Al-Dawayima
| al-Dawayima | |
  al-Dawayima |
|
| Arabic | الدوايمة |
| Also Spelled | ad-Dawayima |
| Subdistrict | Hebron |
| Coordinates | 31°32′10″N 34°54′43″E / 31.53611°N 34.91194°ECoordinates: 31°32′10″N 34°54′43″E / 31.53611°N 34.91194°E |
| Population | 3,710[1] (1945) |
| Area | 60,585 dunams
60.585 km²[1] |
| Date of depopulation | 29 October 1948[2] |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Military assault by Yishuv forces |
| Current localities | Amatzya |
Al-Dawayima (Arabic: الدوايمة) was a Palestinian town, located in the former Hebron destrict of Mandatory Palestine, and in what is now the Lachish region, some 15 kilometres south-east of Kiryat Gat.[3]
It has been occasionally identified with the Old Testament town of Bosqat, the home of Josiah's mother Jedidah (2 Kings, 22:1) though the association has not found widespread acceptance.[4] According to a 1945 census, the town's population was 3,710, and the village lands comprised a total land area of 60,585 dunums of which nearly half was cultivable. The population figures for this town also included the populations of nearby khirbets, or ancient villages. During the 1948 Palestine war, the al-Dawayima massacre occurred in which an estimated 80 - 200 civilian men, women and children were killed.[5]
History
Al-Dawayima's historical remains encompass a long period from the Bronze Age, through to the Persian and Hellenistic, down to the Ottoman period. Bulldozing what remains of the Palestinian village to prepare a new Israeli village has revealed an ancient olive press, a columbarium cave, a villa from the Second Temple era, and both mikvehs and cisterns.[3]
The "core clan" of Al-Dawayima were the Ahdibs, who traced their origin to the Muslim conquest and settlement of Palestine in the seventh century.[6]
In the late nineteenth century, al-Dawayima was described as a village on a high stony ridge that had olive groves beneath it. On a higher ridge to the west stood a shrine that was topped by a white stone.[7]
The people of al-Dawayima were Muslims. They maintained several religious shrines, chief among them the shrine of Shaykh ´Ali. This shrine had a large courtyard, a number of rooms, and one large hall for prayers, and was surrounded by fig and carob trees and cactuses. It attracted visitors from the neighboring villages.[8] A mosque was located in the village center, it was maintained by the followers of al-tariqa al-khalwatiyya, a Sufi mystic order founded by Shaykh Umar al-Khalwati (d.1397)[9] The villagers expanded and renovated the mosque in the 1930s, and added a tall minaret.[8]
By 1944/45 21,191 dunums of village land were allotted to cereals, while 1,206 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards.[10][11]
1948 War and aftermath
Al-Dawaymima was captured by Israel's Eighty Ninth Battalion (commanded by Dov Chesis) of the 8th Armored Brigade led by the founder of the Palmach, Yitzhak Sadeh, after Operation Yoav on 29 October 1948, five days after the start of the truce. It was the site of the al-Dawayima massacre in which 80-200 civilians were killed including women and children.[5]
The massacre was cited by Yigal Allon as the reason for the halting of the creeping annexation that included Bayt Jibrin, Qubeiba and Tel Maresha.[12]
The massacre was seen as a reprisal by the Israelis for the massacre of Jews in Kfar Etzion months before, on May 13, 1948, by Palestinian fighters and some members of the Arab Legion.[13]
The nearby Jewish town of Amatzya is located on lands belonging to Al-Dawayima.[14] According to the Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi :"The site has been fenced in. A cowshed, a chicken coop, and granaries have been built at its center (which has been leveled). The southern side of the site contains stone terraces and the remnants of a house. The eastern side is occupied by the residential area of the moshav."
In 2013, the whole area, apart from some ancient Jewish remains, was bulldozed to pave the way for the erection of a new community, to be named Karmei Katif, which is planned to house evacuees of the Gaza Strip settlements. The new name is reminiscent of Gush Katif.[3]
Culture
A woman's thob (loose fitting robe with sleeves) dated to about 1910 that was produced in Al-Dawayima is part of the Museum of International Folk Art (MOIFA) collection at Santa Fe. The dress is of hand-woven blue indigo linen. The embroidery is in predominantly red silk cross-stitch, with touches of violet, orange, yellow, white, green and black. The upper half of the qabbeh (the square chest panel) is embroidered with alternating columns of diamonds, (a pattern known as el-ferraneh), and eight-pointed stars, (called qamr ("moons")). The lower half of the qabbeh is in the qelayed ("necklaces") pattern. The side-panels of the skirt are completely covered with embroidered columns. Among the patterns used here are: nakhleh ("palm") motif, ward-wil-aleq ("rose-and-leech") and khem-el-basha ("the pashas tent"). Each column is topped with various trees. There is no embroidery on the long, pointed sleeves.[15] The village is often featured in the works of Palestinian artist Abdul Hay Mosallam who was expelled from it in 1948.
In popular culture
- In the 2008 film Salt of this Sea, Al-Dawayima is the village which Emad, the male protagonist, hails from. The village ruins serve as the temporary residence of the main characters, Emad and Soraya. The film is dedicated to the memory of the Al-Dawayima massacre.
