Barbara (village)

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For other uses, see Barbara.

Barbara
Arabic	برْبره
Also Spelled	Berbere
District	Gaza
Population	2,410 (1945)
Jurisdiction	12,700 dunams (12.7 km²)
Date of depopulation	November 5th, 1948
Cause(s) of depopulation	Military assault by Jewish forces
Current localities	Talmey

Barbara (Arabic: برْبره‎) was a depopulated Palestinian village located 17km northeast of Gaza City, in the vicinity of modern Ashkelon. It had an entirely Arab population of 2,410 in 1945 . The village consisted of nearly 14,000 dunums of which approximately 12,700 dunums was able to be cultivated. It was captured by Israel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

[edit] History

Barbara received its modern name from the Romans. After the Roman rule the village was under the control of a number of empires and dynasties ranging from the Byzantines, various Islamic Arab dynasties, the Crusaders, the Turkish Mamluks and Ottomans and Great Britain. During the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Murad III, Barbara's only mosque was built. The village was home to the Muslim scholar Sheik Yusuf al-Barbarawi and a shrine was built in the village to honor him.

Barbara was captured by a possible combination of the Negev, Giv'ati and Yiftach brigades on November 5th, 1948 during Operation Yoav. Barbara was destroyed and its inhabitants fled south to the modern-day Gaza Strip. Currently, the Jewish towns of Mavqi'im and Talmey Yaffe are built on the former village's land.