Al-Wayziyya
| Al-Wayziyya | |
|---|---|
  Al-Wayziyya | |
| Arabic | الويزية |
| Also spelled | Weiziya[1] |
| Subdistrict | Safad |
| Coordinates | 33°0′3.99″N 35°34′36.56″E / 33.0011083°N 35.5768222°ECoordinates: 33°0′3.99″N 35°34′36.56″E / 33.0011083°N 35.5768222°E |
| Palestine grid | 204/267 |
| Population | 100 (1945) |
| Date of depopulation | May 1948[1] |
Al-Wayziyya (Arabic: الويزية) was a Palestinian Arab village in the Safad Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on May 1, 1948 by the Palmach's First Battalion of Operation Yiftach. It was located 8.5 km northeast of Safad.
In 1945, the village had a population of 100. A shrine for a local sage known as al-Shaykh al-Wayzi was located in the village.
History
Al-Wayziyya was situated in a volcanic area that sloped towards the al-Hula Plain to the north. The majority of the villagers were Bedouin and were involved in agriculture, primarily animal husbandry.[2] A road linked the village to a highway leading to Safad and Tiberias. A shrine for a Shaykh al-Wayzi was located about 0.5 km from the site as was a stone quarry.[2]
In 1945 the population was 100, with a total of 6,361 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.[3] Of this, Arabs used 795 dunums for plantations or irrigable land, 1,623 for cereals;[4] while a total of 2,114 dunams was classified as uncultivable.[5]
During the 1948 war, nearby Mughr al-Khayt was struck by mortars on 2 May, while villages to the north were evacuated earlier because of the threat of the oncoming war.[2]
Today there are no Israeli settlements on village lands and the shrine of Shaykh al-Wayzi is the only remaining landmark.[2] Only rubble and grasses and trees remain, although the Zionists established the settlement of Mahanayim in 1939, which is located about 1.5 km southeast of where Al-Wayziyya was located.[2]
References
- 1 2 Morris, 2004, p. xvi, village #49. Gives cause of depopulation as "?"
- 1 2 3 4 5 Khalidi, 1992, p. 503
- ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 70.
- ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 120
- ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 170
Bibliography
- Hadawi, Sami (1970). Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine. Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center.
- 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.
- Morris, Benny (2004). The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-00967-6.
External links
- Welcome to al-Wayziyya
- al-Wayziyya, at Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center
- Al-Wayziyya, Dr. Khalil Rizk.