Al-Khayma

(Redirected from Kheima)

Al-Khayma (Arabic: الخيمة) was a Palestinian Arab village in the Ramle Subdistrict of Mandatory Palestine. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War on July 9, 1948, by the Givati Brigade of Operation An-Far. It was located 18.5 km south of Ramla.

Al-Khayma
الخيمة
Village
Etymology: The Tent[1]
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Al-Khayma (click the buttons)
Al-Khayma is located in Mandatory Palestine
Al-Khayma
Al-Khayma
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 31°45′44″N 34°49′47″E / 31.76222°N 34.82972°E / 31.76222; 34.82972
Palestine grid133/130
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictRamle
Date of depopulationNot known[4]
Area
 • Total5,150 dunams (5.15 km2 or 1.99 sq mi)
Population
 (1945)
 • Total190[2][3]

History

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In 1863, Victor Guérin found that it had two hundred and fifty inhabitants.[5]

In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine noted it as principally an adobe village of "on low ground", and with a well to the east.[6]

British Mandate era

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In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Khaimeh had a population of 132 Muslims,[7] increasing in the 1931 census to 141 Muslims, in 30 houses.[8]

In the 1945 statistics, the village had a population of 190, all Muslim,[2] and the total land area was 5,150 dunums.[3] Of this, 4 dunams were irrigated or used for plantations, 5,007 were used for cereals,[9] while 9 dunams were classified as built-up urban areas.[10]

1948 and aftermath

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Morris list both date and reason for depopulation as "not known".[4] However, he also notes it in connection with Operation An-Far, in mid July 1948.[11][12]

Following the 1948 war, the area was incorporated into the State of Israel and in August 1948 al-Khaymas was one of 21 Palestinian villages whose land was proposed for resettlement with an Israeli village named Revadim.[13] In November, 1948, the proposal to establish Revadim on al-Khayma's land was passed.[14]

Revadim was eventually established close to village land, according to Morris,[15] however, according to Khalidi, Revadim is located north of al-Khayma, on the land of the depopulated Palestinian village of al-Mukhayzin.[16]

In 1992 the village site was described: "All that remains of the village are three mounds to the east, west, and south of the site that contain the remnants of houses. A girder protrudes from the eastern mound and there is a large, deserted well at the mounds centre. A large artificial pond lies about 100 m northeast of the site, and there is a monument next to a well about 0.5 km to the north. An inscription on the monument reads: To the eMemory of the Members of Kibbutz Revadim, who Settled on the Land in 1948."[17]

References

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  1. ^ Palmer, 1881, p. 268
  2. ^ a b Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 29
  3. ^ a b c Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 67
  4. ^ a b Morris, 2004, p. xix, village #267. Morris gives both cause and date of depopulation as "Not known".
  5. ^ Guérin, 1869, p. 88
  6. ^ Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 408, cited in Khalidi, 1992, p. 388
  7. ^ Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Ramleh, p. 21
  8. ^ Mills, 1932, p. 21
  9. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 115
  10. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 165
  11. ^ Morris, 2004, p. 437
  12. ^ Morris, 2004, p. 443
  13. ^ Morris, 2004, p. 376
  14. ^ Morris, 2004, p. 380
  15. ^ Morris, 2004, p. xxi, settlement #35
  16. ^ Khalidi, 1992, p. 388
  17. ^ Khalidi, 1992, pp. 388-389

Bibliography

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