Isdud Palestinian ArabThe Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with family origins in Palestine...
town that was depopulated after a 28 October 1948 assault by
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
i forces.
Isdud came under
Muslim:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits ". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah...
rule in the seventh century. The geographer
Ibn KhordadbehAbu'l Qasim Ubaid'Allah ibn Khordadbeh , author of the earliest surviving Arabic book of administrative geography, was a Persian geographer and bureaucrat of the 9th century...
called it Azdud and said it was a postal station between al-Ramla and
GazaGaza is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 410,000, making it the largest city under the control of the Palestinian National Authority....
.
Under the
Ottoman EmpireThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
, in 1596, Isdud was administrated by
nahiya ("subdistrict") of
GazaGaza is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 410,000, making it the largest city under the control of the Palestinian National Authority....
under the
liwa'Liwa , a type of administrative division....
("district") of
GazaGaza is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 410,000, making it the largest city under the control of the Palestinian National Authority....
, and it had a population of 413.
Isdud Palestinian ArabThe Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with family origins in Palestine...
town that was depopulated after a 28 October 1948 assault by
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
i forces.
History
Isdud came under
Muslim:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits ". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah...
rule in the seventh century. The geographer
Ibn KhordadbehAbu'l Qasim Ubaid'Allah ibn Khordadbeh , author of the earliest surviving Arabic book of administrative geography, was a Persian geographer and bureaucrat of the 9th century...
called it Azdud and said it was a postal station between al-Ramla and
GazaGaza is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 410,000, making it the largest city under the control of the Palestinian National Authority....
.
Under the
Ottoman EmpireThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
, in 1596, Isdud was administrated by
nahiya ("subdistrict") of
GazaGaza is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 410,000, making it the largest city under the control of the Palestinian National Authority....
under the
liwa'Liwa , a type of administrative division....
("district") of
GazaGaza is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 410,000, making it the largest city under the control of the Palestinian National Authority....
, and it had a population of 413. It paid taxes on a number of crops, including
wheatWheat is a worldwide cultivated grass from the Fertile Crescent region of the Near East. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
,
barleyBarley is a cereal grain derived from the annual grass Hordeum vulgare. It serves as a major animal feed crop, with smaller amounts used for malting and in health food. It is used in soups, stews and barley bread in various countries, such as Scotland and in Africa...
,
sesameSesame is a flowering plant in the genus Sesamum. Numerous wild relatives occur in Africa and a smaller number in India...
and fruits, as well as on goats and beehives.
By the late nineteenth century, the village of Isdud was described as running along the eastern slope of a low hill covered with gardens. A ruined
khanA caravanserai was a roadside inn where travelers could rest and recover from the day's journey...
stood southwest of the village. Its houses were one-storey high with walls and enclosures built of
adobeAdobe is a natural building material made from sand, clay, and water, with some kind of fibrous or organic material , which is shaped into bricks using frames and dried in the sun. It is similar to cob and mudbrick. Adobe structures are extremely durable and account for some of the oldest extant...
brick. There were two main sources of water; one pond and one masonry well. Both were surrounded by groves of date-palm and fig-trees.
Isdud had two elementary schools; one for boys which was opened in 1922, and one for girls which started in 1942. By the mid 1940-s the boy-school had 371 students, while the girl-school had 74.
1948 War and aftermath
During the
1948 Arab-Israeli WarThe 1948 Arab–Israeli War, known by Israelis as the War of Independence or War of Liberation and by Palestinians as the Catastrophe , was the first in a series of wars fought between the newly declared State of Israel and its Arab neighbours in the long-running Arab-Israeli conflict.The war...
, the
Egyptian ArmyThe Egyptian Army is the largest service branch within the Egyptian military establishment. It is estimated to number around 340,000, plus around 375,000 reservists for a total of 655-715,000....
took over Isdud on May 29, 1948, and the town became the northern-most advancement point of the Egyptian forces. Egyptian and Israeli forces clashed in the surrounding area during
Operation PleshetOperation Pleshet , named for the geographical region where it took place, was an Israeli military operation during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. It was carried out from May 29 to June 3, 1948, in the Isdud/Ad Halom area of the southern front, against the Egyptian Army...
. The operation started with small-scale harassment of the Egyptian lines, followed by an aerial bombardment and later a ground assault. While the Israelis failed to capture territory, and suffered heavy casualties, the operation caused Egypt to change their strategy from offensive to defensive, thus halting their advance northwards, with the Egyptians being unable to hold the
Ad HalomAd Halom is an area around the eastern entrance to the city of Ashdod, Israel.-Battle:Ad Halom means 'until here' in Hebrew, referring to the northernmost point in Gaza whereto the Egyptian army advanced in Operation Pleshet of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.Israel had on may 29th dispatched four Avia...
bridge over the
Lachish RiverLakhish River is a river in Israel that flows into the Mediterranean Sea at the city of Ashdod. It is also known as Wadi Kabiba and Wadi Sukhrir in Arabic....
.
Israeli forces surrounded the town during
Operation YoavOperation Yoav was an Israeli military operation carried out from 15 October - 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...
, and shelled and bombed it from the air. Fearing encirclement, Egyptian forces retreated on October 28, 1948 with the majority of the town's
PalestinianThe Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with family origins in Palestine...
Arab residents; some several hundred who remained were soon expelled southwards by the
Israel Defense ForcesThe Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are Israel's military forces, comprising 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...
.
In 1950 two
moshavMoshav 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...
im,
Sde UziyahuSde Uziyahu is a moshav in the South District of Israel, located near the city of Ashdod. It belongs to the Be'er Tuvia Regional Council.Sde Uziyahu was founded in 1950 by Jewish refugees expelled from Libya from Libya...
and
ShtulimShtulim is a moshav in south-central Israel. Located near Ashdod, it falls under the jurisdiction of Be'er Tuvia Regional Council. In 2007 it had a population of 1,600....
, were established due east of the site, on village land.
Bnei DaromBnei Darom is a religious moshav shitufi in central Israel. Located near the Mediterranean coast, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hevel Yavne Regional Council...
(in 1949) and
Gan HaDaromGan HaDarom is a moshav in southern Israel. Located on the coastal plain near Ashdod, it falls under the jurisdiction of Gederot Regional Council.-History:...
(in 1953) were established to the north of the village site, on village land. The Israeli city of
AshdodAshdod , is the fifth-largest city in Israel, located in the Southern District of the country, on the Mediterranean coast, with a population of 207,000. Ashdod is an important regional industrial centre...
was founded in 1956 north of the Palestinian Arab town. The site of Isdud itself is now covered in sand dunes.
External links
- Welcome To Isdud
- Isdud from the 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...
- Tour and signposting in Isdud, by Eitan Bronstein, 15.8.03, Zochrot
Zochrot 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....
- Untold stories: Ahmad Joudah IMEU, Apr 24, 2008