Egyptian Navy, Egyptian Air Force and Egyptian Air Defense Command....

 were besieged for four months by the newly established Israel Defense Forces
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...

. The 1949 Armistice Agreements
1949 Armistice Agreements
The 1949 Armistice Agreements are a set of agreements signed during 1949 between Israel and neighboring Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria. The agreements ended the official hostilities of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and established armistice lines between Israeli forces and the forces in...

 allowed for a peaceful transfer of the pocket to Israeli control, and the return of Egyptian troops to Gaza. Following the agreements, the Arab residents of the pocket slowly left their homes. The Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

i town of Kiryat Gat, as well as the moshav
Moshav
Moshav is a type of Israeli town or settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists during the second aliyah...

 Revaha
Revaha
Revaha is a religious moshav in south-central Israel. Located in the southern Shephelah near Kiryat Gat, it falls under the jurisdiction of Shafir Regional Council. In 2006 it had a population of 449....

, border the site of the former town.

History

The town was founded on a site that had been known as "Zurayq al-Khandaq", named "Zurayq" from the blue-colored lupin
Lupin
Lupinus, commonly known as Lupins or lupines , is a genus in the legume family . The genus comprises about 280 species , with major centers of diversity in South and western North America , and the Andes and secondary centers in the Mediterranean region and Africa Lupinus, commonly known as Lupins...

 that grew in the vicinity. Its name was changed to "al-Faluja" in commemoration of a Sufi master, Shahab al-Din al-Faluji, who settled near the town after migrating there from Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

 in the 14th century. He died in al-Faluja and his tomb was visited by Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...

 geographer al-Bakri al-Siddiqi who journeyed through Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....

 in the mid-18th century. In 1596, it was under the administration of the nahiya of Gaza
Gaza
Gaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...

, part of the Sanjak of Gaza with a population of 413. It paid taxes on wheat, barley, sesame, fruits, vineyards, beehives, goats, and water buffalo
Water buffalo
The water buffalo is a domesticated bovid widely kept in Asia, Europe and South America.Water buffalo can also refer to:*Wild water buffalo , the wild ancestor of the domestic water buffalo...

.

In the late 19th century, al-Faluja was surrounded on three sides by a wadi
Wadi
Wadi is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some cases, it may refer to a dry riverbed that contains water only during times of heavy rain or simply an intermittent stream.-Variant names:...

. It had two wells and a pool to the east, a small garden patch to the west, and the village houses were built from adobe
Adobe
Adobe is a natural building material made from sand, clay, water, and some kind of fibrous or organic material , which the builders shape into bricks using frames and dry in the sun. Adobe buildings are similar to cob and mudbrick buildings. Adobe structures are extremely durable, and account for...

 bricks. The nucleus of the village was centered around the shrine of Shaykh al-Faluji. Its residential area began to expand in the 1930s and eventually crossed over to the other side of the wadi, which henceforth divided al-Faluja into northern and southern sections. Bridges were constructed across the wadi to facilitate movement between the two sides, especially during the winter when the water often flooded and caused damage. The center of al-Faluja shifted to the north where modern houses, stores, coffee houses, and a clinic were erected. The village also two schools; one for boys (built in 1919) and the other for girls (built in 1940).

1948 Arab-Israeli war

Al-Faluja was in the territory allotted to the Arab state under the 1947 UN Partition Plan. During the war, the men of the village blockaded the local Jewish communities and attacked convoys being sent to bring them food, water, and other supplies. A battle between an armored Jewish supply convoy and villagers in al-Faluja on 14 March 1948 left thirty-seven Arabs and seven Jews dead, as well as scores of Arabs and four Jews wounded. Israeli sources at the time told the New York Times that the convoy, protected by armored cars of the Haganah
Haganah
Haganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.- Origins :...

, "had to fight its way through the village." A Haganah demolition squad returned later in the day and blew up ten houses in the village, including the town hall. According to Palestinian
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...

 sources, the village had been attacked the month before, on 24 February.

Egyptian forces crossed into the former mandate on 15 May 1948 and a column of them were stopped by the Israelis near Ashdod. This column retreated to and encamped at al-Faluja and Iraq al-Manshiyya
Iraq al-Manshiyya
Iraq al-Manshiyya is a former Palestinian town located 32 km northeast of Gaza City. Its total land area consisted of 13,838 dunams. According to the British Mandate, the town had a population of 2,010 Arabs and 210 Jews in 1945...

, the so-called Faluja pocket. Between late October 1948 and late February 1949 some 4,000 Egyptian troops were encircled here by Israeli forces.

Armistice agreement

Under the terms of the February 4, 1949 Israel–Egypt Armistice Agreement
1949 Armistice Agreements
The 1949 Armistice Agreements are a set of agreements signed during 1949 between Israel and neighboring Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria. The agreements ended the official hostilities of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and established armistice lines between Israeli forces and the forces in...

, the surrounded Egyptian forces (including future Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was the second President of Egypt from 1956 until his death. A colonel in the Egyptian army, Nasser led the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 along with Muhammad Naguib, the first president, which overthrew the monarchy of Egypt and Sudan, and heralded a new period of...

