Al-Ras al-Ahmar
| Al-Ras al-Ahmar | |
|---|---|
  Al-Ras al-Ahmar | |
| Subdistrict | Safad |
| Coordinates | 33°2′28.29″N 35°27′52.09″E / 33.0411917°N 35.4644694°ECoordinates: 33°2′28.29″N 35°27′52.09″E / 33.0411917°N 35.4644694°E |
| Palestine grid | 194/271 |
| Population | 620[1] (1945) |
| Area | 7,934[1] dunams |
| Date of depopulation | October 30, 1948[2] |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Military assault by Yishuv forces |
| Current localities | Kerem Ben Zimra |
Al-Ras al-Ahmar was a Palestinian Arab village in the Safad Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War on October 30, 1948 by the Israeli 7th Armored Brigade during Operation Hiram. It was located 8.5 km north of Safad.
Algerian followers of Abdelkader El Djezairi have been defeated by the French in Algeria, and sought refuge in another part of the Ottoman Empire. They were settled in various locations in Ottoman Syria, including Al-Ras al-Ahmar.[3]
In 1881 the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine described the village "Well-built stone houses. containing 350 (Guérin says 150) Algerian Moslems. situated on high hill, with gardens down the slopes. There is a perennial supply of good water in Wâdy Râs el Ahmar."[4]
In 1945, al-Ras al-Ahmar had a population of 620. An elementary school for boys was founded during the British Mandate period. Mosaics and wine presses with tessellated floors have been unearthed from the Byzantine period.
References
- 1 2 Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 71.
- ↑ Morris, 2004, p. xvi, village #39. Also gives cause of depopulation.
- ↑ Abbasi, 2007 (Hebrew). Non-Hebrew version in The Maghreb Review, 28(1), 2003 pp. 41-59.
- ↑ Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 199
Bibliography
- Barron, J. B., ed. (1923). Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922 (PDF). Government of Palestine.
- Conder, Claude Reignier; Kitchener, H. H. (1881). The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology 1. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund. (p. 199)
- Hadawi, Sami (1970). Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine. Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center.
- Hütteroth, Wolf-Dieter; Abdulfattah, Kamal (1977). Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century. Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft. ISBN 3-920405-41-2.
- Khalidi, Walid (1992). All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948. Washington D.C.: Institute for Palestine Studies. ISBN 0-88728-224-5.
- Mills, E., ed. (1932). Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas (PDF). Jerusalem: Government of Palestine.
- Morris, Benny (2004). The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-00967-6.
- Palmer, E. H. (1881). The Survey of Western Palestine: Arabic and English Name Lists Collected During the Survey by Lieutenants Conder and Kitchener, R. E. Transliterated and Explained by E.H. Palmer. Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund. (Râs el Ahmar, the red head or hill-top (p. 92)
- Rhode, Harold (1979). Administration and Population of the Sancak of Safed in the Sixteenth Century. Columbia University.
External links
- Palestine Remembered: Welcome To al-Ras al-Ahmar
- SWP map IV, IAA
- SWP map 4, Wikimedia commons
- al-Ras al-Ahmar, from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center
- al-Ras al-Ahmar, Dr. Khalil Rizk
- Touring al-Ras al-Ahmar while Gaza is under attack, Saturday, 27.12.2008, Zochrot
