Al-'Ulmaniyya was a Palestinian Arab village in the Safad Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on April 20, 1948, by the Palmach's First Battalion of Operation Yiftach. It was located 14.5 km northeast of Safad.

Al-'Ulmaniyya
العلمانية
'Ulmaniya, al[1]
Village
Al-'Ulmaniyya 1946
Al-'Ulmaniyya 1946
Etymology: Kh. ’Almânîyeh, the ruin of ’Almânîyeh[2]
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Al-'Ulmaniyya (click the buttons)
Al-'Ulmaniyya is located in Mandatory Palestine
Al-'Ulmaniyya
Al-'Ulmaniyya
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 33°04′24″N 35°35′12″E / 33.07333°N 35.58667°E / 33.07333; 35.58667
Palestine grid205/275
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictSafad
Date of depopulationApril 20, 1948[1]
Area
 • Total
1,169 dunams (1.169 km2 or 289 acres)
Population
 (1945)
 • Total
260[3][4]
Cause(s) of depopulationMilitary assault by Yishuv forces

History

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In 1596 it appeared in the Ottoman tax registers, as being in the nahiyah ("subdistrict") of Jira, part of the Liwa ("district") of Safad. It had a population of 8 Households and 2 bachelors; an estimated 55 persons, all Muslim. They paid a fixed tax-rate of 25% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, vegetable and fruit garden, orchards, goats and beehives, in addition to occasional revenues and water buffaloes; a total of 2,559 Akçe. All of the revenue went to a Waqf.[5][6][7]

In 1881, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine noted at Kh. Almaniyeh: "A few cattle-sheds and traces of ruins".[8]

British Mandate era

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In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, 'Almaniyeh had a population of 122 Muslims,[9] increasing in the 1931 census, when it was counted together with Zubeid, to 432; 5 Christians and 427 Muslims, in a total of 100 houses.[10]

In the 1945 statistics the village had a population of 260 Muslims[3] with 1,169 dunams of land.[4] Of this, 1,135 dunams were used for cereals,[11] while the built-up areas of the village amounted to 9 dunams.[12]

1948, aftermath

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Al-'Ulmaniyya became depopulated on April 20, 1948, after a military assault by Yishuv forces.[1][13]

Yesud ha-Ma’ala is 2.5 km southeast of the village site.[14]

In 1992 the village site was described: "The site is thickly wooded with eucalyptus trees, making it difficult to discern any remains of the village. Work is proceeding on street construction for Lake al-Hula's nature preservation area. Some of the surrounding lands are cultivated, but most have either been made part of the preservation area or are marshland."[14]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Morris, 2004, p. xvi, village #30. Also gives cause of depopulation.
  2. ^ Palmer, 1881, p. 82
  3. ^ a b Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 11
  4. ^ a b c Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 71 Archived 2011-06-04 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p.178
  6. ^ Khalidi, 1992, p. 501
  7. ^ Note that Rhode, 1979, p. 6 Archived 2019-04-20 at the Wayback Machine writes that the register that Hütteroth and Abdulfattah studied was not from 1595/6, but from 1548/9
  8. ^ Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 235
  9. ^ Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Safad, p. 42
  10. ^ Mills, 1932, p. 111
  11. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 121 Archived 2018-09-26 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 171 Archived 2018-09-26 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ^ Morris, 2004, p. 249, note #684, p. 302
  14. ^ a b Khalidi, 1992, p. 502

Bibliography

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