Ra'na
| Ra'na | |
|---|---|
  Ra'na | |
| Arabic | رعنة |
| Subdistrict | Hebron |
| Coordinates | 31°39′53.73″N 34°52′37.45″E / 31.6649250°N 34.8770694°ECoordinates: 31°39′53.73″N 34°52′37.45″E / 31.6649250°N 34.8770694°E |
| Palestine grid | 138/119 |
| Population | 190[1] (1945) |
| Area | 6.925[1] dunams |
| Date of depopulation | 22–23 October 1948[2] |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Military assault by Yishuv forces |
| Current localities | Gal On |
Ra'na (Arabic: رعنة) was a village located approximately 26 km northwest of Hebron. It was occupied by the Israeli army during Operation Yo'av in October 1948. It was one of 16 villages in the Hebron district that were depopulated.
History
During the rule of the Ottoman empire, Edward Robinson passed by in 1838, and reported that the fields of Ra'na were planted with tobacco and cotton.[3]
In the late nineteenth century, Ra'na was described as a village built of stone and mud, and it had a pool and gardens.[4]
Ra'na was classified as hamlet by the Palestine Index Gazetteer. In 1944/45 a total of 5,882 dunums of land was planted with cereals, while 112 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards. Grain was the dominant crop, but during the final year of the British Mandate of Palestine, the villagers also grew grapes, carob and olives.[5]
1948, and after
The village was attacked by the Giv'ati Brigade on 22/23 October 1948. Those villagers who had not already fled were expelled and the village destroyed.[5]
The settlement of Gal On was established in 1946 on what were traditionally village land.[5]
The Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi describes that the site of the village in 1992: "The site is fenced in with barbed wire and is overgrown in part by cactuses, especially where there is limestone soil, and by carob trees. No houses or rubble remains." [5]
People from Ra'na
See also
- List of Arab towns and villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
References
Bibliography
- Conder, Claude Reignier and H.H. Kitchener (1881): The Survey of Western Palestine: memoirs of the topography, orography, hydrography, and archaeology. London:Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund. Vol 2
- Hadawi, Sami (1970), Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine, Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center
- Khalidi, Walid (1992), All That Remains, Washington D.C.: Institute for Palestine Studies, ISBN 0-88728-224-5
- Morris, Benny (2004). Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-00967-7
- Robinson, Edward (1841): Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the Year 1838. Volume II.