Amka | |
Hebrew | עַמְקָה |
Founded | 1949 |
Founded by | Yemenite Jewish immigrants |
Council | Matte Asher |
Region | Western Galilee |
District | North |
Coordinates | |
Amka
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Amka or Amqa (Hebrew: עַמְקָה Arabic: عمقا) is a moshav in the Matte Asher Regional Council of Israel's North District, near Acre. The name Amka is thought to preserve that of Beth Ha-Emek, a city mentioned in Joshua 19:27. The location of the Jewish village roughly corresponds the former Palestinian Arab village, depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Yemenite Jews, who fled from the southern Arab country of Yemen, founded the village's successor Amka in 1949.
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The name Amka is thought to preserve that of Beth Ha-Emek, a city mentioned in Joshua 19:27 as part of the allotment of the Tribe of Asher.[1] During the Roman period, the village located at the same site was called Kefar Amqa.[2] In the Byzantine period the location was probably identified with the village of "Amico".
During the Crusader period, it was referred to as Amca.[2] In 1283, it was mentioned as part of the domain of the Crusaders during the hudna between the Crusaders based in Acre and the Mamluk sultan al-Mansur (Qalawun).[3]
In 1596, ´Amqa was a village in the Ottoman nahiya (subdistrict) of Akka under the liwa' (district) of Safad, with a population of 215.[4] It paid taxes on a number of crops, such as wheat, barley, olives, cotton and fruit, and on other types of produce, such as goats and beehives.[4]
In the early 18th century the village was under control of Shaykh Najm. He had an agreement to sell the cotton from this and other villages under his control exclusively to the Dutch trader Paul Maashook. In return, Maashook would pay the "miri" tax normally payable by the village shaykhs.[5] The Arab traveller al-Bakri al-Siddiqi, who toured the area in the mid-18th century, said that he prayed in the village after visiting the citadel of Atlit.[2] In 1776 the village was used as a base by Ahmad Jazzar Pasha to crush a revolt led by Ali, one of the sons of Zahir al-Umar.[6]
In the late 19th century, the village was described as being built of stone, situated on a slight rise in a valley, surrounded by olive and fig trees, and arable land. There were an estimated 300 Druzes living there.[7] Later, the residents were described as Muslims who maintained a village mosque. In 1887, the Ottoman authorities built a school in ´Amqa.[2]
Amqa | |
Amqa
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Arabic | عمقا |
Also Spelled | 'Amqa |
District | Acre |
Coordinates | |
Population | 1,240[2][8] (1945) |
Area | 6,060[2][8] dunums
6.1 km² |
Date of depopulation | 10–11 July 1948[9] |
Cause(s) of depopulation | Military assault by Yishuv forces |
Current localities | Amka[10] |
At the time of the 1931 census, Amqa had 212 occupied houses and a population of 895 Muslims.[11] The population of Amka in 1945 was 1,240 people and the total land area of the village was over 6,000 dunums (1,500 acres).
Depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war,[12][13] all that remains of the Arab village structures are an elementary school for boys, founded under Ottoman rule in 1887 and one mosque.
The majority of the surviving Arab buildings of Amka were completely destroyed by the Israeli army in the late 1950s on the orders of the Israeli government.[2][14][15] The mosque and a schoolroom now used as a warehouse, are the only surviving buildings.[2][16]
The village was captured by Israel's 7th Brigade on July 16, 1948 during Operation Dekel. It was largely destroyed, with the exception of its school and its mosque, and most of its inhabitants were expelled, with the exception of its former Druze inhabitants who still live nearby. Some of the inhabitants remained in Israel as present absentees.[17] In February 1950, the village was declared a closed area.[18]
The modern Amka was re-established in 1949 by a group of Yemenite Jewish immigrants, who kept the name as Amka.[19]
Three khirbats ("archaeological ruins") lay within Amka's vicinity and contain the foundations of buildings, well-chiseled building stones, presses, and a cistern. During archaeological searches of the area remnants of a Byzantine church were discovered but due to the destruction of the village no foundations could be established.[20][21][22]
The Amka mosque was inspected by Petersen in 1991. The date of the mosque construction is not known, but it bears a general similarity to the nearby mosque of Al-Ghabisiyya, and is probably of a similar age, i.e. early 19th century.[16]
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