Al-Ghabisiyya
Encyclopedia
Al-Ghabisiyya' was an Arab
village in northern Palestine, 16 km north-east of Acre
in present-day Israel
. It was depopulated by the Israel Defence Forces during the 1948-1950 period and remains deserted.
and Byzantine
settlement. During the Crusader
period the site was known as La Gabasie and was one of the fiefs of Casal Imbert.
According to Hütteroth, Abdulfattah and Pedersen, the village probably corresponds to that of Ghabiyya in the nahiya (subdistrict) of Akka
in a 1596 C.E. Ottoman
daftar (tax register). This village had a population of 58 households (khana) and 2 bachelors (mujarrad), all Moslem. It paid taxes on wheat
, barley
, fruit trees, cotton, and water buffalo.
The village mosque
dates from the time of Ali Pasha, father of Abdallah Pasha (i.e. some time before 1818 C.E.). This according to Victor Guérin
, who visited the place in the 1870´s, and described it. In the late nineteenth century, al-Ghabisiyya was a small village built of stone on the ridge of a hill. It had about 150 Muslim inhabitants and was surrounded by olive trees, fig trees, pomegranate trees, and gardens.
During the British Mandate of Palestine, the population grew to 470 in 1931 and 690 in 1945, all Muslim. Together with the nearby villages of Shaykh Dannun
and Shaykh Dawud, it consisted of 11,771 dunum
s of land in 1945. The local economy was based on livestock and agriculture. In 1944/45 a total of 6,633 dunum
s of land in the three villages was used for cereals, 1,371 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards, while 300 dunums in Ghabisiyya were planted with olive trees.
. Like many Arab villages, it had a non-aggression pact with nearby Jewish communities. In the early months of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
, the villagers provided the Jewish militia Haganah
with intelligence and ammunition in return for an agreement to not enter the village or harm the inhabitants. On the other hand, some of the villagers joined in the March 1948 attack on the Jewish convoy to Kibbutz Yehiam
in which 47 Haganah soldiers were killed.
On May 21, 1948, the Haganah
's Carmeli Brigade captured al-Ghabisiyya during Operation Ben-Ami. The village formally surrendered, but the Carmeli troops "entered the village with guns blazing", killing several inhabitants. Six villagers who were thought to have taken part in the attack on the Yehiam convoy were apparently then executed.
The villagers fled or were expelled to nearby villages, where they remained until the complete Jewish conquest of the Galilee
in October. At that time, many of the residents went to Lebanon while others fled to nearby Arab towns and became Israeli citizens due to their registration in the October-November census. The latter tried repeatedly to settle back in their village. Some apparently obtained permission but others went back illegally. On January 24, 1950, the Military Governor of the Galilee ordered all the residents of al-Ghabisiyya to leave within 48 hours and then declared the village a closed military area. No alternative accommodation had been arranged, and the villagers took up temporary residence in abandoned houses of nearby Shaykh Dawud and Sheikh Danun
.
The expulsion caused a public controversy. The leaders of the leftist Mapam
party condemned it, but they were undermined by the Mapam-dominated regional Jewish settlements bloc (one Mapam kibbutz of which was already cultivating al-Ghabisiyya's land) which declared that the "Arabs of Ghabisiyya should on no account be allowed to return to their village". In September 1950, some of the villagers again resettled the village but were sentenced to several months in prison and given fines.
. The court ruled that the declaration of the village as a closed area had been improperly instituted, and in consequence "the military governor had no authority to evict the petitioners [from the village] and he has no authority to prevent them from entering or leaving it or from residing there." The military government responded by sealing the village, and two days later again declared it to be a closed military area. The villagers appealed to the High Court again, but the court ruled that the new declaration was legal and in consequence villagers who had not managed to return to the village before that declaration (which in practice was all of them) were forbidden to go there without permission.
The village thus remained deserted. Its lands were officially expropriated and in 1955 its houses were demolished leaving only the large mosque
. Later attempts of the villagers to return to the village were not successful.
The villagers set up a committee whose principal activity was to renovate the village cemetery and mosque, and in July 1972 the committee wrote to the prime minister
:
The land of the village, including the mosque, had been acquired by the Israel Land Administration
(ILA) under one of the laws regarding land expropriation, and not the Ministry of Religion, which is responsible for holy places.