) were allowed to evacuate, and the area was transferred to Israeli control. This agreement (uniquely to the two villages), guaranteed the safety and property of the 3,140 Arab civilians (over 2,000 locals, plus refugees from other villages). The agreement, and a further exchange of letters filed with the United Nations, stated ".... those of the civilian population who may wish to remain in al-Faluja and Iraq al-Manshiya are to be permitted to do so. ... All of these civilians shall be fully secure in their persons, abodes, property and personal effects."

Post-armistice events

Few civilians left when the Egyptian brigade withdrew on 26 February 1949 but Israel promptly violated the armistice agreement and began to intimidate the populace into flight. United Nations observers reported to UN mediator Ralph Bunche
Ralph Bunche
Ralph Johnson Bunche or 1904December 9, 1971) was an American political scientist and diplomat who received the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize for his late 1940s mediation in Palestine. He was the first person of color to be so honored in the history of the Prize...

 that the intimidation included beatings, robberies, and attempted rape. Quaker observers bore witness to the beatings "Jane Smith (one of the Quaker party) has bandaged six men. The worst case was a man with two bloody eyes, a torn ear, and a face pounded until it was blue ... A young Arab told me: 'We could not sleep last night because of much shooting and because the Israeli soldiers came into the homes and tried to "make into" the Arab women.'". On 3 March they wrote that at "Iraq al Manshiya
Iraq al-Manshiyya
Iraq al-Manshiyya is a former Palestinian town located 32 km northeast of Gaza City. Its total land area consisted of 13,838 dunams. According to the British Mandate, the town had a population of 2,010 Arabs and 210 Jews in 1945...

, the acting mukhtar
Mukhtar
Mukhtar meaning "chosen" in Arabic, refers to the head of a village or mahalle in many Arab countries as well as in Turkey and Cyprus. The name refers to the fact that mukhtars are usually selected by some consensual or participatory method, often involving an election. Mukhtar is also a common...

 or mayor told them that 'the people had been much molested by the frequent shooting, by being told that they would be killed if they did not go to Hebron, and by the Jews breaking into their homes and stealing things"
.

Moshe Sharett
Moshe Sharett
Moshe Sharett on 15 October 1894, died 7 July 1965) was the second Prime Minister of Israel , serving for a little under two years between David Ben-Gurion's two terms.-Early life:...

 (Israeli Foreign Minister) was very concerned at the international repercussions, especially the possible effect on Israeli-Egyptian relations. He was angry at the actions of the IDF, carried out without Cabinet authorization and behind his back and was not easily appeased. He used most uncharacteristic language "The IDF's actions" threw into question "our sincerity as a party to an international agreement ... One may assume that Egypt in this matter will display special sensitivity as her forces saw themselves as responsible for the fate of these civilian inhabitants. There are also grounds to fear that any attack by us on the people of these two villages may be reflected in the attitude of the Cairo Government toward the Jews of Egypt". Sharett pointed out that Israel was seeking membership of the United Nations, and was encountering difficulties "over the question of our responsibility for the Arab refugee problem. We argue that we are not responsible ... From this perspective, the sincerity of our professions is tested by our behavior in these villages ... Every intentional pressure aimed at uprooting [these Arabs] is tantamount to a planned act of eviction on our part".

Sharett also protested that the IDF were carrying out a covert "'whispering propaganda' campaign among the Arabs, threatening them with attacks and acts of vengeance by the army, which the civilian authorities will be powerless to prevent. This whispering propaganda (ta'amulat lahash) is not being done of itself. There is no doubt that here there is a calculated action aimed at increasing the number of those going to the Hebron
Hebron
Hebron , is located in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judean Mountains, it lies 930 meters above sea level. It is the largest city in the West Bank and home to around 165,000 Palestinians, and over 500 Jewish settlers concentrated in and around the old quarter...

 Hills as if of their own free will, and, if possible, to bring about the evacuation of the whole civilian population of [the pocket]". He also referred to the army's actions as "'an unauthorized initiative by the local command in a matter relating to Israeli government policy'". Allon admitted (to Yadin) only that his troops had "beaten three Arabs ... There is no truth to the observers' announcement about abuse/cruelty [hit'alelut], etc. I investigated this personally."

Morris further writes that the decision to cleanse the "Faluja pocket" population was probably approved by Israeli prime minister David Ben-Gurion
David Ben-Gurion
' was the first Prime Minister of Israel.Ben-Gurion's passion for Zionism, which began early in life, led him to become a major Zionist leader and Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization in 1946...

, that the last civilians left on 22 April, and the order to demolish these (and a string of other) villages was made 5 days later by Rabin. See also the "San Francisco Chronicle" which questions whether due diligence was applied to the land on which the chip plant was built.

See also

  • List of Arab towns and villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
  • Operation Yoav
    Operation Yoav
    Operation Yoav was an Israeli military operation carried out from 15–22 October 1948 in the Negev Desert, during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Its goal was to drive a wedge between the Egyptian forces along the coast and the Beersheba–Hebron–Jerusalem road and ultimately to conquer the whole Negev...


External links

  • Welcome To al-Faluja
  • Faluja from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center
    Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center
    Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center is an organization established in 1996. It is located at 4 Raja Street, Ramallah in the West Bank. The traditional manor that houses the centre was the former family home of Khalil Salem Salah, the mayor of Ramallah between 1947/1951, is now owned by the Palestinian...

  • Al-Faluja by Rami Nashashibi (1996), Center for Research and Documentation of Palestinian Society.
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