Danna, Baysan

Danna (Arabic: دنه‎), was a Palestinian village 13 kilometres north of Baysan that was captured by the Israel Defense Forces during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, and the villagers were expelled.[2]

Danna

دنه
Village
Etymology: the Amphora[1]
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Danna, Baysan (click the buttons)
Danna
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 32°36′47″N 35°28′28″E
Palestine grid194/224
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictBaysan
Date of depopulation28 May 1948[2]
Area
 • Total6,614 dunams (6.614 km2 or 2.554 sq mi)
Population
 (1945)
 • Total190[4][3]
Cause(s) of depopulationExpulsion by Yishuv forces

History

Byzantine period

A basalt lintel decorated with a menorah bas-relief, dated to the 5th-6th century[5] and discovered at Kafr Danna, is possibly the only remaining element of a Byzantine synagogue once standing there.[6][7]

Ottoman period

In 1596, Danna was part of the Ottoman Empire, nahiya (subdistrict) of Shafa under the liwa' (district) of Lajjun with a population of 5 Muslim families, (estimated 28 people). It paid a fixed tax rate of 25% to the Ottoman government on a number of crops, including wheat and barley, and other types of produce, such as goats and beehives; a total of 3,500 akçe.[8]

Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, a Swiss traveler to Palestine who passed through the area around 1817, mentioned the village without providing a description.[9][10]

In 1838, Denna was noted as part of the Jenin District.[11][12]

Victor Guérin described in 1875 the village as being "humble", and situated on a hill. He noted that it had once been much larger, as north of the village centre were ruins of houses.[13] In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described Danna as being situated on a slope, and surrounded by farmland. There was a spring with a watering trough to the west. The village houses were built of stone and adobe.[14]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the Mandatory Palestine authorities, Danna had a population of 176 Muslims,[15] decreasing in the 1931 census to 149, still all Muslims, in 28 houses.[16]

The village was shaped like a rectangle whose longer sides were aligned in a north-south direction. During this era the village expanded and new houses, constructed of stone and adobe brick, were built along the road to the nearby village of Kafra. It was classified as a hamlet in the Palestine Index Gazetteer. There were a few shops and a mosque which contained the maqam (shrine) of a Shaykh Daniyal. The village spring provided water for all the residents. The villagers worked primarily in rainfed agriculture.[17]

In the 1945 statistics Danna had a population of 190 Muslims,[4] with a total of 6,614 dunams of land.[3] Of this, a total of 5,097 dunams was used for cereals; 14 dunams were irrigated or used for orchards,[18] while 15 were built-up (urban) land.[19] Grass and leafy vegetation grew on the slopes and peaks of the neighboring mountains and were used for grazing.[17]

1948, aftermath

On the 28 May 1948 the village was occupied by Israeli forces, and the villagers were expelled.[2]

According to the Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi, 1992, the remaining structures on the village land were:

"Bushes, cactus plants, thorns, and grass now grow around piles of rubble on the village site. Thick weeds grow in the wadi and near the springs. The lands in the area are cultivated by Israeli farmers."[17]

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See also
  • List of Arab towns and villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War

References
  1. Palmer, 1881, p. 160
  2. Morris, 2004, p. xvii village #111. Also gives cause of depopulation.
  3. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 43
  4. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 6
  5. [Rachel Hachlili, The Menorah, the Ancient Seven-armed Candelabrum, Brill 2001]
  6. G. Foerster (1966). A Menorah Lintel from Danna. Atiqot. pp. 66-67 and pl. 16. Retrieved 17 July 2019 – via "Galilee Through the Centuries: Confluence of Cultures", International Conference on Galilee in Antiquity, 1997, Duke university. Leonard Victor Rutgers, "Incense shovels at Sepphoris?", page 180, note 18. with stylised lulavim
  7. Dr. Chaim Ben David, The Jewish Settlements in the Districts of Scythopolis, Hippos and Gadara, p. 314 note 34. In ARAM, 23 (2011) 309-323. doi: 10.2143/ARAM.23.0.2959661
  8. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 157, also cited in Khalidi, 1992, p. 45
  9. Burckhardt, 1822, p. 342
  10. Also cited in Khalidi 1992, p. 46 (wrongly cited to p. 842)
  11. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, p. 218
  12. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, 2nd Appendix, p. 130
  13. Guérin, 1880, pp. 128-129
  14. Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p.83. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p.46
  15. Barron, 1923, Table IX, p. 31
  16. Mills, 1932, p. 78
  17. Khalidi, 1992, p.46
  18. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 84
  19. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 134

Bibliography
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