Dahaniya
| Dahaniya دهنية | |
|---|---|
  Dahaniya | |
| Coordinates: 31°13′30″N 34°16′20″E / 31.22500°N 34.27222°ECoordinates: 31°13′30″N 34°16′20″E / 31.22500°N 34.27222°E | |
| Founded | 1977 |
| Population (2005) | 500 |
Dahaniya (Arabic: دهنية) was a village near the southernmost point in the Gaza Strip, evacuated in Israel's disengagement of 2005.
Dahaniya was located in a no man's land between Israel and the Gaza strip, in between the Israeli kibbutz of Kerem Shalom and the Palestinian city of Rafah, south of Yasser Arafat International Airport (also called Dahaniya Airport) and close to the Egyptian border. It had been administrated by the Israeli Civil Administration since the Oslo accords.
The Village
Dahaniya was founded in 1977 as a sanctuary for Bedouin collaborators with Israel from the Sinai Peninsula. in 1976 The elders of the Egyptian-Bedouin tribe had reached an agreement with the Israeli government regarding exchange of land. They had given Israel property rights for land in Sinai on which to found villages, and in exchange they had been given the rights to the village of Dahaniya. Hundreds of Bedouin families from the Sinai desert found refuge there.
In the following decades, the residents of Dahaniya collaborated with Israeli security forces in their efforts to locate terrorists, and families of collaborators from the West Bank and Gaza Strip joined the village. in 1994 many of the residents left the village to the larger cities in Israel (including Tel Aviv and Beersheba.
The Palestinians considered the residents of Dahaniya traitors worthy of execution. Since the beginning of the Second Intifada, Dahaniya residents were banned from entering the Gaza Strip and carried weapons in the village from fear for their lives. The village was guarded with a fence, and the border with the Palestinian Territories was administrated by Israel. Among the Palestinians who would enter the village regularly were teachers, doctors, water and electricity workers and traders. The Kerem Shalom border crossing was used by residents working in Israel and the Gush Katif settlements. Some of the residents held Israeli documents, while others held Palestinian documents (issued by the Israeli Civil Administration).
Evacuation
Israel's unilateral disengagement plan to leave the entire Gaza Strip, including the village of Dahaniya, meant that Israeli security forces would no longer be able to defend the residents from Palestinian militants. The residents had asked to be evacuated as part of the plan due to security concerns. With the help of Israel Defense Forces, they moved to a temporary location in southern Israel populated by Israeli Arabs. After local Arabs learned of their presence and threatened their lives, they were relocated to the Jewish area of Hevel Shalom.