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Mansurat al-Khayt

Coordinates: 32°58′15″N 35°36′58″E / 32.97083°N 35.61611°E / 32.97083; 35.61611
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See Mansura (disambiguation) for other sites with similar names.
Mansurat al-Khayt
منصورة الخيط
Mansurat al Kheit[1]
Village
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Mansurat al-Khayt (click the buttons)
Mansurat al-Khayt is located in Mandatory Palestine
Mansurat al-Khayt
Mansurat al-Khayt
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 32°58′15″N 35°36′58″E / 32.97083°N 35.61611°E / 32.97083; 35.61611
Palestine grid207/264
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictSafad
Date of depopulationJanuary 18, 1948[1]
Area
 • Total6,735 dunams (6.735 km2 or 2.600 sq mi)
Population
 (1945)
 • Total200[2][3]
Cause(s) of depopulationMilitary assault by Yishuv forces
Current LocalitiesKfar Hanassi?[4] However, Khalidi writes that it is on the land of Tuba[5]

Mansurat al-Khayt was a Palestinian Arab village in the Safad Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on January 18, 1948. It was located 11.5 km east of Safed, 1 km west of the Jordan River.

History

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Part of the name, al-Khayt, came from the area named as ard al-khayt, located southwest of the lake of Hula.[6]

Al-Dimashqi (d.1327) wrote about Al Khait: "A district of the Upper Ghaur of the Jordan Valley. The country resembles that of Irak in the matter of its rice, its birds, its hot springs, and excellent crops."[7]

In the mid 18th century, The Syrian Sufi teacher and traveller al-Bakri al-Siddiqi (1688-1748/9) noted that he passed by al-Khayt with a judge from Safad.[5]

British Mandate era

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In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Kerad al Khait had a population of 437 Muslims,[8] increasing in the 1931 census when Mansurat el Hula had to 367 Muslims inhabitants, in a total of 61 houses.[9]

In the 1945 statistics the village had a population of 200 Muslims,[2] with 6,735 dunams of land, all of which was publicly owned.[3] Of this, 5,052 dunams were used for cereals,[10] while 17 dunams were classified as built-up, public areas.[11]

The village was also known by Mansurat al-Hula to distinguish it from al-Mansura in Safed and had a shrine for a local sage known as al-Shaykh Mansur from which the village was named after.

1948, aftermath

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The village was temporarily evacuated after a Haganah attack on 18 January 1948. The Haganah was under order to "eliminate" anyone in the village who resisted.[12] It was noted that "houses and shacks were set alight" during the attack.[13]

In July 1948, a new settlement called Habonim, later renamed Kfar Hanassi, went up on the land of Mansurat al-Khayt.[14]

References

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  1. ^ a b Morris, 2004, p. xvi, village #59. Also gives cause of depopulation
  2. ^ a b Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 10
  3. ^ a b c Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 70
  4. ^ Morris, 2004, p. xx, settlement #13.
  5. ^ a b Khalidi, 1992, p. 475
  6. ^ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, p. 341, cited in Khalidi, 1992, p. 474
  7. ^ Al-Dimashqi, 1866, p. 211 cited in le Strange, 1890, p. 484
  8. ^ Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Safad, p. 42
  9. ^ Mills, 1932, p. 108
  10. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 120
  11. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 170
  12. ^ Morris, 2004, p. 132, note #539, on p. 160
  13. ^ Morris, 2004, p. 344, note #13, p. 396
  14. ^ Morris, 2004, p. 374, note #191, p. 406

Bibliography

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