Bayt 'Affa

Bayt 'Affa was a Palestinian village in the Gaza Subdistrict. It was depopulated and destroyed during the 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine. It was located 29 km (18 mi) northeast of Gaza and Wadi al-Rana ran east of the village.

Bayt 'Affa

بيت عفا
Etymology: The house of Affeh (or chaste)[1]
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Bayt 'Affa (click the buttons)
Bayt 'Affa
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 31°39′41″N 34°42′24″E
Palestine grid122/118
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictGaza
Date of depopulationNot known[2]
Area
 • Total5,808 dunams (5.808 km2 or 2.242 sq mi)
Population
 (1945)
 • Total700[4][3]

History

The village had a khirba which contained the remains of walls made of ancient columns, uncut stones and a well.[5]

Ottoman era

Incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517 with all of Palestine, Bayt 'Affa appeared in the 1596 tax registers as being in the Nahiya of Gaza, part of Gaza Sanjak. It had a population of 26 Muslim households,[6] an estimated 143 inhabitants,[7], who paid taxes on wheat, barley, vine yards and fruit trees.[5] 1/24 th of the revenue went to a waqf.[6]

In 1838 Edward Robinson noted it as Beit 'Affa, a Muslim village in the Gaza district.[8][9]

In 1863, Victor Guérin found it to be a village of 400 inhabitants, surrounded by tobacco and cucumber fields,[10] while an Ottoman village list of about 1870 indicated 37 houses and a population of 90, though the population count included men, only.[11][12]

In 1883, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described Bayt 'Affa as resembling Iraq Suwaydan; that is, a moderate-sized adobe village situated on a plain. In addition, Bayt 'Affa was supplied with a well.[13]

British Mandate era

According to the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Bayt 'Affa had a population of 422 Muslims,[14] which had increased in the 1931 census to 462, still all Muslim.[15]

Bayt 'Affa 1930 1:20,000

In the 1945 statistics, there were 700 Muslims,[4] with 5,808 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.[3] Of this, 14 dunams were used for plantations and irrigable land, 5,657 used for cereals,[16] while 26 dunams were built-up land.[17]

Bayt 'Affa 1945 1:250,000
Bayt 'Affa 1930 1:20,000

1948 and aftermath

The population probably left their homes following the capture of the village by the Israeli army around 9 July 1948. The Egyptian army drove the Israelis out a few days later and the village was not re-taken until Operation Yoav in the second half of October. The village was destroyed.[5] Following the war the area was incorporated into the State of Israel.

In 1953 Yad Natan was established just south of the village site, on the land of Iraq Suwaydan.[5]

In 1992 the village site was described: "There are no traces of village houses; only sycamore and carob trees and cactuses mark the site. Fruit trees, especially citrus, are planted on the surrounding land and are irrigated from the Jordan River diversion canal."[5]

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References
  1. Palmer, 1881, p. 365
  2. Morris, 2004, p. xix, village #303. Morris gives both cause and date for depopulation as "Not known"
  3. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 45
  4. Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 31 Archived 2020-04-14 at the Wayback Machine
  5. Khalidi, 1992, p. 86
  6. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 144
  7. Khalidi, 1992, p. 86
  8. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. 118
  9. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 2, p. 369
  10. Guérin, 1869, p. 126
  11. Socin, 1879, p. 145
  12. Hartmann, 1883, p. 133 also noted 37 houses
  13. Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. 259, Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 86
  14. Barron, 1923, Table V, Sub-district of Gaza, p. 9
  15. Mills, 1932, p. 2
  16. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 86
  17. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 136

Bibliography
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