Qastina

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Qastina
Arabic	قسطينة
Name Meaning	"Chestnut"
District	Gaza
Population	890 (1931)
Jurisdiction	12,019 dunams
Date of depopulation	9 July 1948
Cause(s) of depopulation	Fear of being caught up in the fighting
Cause 2	Military assault by Jewish forces
Current localities	Kfar Warburg, Arugot, Kfar Ahim, Kiryat Malakhi

For the road junction with the same name, see Malakhi Junction.

Qastina (Arabic: قسطينة‎) was a Palestinian village, located 38 kilometers northeast of Gaza City. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.^[1]

Upon Israel's declaration of independence on 15 May 1948, the armies of neighbouring Arab states invaded, prompting fresh evacuations of civilians fearful of being caught up in the fighting. The women and children of Qastina were sent away to the village of Tell es-Safi by the menfolk at this time, but they returned after discovering there was insufficient water in the host village to meet the newcomers needs.^[2]

A preparatory order for the conquest of Qastina and other neighbouring villages (Masmiya al Kabira, Masmiya al Saghira, al Tina and Tall al Turmus) was drafted by the Giv'ati Brigade's 51st Battalion and produced on 29 June 1948. According to Benny Morris, the document recommended "the 'liquidation' (hisul) of the two Masmiya villages and 'burning' (bi'ur) the rest."^[3]

On 9 July 1948, the village and its over 147 houses were completely destroyed by Israeli forces after its inhabitants fled an assault by the Giv'ati Brigade.^[1]

Today, there are four Israeli localities located on the lands of the former village: Kfar Warburg, Arugot, Kfar Ahim, and Kiryat Malakhi.^[1]

Walid Khalidi notes of Qastina that:

"All that remains is the debris of houses strewn across the site. The research team investigating the current status of the depopulated villages visited the site and found it overgrown with bushes and tall grasses that were about 2m high."^[1]