| Balad al-Sheikh | ||
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Balad al-Sheikh
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| Arabic | بلد الشيخ | |
| Name Meaning | "The town of the sheikh" | |
| Also Spelled | Balad ash-Shaykh | |
| District | Haifa | |
| Coordinates | ||
| Population | 4,120[1] (1945) | |
| Area | 9,849[1] dunums
9.8 km² |
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| Date of depopulation | April 25, 1948[2] | |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Military assault by Yishuv forces | |
| Secondary cause | Influence of nearby town's fall | |
| Current localities | Nesher | |
Balad al-Sheikh or Balad ash-Shaykh (Arabic: بلد الشيخ) is a former Palestinian village located just north of Mount Carmel, 7 kilometers (4.3 mi) southeast of Haifa. Currently the town's land is located within the jurisdiction of the Israeli city, Nesher.[3]
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The town is named after Sheikh Abdullah as-Sahli, a renowned Sufi, who was granted the taxes collected from the village by Sultan Salim II.[4] The village contains a maqam ("shrine") dedicated to him. His grave is located in the Balad al-Sheikh cemetery on Mount Carmel.
In 1816, British traveller James Silk Buckingham passed by "Belled-el-Sheikh".[5] In 1875, the village was estimated at having a population of 500, and with olive, palm trees and springs near it.[6]
At the time of the 1931 census, the town had 144 occupied houses and a population of 747 Muslims, including Bedouin tribes that lived nearby.[7]
According to the British Population Survey - Village statistics 1945, the town had a total land area of 9,849 turkish dunams, although only 5,844 dunams were privately owned by Arabs; most of the remainder was public property. In 1945, the town had a population of 4,120 Arab inhabitants making it one of the larger localities in the area.[1]
The Jezreel Valley railway line passed about 0.5 kilometers (0.31 mi) east of the village.[4]
The village was the source of attacks on Jews as early as 1929 when its residents attacked the local cement factory and burned down a women's farm.[8][9] In 1934, a new cemetery for Muslim residents of Haifa,[10] was established near the village and in 1935 Izz ad-Din al-Qassam was buried there, making the area a source of tension between Jews and Arabs. The grave was vandalized in 1999.[3]
During the 1936-1939 Arab revolt in Palestine there were many attacks on Jewish passenger buses by Arabs near Balad al-Sheikh. On May 1936, a police station was opened in Balad al-Sheikh at the expense of the village to try to prevent frequent attacks, including arson, against Jewish buses and property.[11] On May 21, 1936, a Jewish bus was shot when it was passing the village[12] In October 1936, an engagement between militants and the military, supported by aircraft took place near the village.[13] On February 22, 1937, two policemen were attacked in the village, one was killed. It was stated that he was killed because he took part in the investigations of the murder of three Jews at Yagur in 1931.[14]
Additional attacks on Jewish buses occurred from July to October 1938.[15] On July 13, 1938, two buses were shot; one of them was set on fire.[16] On July, 24 1938, 30 shots were fired at two buses.[17] On August, 10 1938, two bombs were thrown at a Jewish bus.[18] On October 3, 1938 three Jewish buses were fired and a bomb was thrown.[19] On March 4, 1939, three armed Arabs fired at a Jewish bus.[20] On April 18, 1939, a wide military and police search was conducted in Balad ash-Sheikh looking for the suspects of the killings in Haifa. A large number of Arabs were interrogated and ten were arrested.[21]
On May 26, 1939, Mordechai Shechtman a train driver was shot in the head by two Arabs who ambushed him at the railroad switch stop near Balad ash-Sheikh, he died soon thereafter.[22][23]
After the United Nations resolution for the Partition Plan for Palestine several attacks occurred in the village against Jews. On December 2, 1947, a bus which brought workers from the Nesher Cement factory was shot at when it passed by the village.[24] On December 8, 1947, residents of Balad ash-Sheikh killed 2 Jews driving near the village.[25] On December 10, 1947 a patrol of Jewish Settlement Police that was escorting Jewish buses on the road, fired on number of Arabs that blocked the road near the village. Several families left the village.[26]
Following the attacks, the Jewish transportation stopped for a while, to travel through the village. The transportation from Haifa to Nesher, Yagur and Jezreel Valley traveled through Check Post junction, Krayot, Kfar Hasidim and Yagur.[27]
On December 31, 1947, as a response to an attack a day earlier by Arabs on the oil refinery in Haifa, Haganah troops entered the town disguised as Arabs and killed 14 residents, 10 of whom were women and children.[28] According to Israeli historian Aryeh Yitzhaki, the attack took place on January 30 when a coalition of Palmach and Haganah forces entered the town and fought mostly inside the houses. Because of this, most of the sixty residents that were killed were non-combatants. In this action, three members of the Haganah Were also killed.[29] Following the attack, On January 7, 1948, left part of the residents of the village and were replaced by Arab volunteers who came from Haifa to defend the village.[30] On January 15, 1948 a visitor in Nesher went for a walk to Balad al-Sheikh. She was found later stabbed to death.[31]
In Early April 1948, a unit of the Arab Legion that had garrisoned the village left the area. This led the villagers to abandon the houses in the southeastern part of the village, near the Legion camp and move to the village center.[32]
On April 22, after the Battle of Haifa, the vast majority of haifa's citizens abandoned it. At the same time many of Balad ash-Sheikh's residents left the village, including women and children.[33]
On April 24, 1948, the Carmeli Brigade a unit of the Haganah surrounded the village, asking the residents to hand over all their weapons. They handed them 22 old and useless rifles and asked for Ceasefire. The Haganah replied that they should hand over all their weapons. The residents did not reply, instead they asked the British Army for help. On April 25, At 05:00 AM the Haganah fired several shells from three-inch mortars. Many adults male fled and left the women and children behind. A British army unit that came at 06:00 reported that there was almost no return fire from the village. The British advised the villagers to leave the village and they did it with British escort.[34][35]
Most of the fleeing or exiled residents of Balad ash-Sheikh are internally displaced Palestinians and presently reside in various Arab neighborhoods in Haifa or Acre.
Walid Khalidi - a prominent Palestinian historian, described the town in 1992:
Many of the Arab houses and shops are still standing and are occupied by the settlement's inhabitants. The cemetery is visible and is in a state of neglect.[36]
