Farwana

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Farwana
Arabic	فرونه
Also Spelled	Khirbet Farwana, Rohob, Rehob, Tel Rehov
District	Baysan
Population	330 (1945)
Jurisdiction	1,054 dunams
Date of depopulation	11 May 1948
Cause(s) of depopulation	Military assault by Jewish forces
Current localities	Rechov

Farwana (Arabic: فرونه‎) was a Palestinian village, located 4.5 kilometers south of Bisan. Identified with the ancient city of Rehob, extant during Egyptian rule over Palestine in the second millennium BCE, archaeological sites located on the former village's lands include Tell es-Sarem (i.e. Tel Rehov)^[1] and the remains of a synagogue from the third century ACE.^[2]

Identification of Tel Rehov with the Rehob of the Egyptian texts was based on the preservation of the name at the nearby Islamic holy tomb of esh-Sheikh er-Rihab (1 kilometer to the south of the tel) and the existence of the ruins of a Byzantine era Jewish town of the same name (Rohob), 1 kilometer northwest of Tel Rehov, mentioned by Eusebius as being in the fourth mile from Bisan.^[1] Khirbet Farwana (Khirbet meaning "site of ruins" in Arabic) is also associated with Rohob.^[1]

[edit] 1948 war and its aftermath

Farwana had a population of over 300 people when it was depopulated in the lead up to the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.^[2] Its Arab inhabitants, along with those of the neighbouring village of al-Ashrafiyya fled to Jordan after the village was occupied by the pre-state Israeli forces of the Golani Brigade during Operation Gideon on 11 May 1948.^[2] The following day, the more than 72 houses that made up the village were completely destroyed.^[2] Farwana's inhabitants never returned to the village, and they and their descendants make up one small part of the current population of more than 4 million Palestinian refugees worldwide.