Dayr Abu Salama

Dayr Abu Salama was a small Palestinian Arab village in the Ramle Subdistrict, located 8 km northeast of Ramla. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War on July 13, 1948 in the first phase of Operation Dani.

Dayr Abu Salama

دير أبو سلمه
Village
Watchtower and amphitheater in Ben Shemen forest, constructed out of stones from Dayr Abu Salama houses
Etymology: the monastery of Abu Selâmeh[1]
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Dayr Abu Salama (click the buttons)
Dayr Abu Salama
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 31°56′57″N 34°57′25″E
Palestine grid146/150
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictRamle
Date of depopulationJuly 13, 1948[2]
Area
 • Total1,195 dunams (1.195 km2 or 295 acres)
Population
 (1945)
 • Total60[4][3]
Cause(s) of depopulationMilitary assault by Yishuv forces

History

In 1882 the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) noted at Deir Abu Salameh: "Foundations, heaps of stones, and a few pillar shafts."[5]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Dair Abu Salameh had a population of 30 inhabitants; all Muslims,[6]

In the 1945 statistics, it had a population of 60 Muslims[4] with 1,195 dunams of land.[3] Of this, 41 dunams were either irrigated or used for orchards, 695 used for cereals,[7] while 459 dunams were classified as non-cultivable areas.[8]

A shrine for a local sage known as al-Shaykh Abu Salama is also located in the village.[9]

  • Dayr Abu Salama 1942 1:20,000
  • Dayr Abu Salama 1945 1:250,000

1948, aftermath

Dayr Abu Salama was depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War on July 13, 1948 in the first phase of Operation Dani.[2]

In 1992 the village site was described: "The site has been converted into an Israeli picnic area and is surrounded by stands of pine and cypress trees. Workers for the Jewish National Fund have used stones retrieved from the destroyed village houses to construct a watchtower and an amphitheater on the village site. The area in front of the amphitheater has been leveled and is covered by a green lawn. Old fig and olive trees still grow there; cactuses and carob trees grow on the western and northern edges of the site."[10]

gollark: Is it permitted to interfere with other entrants?
gollark: <@!293066066605768714> Is the program permitted to do arbitrary things to the machine on which it runs as long as they probably aren't bad much?
gollark: Ah yes, it does say they don't, how bee.
gollark: Although does it say they DON'T?
gollark: Oh, that's a neat idea.

References
  1. Palmer, 1881, p. 228
  2. Morris, 2004, p. xix village #228. Also gives cause of depopulation.
  3. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 66
  4. Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 29
  5. Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 310
  6. Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Ramleh, p. 22
  7. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 114
  8. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 164
  9. Khalidi, 1992, p. 374
  10. Khalidi, 1992, p. 375

Bibliography
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