Shahma
| Shahma | |
|---|---|
  Shahma | |
| Arabic | شحمة |
| Name meaning | from personal name[1] |
| Also spelled | Shameh[2] |
| Subdistrict | Ramle |
| Coordinates | 31°49′25.92″N 34°48′39.62″E / 31.8238667°N 34.8110056°ECoordinates: 31°49′25.92″N 34°48′39.62″E / 31.8238667°N 34.8110056°E |
| Palestine grid | 132/136 |
| Population | 280[3] (1945) |
| Area |
6,875[3] dunams 6.9 km² |
| Date of depopulation | May 14, 1948[4] |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Influence of nearby town's fall |
Shahma (Arabic: شحمة) was a Palestinian Arab village located 15 kilometers (9.3 mi) southwest of Ramla.[5] Depopulated on the eve of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, the village lands today form part of a fenced in area used by the Israeli Air Force.[4][6]
Location
The village was situated on the coastal plain, 15 kilometers (9.3 mi) southwest of Ramla, in a flat area that was slightly higher that the terrain to the south and southeast. Wadi al-Sarar ran about 1 kilometer (0.62 mi) southwest of it, and a secondary road linked Shahma to al-Ramla. During World War II, the British built RAF Aqir military airport just north of the village, Shahma military base lay to the north and east.[5]
History
In the late nineteenth century, Shahma was described as a small village built of adobe bricks, whose inhabitants drew their water from a well to the south of the village.[7]
In the British Mandate -era, the village was classified as a hamlet by the Palestine Index Gazetteer. During this time the village was divided into two sections, north and south of a secondary road. Some of its houses were built in part with stone remains from previous settlements.[5]
In 1944/45 the village had a population of 280. A total of 152 dunums of village land was used for citrus and bananas, 4,911 dunums were used for cereals, and 33 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards.[5][8]
1948, and aftermath
The Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi described the place in 1992: "The site has been incorporated into a fenced-in military airfield. It is marked by cactuses and bushes that are visible from the outside."[6]
See also
- List of Arab towns and villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
References
- ↑ Palmer, 1881, p. 273
- ↑ Robinson and Smith, 1841, p. 120.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 68
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Morris, 2004, p. xix, village #262. Also provides cause of depopulation.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Khalidi, 1992, p. 414
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Khalidi, 1992, p. 415
- ↑ Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP II, p.408 Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 414
- ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 117
Bibliography
- Barron, J. B., ed. (1923). Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922. Government of Palestine.
- Conder, Claude Reignier; Kitchener, Herbert H. (1882). The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology 2. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
- 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.
- 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 (Second, illustrated, revised ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-00967-6.
- Robinson, Edward; Smith, Eli (1841). Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the Year 1838. Crocker & Brewster.
- Palmer, E. H. (1881). The Survey of Western Palestine: Arabic and English Name Lists Collected During the Survey by Lieutenants Conder and Kitchener, R. E. Transliterated and Explained by E.H. Palmer. Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
External links
- Welcome To Shahma
- SWP map XVI IAA
- SWP map 16, Wikimedia commons
- Shama from Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center
