Al-Qubayba, Hebron

This article is about the former village in Hebron Sub-district. For the former village in Ramle Sub-district, see Al-Qubayba, Ramle. For the Palestinian village in Jerusalem, see Al-Qubeiba, Jerusalem.
al-Qubayba
al-Qubayba
Arabic القبيبة
Name meaning The little (eastern) dome[1]
Also spelled Qubeiba
Subdistrict Hebron
Coordinates 31°34′13.62″N 34°51′16.03″E / 31.5704500°N 34.8544528°E / 31.5704500; 34.8544528Coordinates: 31°34′13.62″N 34°51′16.03″E / 31.5704500°N 34.8544528°E / 31.5704500; 34.8544528
Palestine grid 136/108
Population 1,060[2] (1945)
Area 11,912 dunams
11.912[2] km²
Date of depopulation 28 October 1948[3]
Cause(s) of depopulation Military assault by Yishuv forces
Current localities Lachish

al-Qubayba (Arabic: القبيبة‎), also known as Qubeiba, was a Palestinian village, located 24 kilometers northwest of Hebron. It was depopulated in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.

History

Known in Crusader times as Deirelcobebe, the ruins of the ancient Canaanite city of Lachish lay adjacent to the village,[4][5] which was subject to extensive archaeological excavations by the British Mandatory authorities in Palestine, and by Israeli authorities subsequent to its capture during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.[6] Remains of settlement in the Roman, Byzantine and Early Islamic period[7] and Mamluk era have been found.[8]

Ottoman period

In 1517, Al-Qubayba was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire with the rest of Palestine, and in 1596 it appeared in the tax registers as being in the nahiya (subdistrict) of Gaza under the liwa' (district) of Gaza, with a population of 182. It paid taxes on wheat, barley, sesame, and fruit trees, as well as goats and beehives.[9][10]

In 1883, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine described Al-Qubayba as a large village built of adobe brick, situated on rolling hills near a plain, surrounded by a barren and stony area.[10][11]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Al-Qubaiba had a population of 646, all Muslims,[12] increasing in the 1931 census to 800, still all Muslim, in a total of 141 houses.[13]

The village had a school, a mosque, and a number of small shops. Two wells located northwest and southwest of it provided drinking water.[10]

In 1945 the population of Al-Qubayba was 1,060, all Arabs, who owned 11.912 dunams of land according to an official land and population survey.[2] 8109 dunams were for cereals[14] while 35 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[15]

1948, and after

Al-Qubayba was in the territory allotted to the Arab state under the 1947 UN Partition Plan.[16]

The village was first attacked during Operation Barak.

Though defended by Egyptian forces, al-Qubayba was taken by Israeli forces in the final stages of Operation Yoav on 28 October 1948. The population had fled and the village was destroyed

In 1955 the settlement of Lakhish was established to the southwest of the site on village lands.[17]

Of the village mosque, an elementary school, and more than 141 houses that made up al-Qubayba, Walid Khalidi notes that all that remains to mark the site in contemporary times are cactuses and a handful of olive trees.[6]

Culture

A woman's thob (loose fitting robe with sleeves), from Qubeiba dated to about 1910 forms part of the Museum of International Folk Art (MOIFA) collection at Santa Fe. The dress is a collage of different fabrics, textures and colors. The front and the upper half of the back are of black cotton. The chest panel, the side panels and the lower back of the skirt are handwoven indigo linen. Colorful silk cross-stitch embroidery, in red, violet, orange, yellow, green and black, create an effect described as "particularly gay, twinkling"[4] The qabbeh (square chest panel) is embroidered with the qurunful ("clove") motif, and it has vertical rows of eight-pointed stars, called qamr ("moons"), and a row of the mushut ("combs") pattern. There are eight embroidered columns on each side panel of the dress. The patterns which are used are fanajin qahweh ("coffee cups"), khem-el-basha ("the pashas tent"), irq el-ward ("rose branch"), and miftah Khalil ("key of Hebron"). There is also a pattern (with flowers, moons, trees, tents and tiles) not seen anywhere else in the MOMA collection. Finally, there is also some embroidery at the wrists.[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Palmer, 1881, p. 376
  2. 1 2 3 Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 50
  3. ↑ Morris 2004, p. xix, village #323, Also gives cause of depopulation
  4. 1 2 3 Stillman 1979, p. 57.
  5. ↑ Dauphin, 1998, p. 880
  6. 1 2 "Welcome to Al-Qubayba". Palestine Remembered. Retrieved 2007-12-06.
  7. ↑ Haiman, 2014, El-Qubab
  8. ↑ Lupu, 2010, El-Qubab
  9. ↑ Hütteroth & Abdulfattah 1977, p. 146.
  10. 1 2 3 Khalidi 1992, p. 220.
  11. ↑ Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. 258
  12. ↑ Barron, 1923, Table V, Sub-district of Hebron, p. 10
  13. ↑ Mills, 1932, p. 33
  14. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 93
  15. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 143
  16. ↑ "Map of UN Partition Plan". United Nations. Archived from the original on 18 March 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-22.
  17. ↑ Khalidi 1992, p. 221.

Bibliography

External links

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