Arab al-Fuqara | |
Arab al-Fuqara
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Arabic | |
District | Haifa |
Coordinates | |
Population | 310[1] (1945) |
Area | 15[2] dunums |
Date of depopulation | April 10, 1948[3] |
Cause(s) of depopulation | Expulsion by Yishuv forces |
Current localities | Hadera |
Arab al-Fuqara was a Palestinian Arab village in the District of Haifa. It was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on April 10, 1948.[3] At that time, the land records of the village consisted of a total area of 2,714 Dunums, of which 2,513 were owned by Jews, and just 15 owned by Arabs, with the remainder being public lands (186 dunams).
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The village was located 42 km southwest of Haifa, south of Wadi al-Mafjar and northwest of Hadera, in a flat, sandy area.[4]
The Arab villagers were descendants of a section of the al-Balawina Bedouin tribe, whose primary territory was near Beersheba.[4] The area was generally swampy and malarial, and this limited population growth until the mid-1920s.
The gradual and legal expansion of the Jewish town Hadera reduced the free public land available to the arab villagers, until only a thin strip of land between Hadera and Wadi al-Mafjar was retained (15 dunams).[4]
The village population in 1945 was 310.[1]
On the 6th April 1948, the Haganah implemented a new policy for the coastal plains, namely of clearing the whole area of its Arab inhabitants.[5] On the 10th April the villagers of Arab al-Fuqara, together with the villagers of Arab al-Nufay'at and Arab Zahrat al-Dumayri, were ordered to leave the area.[6]
The ground is now part of the northwestern area of Hadera.[4]