In 1994 members of the village committee began renovating the mosque and praying there. In January 1996 the ILA sealed the entrance of the mosque, but the villagers broke through the fence and again used the mosque for prayers. The villagers appealed to Prime Minister Shimon Peres
in April 1996, they received a reply on his behalf from one of his aides:
The court declined to issue an injunction permitting worshippers back into the mosque. The Ghabisiyya villagers still pray in the field outside the sealed mosque.
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 northern Palestine, 16 km north-east of Acre
Acre, Israel
Acre , is a city in the Western Galilee region of northern Israel at the northern extremity of Haifa Bay. Acre is one of the oldest continuously inhabited sites in the country....
in present-day Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. It was depopulated by the Israel Defence Forces during the 1948-1950 period and remains deserted.
History
Remains have been discovered at Al-Ghabisiyya, suggesting that the place might have had a RomanRoman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
and Byzantine
Byzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
settlement. During the Crusader
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...
period the site was known as La Gabasie and was one of the fiefs of Casal Imbert.
According to Hütteroth, Abdulfattah and Pedersen, the village probably corresponds to that of Ghabiyya in the nahiya (subdistrict) of Akka
Akka
Akka is traditionally a female spirit in Sámi and Finnish mythology.In Sámi mythology, the first akka was Maderakka and her daughters were Sarakka, Uksakka and Juksakka. Some Sámi thought they lived under their kota tents....
in a 1596 C.E. Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
daftar (tax register). This village had a population of 58 households (khana) and 2 bachelors (mujarrad), all Moslem. It paid taxes on wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
, barley
Barley
Barley is a major cereal grain, a member of the grass family. It serves as a major animal fodder, as a base malt for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods...
, fruit trees, cotton, and water buffalo.
The village mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
dates from the time of Ali Pasha, father of Abdallah Pasha (i.e. some time before 1818 C.E.). This according to Victor Guérin
Victor Guérin
Victor Guérin was a French intellectual, explorer and amateur archaeologist. He published books describing the geography, archeology and history of the areas he explored, which included Greece, Asia Minor, North Africa, Syria and Palestine.-Biography:From 1840, Guerin was a professor of rhetoric...
, who visited the place in the 1870´s, and described it. In the late nineteenth century, al-Ghabisiyya was a small village built of stone on the ridge of a hill. It had about 150 Muslim inhabitants and was surrounded by olive trees, fig trees, pomegranate trees, and gardens.
During the British Mandate of Palestine, the population grew to 470 in 1931 and 690 in 1945, all Muslim. Together with the nearby villages of Shaykh Dannun
Sheikh Danun
Sheikh Danun ; also transliterated as Sheikh Dannun and Sheikh Danon) is an Arab village located in Israel's North District. Since 1948, it has been made up of two old villages - Shaykh Danun and Shaykh Dawud - which were merged, and are now jointly referred to as Sheikh Danun...
and Shaykh Dawud, it consisted of 11,771 dunum
Dunam
A dunam or dönüm, dunum, donum, dynym, dulum was a non-SI unit of land area used in the Ottoman Empire and representing the amount of land that can be plowed in a day; its value varied from 900–2500 m²...
s of land in 1945. The local economy was based on livestock and agriculture. In 1944/45 a total of 6,633 dunum
Dunum
Dunum is a municipality in the district of Wittmund, in Lower Saxony, Germany....
s of land in the three villages was used for cereals, 1,371 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards, while 300 dunums in Ghabisiyya were planted with olive trees.
1948 War
The village was in the territory allotted to the Arab state under the 1947 UN Partition Plan1947 UN Partition Plan
The United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine was created by the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine in 1947 to replace the British Mandate for Palestine with "Independent Arab and Jewish States" and a "Special International Regime for the City of Jerusalem" administered by the United...
. Like many Arab villages, it had a non-aggression pact with nearby Jewish communities. In the early months of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
1948 Arab-Israeli War
The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, known to Israelis as the War of Independence or War of Liberation The war commenced after the termination of the British Mandate for Palestine and the creation of an independent Israel at midnight on 14 May 1948 when, following a period of civil war, Arab armies invaded...
