| Ijlil al-Qibliyya | |
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Ijlil al-Qibliyya
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| Arabic | إجليل |
| Also Spelled | Jalil al-Qibliyya[1] |
| District | Jaffa |
| Coordinates | |
| Population | 470[1][2] (1945) |
| Area | 8, 692[2] dunums |
| Date of depopulation | End of March- April 3, 1948[3] |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Fear of being caught up in the fighting |
Ijlil al-Qibliyya, also al-Jalil, was a Palestinian Arab village in the District of Jaffa. It was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on April 3, 1948. It was located 13 km (8 mi) northeast of Jaffa.
In 1945 the village has a population of 680, 210 of which were Jewish. Ijlil al-Qibliya was named after al-Shaykh Salih 'Abd al-Jalil, whose maqam was located in the village.
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In 1944/45 a total of 923 dunums of village land was used for citrus or bananas, 7,087 was planted with cereals; while 85 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards.[4][5]
From the testimony of Mahmoud Abu-Sneineh,[6] a former citizen of the village, it is clear that the relationship between the Jews of Herzliya and some of the citizens of Ijlil were friendly. "There were good relations with all the Jews... We were more than brothers". Like in other villages of the area, such as Al-Haram, the citizens left because of their fear and not due to an exile or a concrete strike.
In the archive of the city of Herzliya, it is possible to find evidences to the close relationship with Ijlil, such as a greeting letter [7] that was sent to Hajj Akhsein Al-Assi of Ijlil: "My dear and honorable friend Hajj Akhsein Al-Assi, On behalf of myself and of all the citizens of the settlement of Herzliya, I bless you, your sons and all of your honorable and dear family in your day of happiness – the marriage of your honorable and eminent young son Hajj Mahmud… I bless you as the head of Herzliya and also as a loyal and devoted friend who is connected in connections of brotherhood and deep friendship with the honorable Hajj Akhsein Al-Assi since the establishment of Herzliya. I wish to express here my hope that this friendship would continue and become stronger, and would go by from fathers to sons, and from sons to grandsons…".
The Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi described the village site in 1992: "The site serves as a garbage dump and the original village can hardly be identified. On the thin swath of the hill that has not yet been covered with waste, remnants of stone houses stand next to a gasoline storage tank, along with bushes and cactuses. Approximately 100m east of the tank a deserted house stands next to the remains of a razed building."[4]
In the lands that were purchased by Jews from the Mukhtar of the village, about 100,000 Jews are living today, in parts of Herzliya, Glil Yam and Ramat HaSharon and about 50,000 in other parts. In the former Arab populated areas almost no Jews live today, but the "Cinema City" the biggest multiplex movie theater of Israel is located there, with 23 cinemas.
