Hunin

Hunin
Hunin
Arabic هونين
Subdistrict Safad
Coordinates 33°12′52″N 35°32′41″E / 33.21444°N 35.54472°ECoordinates: 33°12′52″N 35°32′41″E / 33.21444°N 35.54472°E
Palestine grid 201/291
Population 1,620 (1945)
Area 14,224 dunams
Date of depopulation 3 May 1948 and September 1948[1]
Cause(s) of depopulation Fear of being caught up in the fighting
Secondary cause Expulsion by Yishuv forces
Current localities Margaliot

Hunin (Arabic: هونين) was a Palestinian Arab village in the Galilee Panhandle part of Mandatory Palestine close to the Lebanese border. It was the second largest village in the district of Safed, but was depopulated in 1948.[2]

Hunin was one of the seven Shiite villages, and 17 other villages, that were transferred from the French to the British spheres in 1924 on the basis of the border agreement of 1923.[3]

In 1945 the population of the village was 1620.[4] In May 1948, during hostilities between Arab and Israeli forces, Hunin received an evacuation order from Arab authorities, but the departure of all but 400 residents was the result of a Palmach raid.[5] Four village women were raped and murdered by Israeli soldiers during the summer.[5] In August 1948 village notables approached Kibbutz Kfar Giladi, declaring their willingness to be good citizens of Israel.[5][2] Their proposal was conveyed to the Israeli government, where it received enthusiastic support from the Minorities Minister Bechor-Shalom Sheetrit.[2][3] However, most of the residents were expelled in late August and the remainder in early September when the Carmeli Brigade raided the village killing 20 and blowing up 20 buildings including the mosque.[3][5] Most of the villagers took refuge in Shiite villages in Lebanon.[3]

Hunin, 1946

See also

References

  1. Morris, 2004, p. xvi village #6. Also gives causes of depopulation.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Yoav Gelber (2006). Palestine, 1948 : War, Escape and the Emergence of the Palestinian Refugee Problem (2 ed.). Sussex Academic Press. p. 222.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Asher Kaufman (2006). "Between Palestine and Lebanon: Seven Shi'i Villages as a Case Study of Boundaries, Identities, and Conflict". Middle East Journal 60 (4): 685–706.
  4. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in S. Hadawi, Village Statistics, 1945. PLO Research Center, 1970, p69.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Benny Morris (2004). The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge University Press. pp. 249, 447–448.

Bibliography

External links