, the villagers provided the Jewish militia 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 :...
with intelligence and ammunition in return for an agreement to not enter the village or harm the inhabitants. On the other hand, some of the villagers joined in the March 1948 attack on the Jewish convoy to Kibbutz Yehiam
Yehiam
Yehiam founded on November 26, 1946, is a Kibbutz located in the western Upper Galilee region of Israel - about 10 miles due east of the coastal town of Nahariya and five miles south of the border with Lebanon...
in which 47 Haganah soldiers were killed.
On May 21, 1948, 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 :...
's Carmeli Brigade captured al-Ghabisiyya during Operation Ben-Ami. The village formally surrendered, but the Carmeli troops "entered the village with guns blazing", killing several inhabitants. Six villagers who were thought to have taken part in the attack on the Yehiam convoy were apparently then executed.
The villagers fled or were expelled to nearby villages, where they remained until the complete Jewish conquest of the Galilee
Galilee
Galilee , is a large region in northern Israel which overlaps with much of the administrative North District of the country. Traditionally divided into Upper Galilee , Lower Galilee , and Western Galilee , extending from Dan to the north, at the base of Mount Hermon, along Mount Lebanon to the...
in October. At that time, many of the residents went to Lebanon while others fled to nearby Arab towns and became Israeli citizens due to their registration in the October-November census. The latter tried repeatedly to settle back in their village. Some apparently obtained permission but others went back illegally. On January 24, 1950, the Military Governor of the Galilee ordered all the residents of al-Ghabisiyya to leave within 48 hours and then declared the village a closed military area. No alternative accommodation had been arranged, and the villagers took up temporary residence in abandoned houses of nearby Shaykh Dawud and Sheikh Danun
Sheikh Danun
Sheikh Danun ; also transliterated as Sheikh Dannun and Sheikh Danon) is an Arab village located in Israel's North District. Since 1948, it has been made up of two old villages - Shaykh Danun and Shaykh Dawud - which were merged, and are now jointly referred to as Sheikh Danun...
.
The expulsion caused a public controversy. The leaders of the leftist Mapam
Mapam
Mapam was a political party in Israel and is one of the ancestors of the modern-day Meretz party.-History:Mapam was formed by a January 1948 merger of the Hashomer Hatzair Workers Party and Ahdut HaAvoda Poale Zion Movement. The party was originally Marxist-Zionist in its outlook and represented...
party condemned it, but they were undermined by the Mapam-dominated regional Jewish settlements bloc (one Mapam kibbutz of which was already cultivating al-Ghabisiyya's land) which declared that the "Arabs of Ghabisiyya should on no account be allowed to return to their village". In September 1950, some of the villagers again resettled the village but were sentenced to several months in prison and given fines.
Aftermath
In 1951, the villagers instituted proceedings against the Military Government in the High Court of IsraelSupreme Court of Israel
The Supreme Court is at the head of the court system and highest judicial instance in Israel. The Supreme Court sits in Jerusalem.The area of its jurisdiction is all of Israel and the Israeli-occupied territories. A ruling of the Supreme Court is binding upon every court, other than the Supreme...
. The court ruled that the declaration of the village as a closed area had been improperly instituted, and in consequence "the military governor had no authority to evict the petitioners [from the village] and he has no authority to prevent them from entering or leaving it or from residing there." The military government responded by sealing the village, and two days later again declared it to be a closed military area. The villagers appealed to the High Court again, but the court ruled that the new declaration was legal and in consequence villagers who had not managed to return to the village before that declaration (which in practice was all of them) were forbidden to go there without permission.
The village thus remained deserted. Its lands were officially expropriated and in 1955 its houses were demolished leaving only the large mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
. Later attempts of the villagers to return to the village were not successful.
The villagers set up a committee whose principal activity was to renovate the village cemetery and mosque, and in July 1972 the committee wrote to the prime minister
Prime Minister of Israel
The Prime Minister of Israel is the head of the Israeli government and the most powerful political figure in Israel . The prime minister is the country's chief executive. The official residence of the prime minister, Beit Rosh Hamemshala is in Jerusalem...