Families
- Al-Zaatreh ( الزعاترة ) * Al-Adarbeh ( العداربة ) * Al-Mallad ( الملاد )
- Al-Khodour ( الخضور ) * Al-Hijouj ( الحجوج ) * Basbous ( بصبوص )
- Hamdan ( حمدان ) * Abu-Matr ( أبو مطر) * Shahin ( شاهين )
- Abu-Rahma ( ابورحمة ) * Al-Atrash ( الأطرش ) * Abu-Sugair ( أبو صقير )
- Hudaib ( هديب ) * Ms'ed ( مسعد ) * Al-Ayaseh ( العيسه )
- Abd al- dean ( عبد الدين ) * Nashwan ( نشوان ) * Afaneh ( عفانه )
- Al-Najaar ( النجار ) * Harb ( حرب ) * Ganem ( غانم )
- El-Ghawanmeh ( الغوانمه ) * Al-Absi ( العبسي ) * Abu-Rayan ( أبو ريان )
- Abu-Haltam ( أبو حلتم ) * Sundoqa ( صندوقه ) * Al-Jamarah ( الجمرة )
- Abu-Galyoun ( أبو غليون ) * Al-Manasra (المناصرة) * Abu-Halemah( أبوحليمة )
- Abu-Me'alish ( أبومعيلش ) * Abu-Safyeh (أبو صفية) * Al-Turk ( الترك )
- Ead ( عيد ) * Zebin ( زبن ) * Abu-Galyeh ( أبوغالية )
- Al-Jawawdeh ( الجواودة ) * Abu-Kadra (أبو خضرة) * Al-Kateeb ( الخطيب )
- Hunaif ( حنيف ) * Sa'adeh ( سعادة ) * Abu-Farwa ( ابوفروه )
- Abu Subaih ( أبوصبيح ) * Al-Sabateen(السباتين) * Al-Qaisieh ( القيسيه )
- Al-Aqtash ( القطيشات ) * Asha ( عشا )
See also
- List of Arab towns and villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
- List of villages depopulated during the Arab-Israeli conflict
- Killings and Massacres During the 1948 Israel/Palestine War
- al-Dawayima massacre
- Palestinian costumes
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Hadawi, 1970, p.50
- ↑ Morris, 2004, p.xix, village #324. Also gives cause for depopulation
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Zafrir Rinat, ‘Bulldozing Palestinian History on Israel’s southern hills,’ at Haaretz 22 June 2013.
- ↑ Jennifer L. Groves, 'Boskath', in David Noel Freedman, (ed.) Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible, Wm B.Eerdsmans/Amsterdam University Press 2000 p.198.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Saleh Abdel Jawad (2007), Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War, in E. Benvenisti & al, Israel and the Palestinian Refugees, Berlin, Heidelberg, New-York : Springer, pp. 59–127 See page 67.
- ↑ Morris, 2004, p 469
- ↑ Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p.258. Also quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 213.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Hudayb, 1985, p. 54. Cited in Khalidi, 1992, p. 213
- ↑ Glassé, 1989, p. 221. Cited in Khalidi, 1992, p. 213
- ↑ Hadawi, 1970, p.93
- ↑ Khalidi, 1992, p. 213
- ↑ Shapira, Anita. Yigal Allon; Native Son; A Biography Translated by Evelyn Abel, University of Pennsylvania Press ISBN 978-0-8122-4028-3 p 248
- ↑ Benny Morris (2004), The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited, p. 469 and Benny Morris (2008), 1948: An History the First Arab-Israeli War, p. 333.
- ↑ Khalidi, 1992, p.215
- ↑ Stillman, 1979, p. 56-57
Bibliography
- Aladjem, Emil and Simeon Gendler (2012): Amazya, Survey, Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel, No. 124
- Aladjem, Emil and Simeon Gendler (2012): Amazya, Al-Dawayima, Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel, No. 124
- Aladjem, Emil (2012): Amazya South, Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel, No. 124
- Barron, J. B., ed. (1923). Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922. Government of Palestine.
- Conder, Claude Reignier; Kitchener, H. H. (1883). The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology 3. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
- Glassé, Cyril (1989): The Concise Encyclopedia of Islam. San Franscico: Harper & Row Cited in Khalidi.
- Guérin, Victor (1869). Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine. 1: Judee, pt. 2. (p. 342 )
- Hadawi, Sami (1970), Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine, Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center
- Hudayb, Musa (1985): Qaryat al-Dawayima (The village of al-Dawayima). Amman: Dar al-jalil li al-nashr. Cited in Khalidi.
- Khalidi, Walid (1992). All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948. Washington D.C.: Institute for Palestine Studies. ISBN 0-88728-224-5.
- Mills, E., ed. (1932). Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas. Jerusalem: Government of Palestine.
- Morris, Benny (2004). The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-00967-7
- Stillman, Yedida Kalfon (1979): Palestinian costume and jewelry, Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, ISBN 0-8263-0490-7 (A catalog of the Museum of International Folk Art (MOIFA) at Santa Fe's collection of Palestinian clothing and jewelry.)