| Kuwaykat | ||
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Kuwaykat
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| Arabic | كويكات | |
| District | Acre | |
| Coordinates | ||
| Population | 1,050[2] (1945) | |
| Area | 4,733[2] dunums | |
| Date of depopulation | 10 July 1948[3] | |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Military assault by Yishuv forces | |
| Current localities | Beit HaEmek[4] | |
Kuwaykat (Arabic: كويكات) was a Druze Palestinian village 9 km northeast of Acre in the British mandate of Palestine District of Acre, depopulated in 1948.
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In the late nineteenth century, the village of Kuwaykat was described by SWP as being built of stone, situated at the foot of hills. The about 300 Muslim villagers cultivated olives.[5]
In 1887, during the Ottoman period, an elementary school was built in the village. In addition, the village had a mosque and a shrine for the Druze Shaykh Aby Muhammad al-Qurayshi.[6]
The land of Kuwaykat was considered to be among the most fertile of the district. Grain, olives and watermelons were its chief crops. In 1944/45 a total of 3,316 dunums were used for cereals, and 1,246 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards, of which 500 dunums were planted with olive trees. In addition, the villagers also engaged in livestock breeding and dairy production.[6]
The first attack on the village of Kuwaykat during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war took place on 18–19 January 1948, and involved a force of over eighty Jewish militiamen, according to Filastin, the Palestinan newspaper at the time. The attack was repulsed, as was another attack on the village on the night of 6–7 February.[6]
The village was finally depopulated as a result of Military assault and capture by Israel in Operation Dekel by Sheva' Brigade and Carmeli Brigade. On the night of 9 July, at the start of Operation Dekel, the village came under heavy bombardment.[6] Villagers interviewed in 1973 in Bourj el-Barajneh recalled:
We were awakened by the loudest noise we had ever heard, shells exploding and artillery fire [..] women were screaming, children were crying...Most of the villagers began to flee with their pajamas on. The wife of Qassim Ahmad Sa´id fled carrying a pillow in her arms instead of her child...[6][7]
Two people were killed and two wounded by the shelling. Many villagers fled to Abu Sinan, Kafr Yasif and other villages that later surrendered. Those, mostly elderly, villagers who remained in Kuwaykat, were soon expelled to Kafr Yasif.[6]
In January 1949, Kibbutz ha-Bonim was established near the site of Kuwaykat, on village lands. It was later renamed Beyt ha-Emeq. Its settlers were Jewish immigrants from England, Hungary, and the Netherlands.[6]
The Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi, described the village in 1992: "Little remains of the village except the deserted cemetery, completely overgrown with weeds, and rubble from houses. Inscriptions on two of the graves identify one as that of Hamad 'Isa al-Hajj, and another as that of Shaykh Salih Iskandar, who died in 1940. The shrine of Shaykh Abu Muhammad al-Qurayshi still stands but its stone pedestal is badly cracked."[6]