:
In the village a mosque and the cemetery remain.... The mosque is in a run-down state and the cemetery, where our relatives are buried, is neglected and overgrown with weeds to such an extent that it is impossible to identify the graves any more. Knowing that our state authorities have always taken care of the places of worship and cemeteries of all the ethnic communities,... [we ask] to be enabled to carry out repairs on the mosque and also to repair and fence the cemetery and put it in order.The authorities did not permit this work to be done.
The land of the village, including the mosque, had been acquired by the Israel Land Administration
Israel Land Administration
The Israel Land Administration is part of the government of Israel and is responsible for managing the 93% of the land in Israel which is in the public domain. These lands are either property of the state, belong to the Jewish National Fund which controls 13% of the land, or belong to the Israel...
(ILA) under one of the laws regarding land expropriation, and not the Ministry of Religion, which is responsible for holy places.
In 1994 members of the village committee began renovating the mosque and praying there. In January 1996 the ILA sealed the entrance of the mosque, but the villagers broke through the fence and again used the mosque for prayers. The villagers appealed to Prime Minister Shimon Peres
Shimon Peres
GCMG is the ninth President of the State of Israel. Peres served twice as the eighth Prime Minister of Israel and once as Interim Prime Minister, and has been a member of 12 cabinets in a political career spanning over 66 years...
in April 1996, they received a reply on his behalf from one of his aides:
"The government of Israel regards itself as obligated to maintain the holy places of all religions, including, of course, cemeteries and mosques sacred to Islam. The prime minister has stated to the heads of the Arab community, with whom he recently met, that the government would see to the renovation and the restoration of the dignety of mosques in abandoned villages, including the mosque in Ghabisiyya."However, Shimon Peres was defeated in the next prime ministerial elections, and in March 1997 police surrounded the mosque and representatives from ILA removed copies of the Quran and prayer rugs and once again sealed the entrance of the mosque. The conflict was carried to the court in Acre, where the uprooted villagers contended that the government action was contrary to Israel's "Law of Preservation of Holy Places". The ILA challenged the villagers right to pray there, and used the illegal eviction of 1951 and the demolition of the village in 1955 as arguments to bolster its claim:
"The village of Ghabisiyya was abandoned by its inhabitants and destroyed during the War for Independence".... [the mosque..had stood].."lonely and neglected"..."and since it was in a run-down and unstable state that constituted a threat to the safety of those inside it, it was decided by the Ministry of Religions to seal it and fence it off."
The court declined to issue an injunction permitting worshippers back into the mosque. The Ghabisiyya villagers still pray in the field outside the sealed mosque.
See also
- List of Arab towns and villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
- List of villages depopulated during the Arab-Israeli conflict
- Internally Displaced PalestiniansInternally displaced PalestiniansA present absentee is a Palestinian who fled or was expelled from his home in Palestine by Jewish or Israeli forces, before and during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, but who remained within the area that became the state of Israel. Present absentees are also referred to as internally displaced...
External links
- Welcome to al-Ghabisiyya
- al Gabisiyya, from Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre
- Al-Ghabsiyyeh photos, from Dr. Moslih Kanaaneh
- http://www.ittijah.org/press/pr_05_03_16.html
- A visit to Al-Ghabisiyya village 12.04.02. Writing and photos by Norma Mossi, Translated by Gali Reich, from ZochrotZochrotZochrot is an Israeli-Jewish non-profit organization founded in 2002. Based in Tel Aviv, its aim is to promote awareness of the Palestinian Nakba , the 1948 Palestinian exodus. The group's director is Eitan Bronstein...
(alternative link to the article here:http://web.archive.org/web/20040220174235/http://www.nakbainhebrew.org/index.php?id=138) - The Nakba day in Al-Ghabisiyya village Writing and photos by David Sagi, Translated by Gali Reich, from Zochrot, 2003
- Not Next Year, Not in Jerusalem Israeli Palestinians – and My Family’s – Desire to Return Home by Rebecca Yael Bak, New Voices, March/April 2006 (Vol. 14, Issue 4)
- Overview: Palestinian Internally Displaced Persons inside Israel from BADIL Resource Center 6 November 2002