View text source at Wikipedia

Al-Samakiyya

Al-Samakiyya
تلحوم/السمكية
Village
Al-Samakiyya villagers, postcard from 1902
Al-Samakiyya villagers, postcard from 1902
Etymology: ’Arab es Semakîyeh, the Semakîyeh (fisher) Arabs[1]
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Al-Samakiyya (click the buttons)
Al-Samakiyya is located in Mandatory Palestine
Al-Samakiyya
Al-Samakiyya
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 32°53′02″N 35°34′41″E / 32.88389°N 35.57806°E / 32.88389; 35.57806
Palestine grid204/254
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictTiberias
Date of depopulationNot known[4]
Area
[3]
 • Total
10,526 dunams (10.526 km2 or 4.064 sq mi)
Population
 (1945)
 • Total
330 Muslims and 50 Christians connected to Capernaum ecclesiastic sites[2][3]
Current LocalitiesAmnun,[5] Korazim[5]

Al-Samakiyya was a Palestinian Arab village in the Tiberias Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on May 4, 1948, under Operation Matateh. It was located 11 km northeast of Tiberias, near the Wadi al-Wadabani. The village was located at Tel Hum, which has been identified with Capernaum.[6]

History

[edit]

In 1838, Edward Robinson noted the bedawin (Bedouin) tribe of es-Semekiyeh, who kept some buildings in Abu Shusha as magazines.[7]

British Mandate

[edit]
See of Galilee at Capernaum

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, the population of Samakiyeh was 193 Muslims,[8] increasing in the 1931 census to 290; 266 Muslims and 24 Christians,[clarification needed] in a total of 60 houses.[9]

In the 1945 statistics Es Samakiya had a population of 380; 330 Muslims and 50 Christians[clarification needed],[2] with 10,526 dunams of land.[3] Of this, 2 dunams were used for citrus and bananas, 66 for plantations and irrigable land, 4,034 dunams for cereals,[10] while a total of 6,424 dunams were classified as non-cultivable area.[11]

Al-Samakiyya had an Italian monastery, a Franciscan church, and a Greek Orthodox church.[5][clarification needed]

1948 war and aftermath

[edit]

On 4 May 1948, Yigal Allon launched Operation Matateh ('Operation Broom'), in order to clear the area of its Bedouin inhabitants.[4][12] The Bedouin site is listed by Benny Morris as "'Arab al Samakiya (Samakiya/Talhum)".[4]

Historian Saleh Abdel Jawad writes that five or more villagers were killed in "indiscriminate" killings by the Haganah.[13]

Amnun and Korazim were both established on Al-Samakiyya land in 1983.[5]

In 1992, Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi wrote: "The village site is covered with wild vegetation, piles of basalt stones, and date palm trees. Part of the surrounding land is used as pasture, and the other part is planted with fruit and walnut trees."[5]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Palmer, 1881, p. 123
  2. ^ a b Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 12
  3. ^ a b c Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 72
  4. ^ a b c Morris, 2004, p. xvii, village #373. Gives both date and cause of depopulation as "Not known"
  5. ^ a b c d e Khalidi, 1992, p. 539
  6. ^ Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, pp. 371, 417
  7. ^ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, p. 286, cited in Khalidi, 1992, p. 539
  8. ^ Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Tiberias, p. 40
  9. ^ Mills, 1932, p. 85
  10. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 123
  11. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 173
  12. ^ Morris, 2004, pp. 249-250, notes #694-698, p. 302
  13. ^ Saleh Abdel Jawad, 2007, Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War. "4 May 1948: [...] As Samakiyya (‘Arab al-Samakiyya near Tiberias): Indiscriminate killings occur. The Haganah fires on fleeing civilians and kill at least three individuals from Tabigha, who had taken refuge in As Samakiyya. Among the dead are Ahmad Muhammed, Ahmad Abu-Fadil, Hamdih Khadrah, and the sister of Ahmad Yousef Ali."

Bibliography

[edit]
[edit]