Umm Kalkha

Umm Kalkha was a small Palestinian village in the Ramle Subdistrict of Mandatory Palestine. It was depopulated during the 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on April 7, 1948 during Operation Nachshon. It was located 12.5 km south of Ramla, situated on the northern banks of Wadi al-Sarar.

Umm Kalkha

اُم كلخة
Etymology: Khurbet Umm Kelkhah; The ruin of kelkha (a plant like fennel) [1]
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Umm Kalkha (click the buttons)
Umm Kalkha
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 31°48′51″N 34°51′57″E
Palestine grid137/135
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictRamle
Date of depopulationApril 7, 1948
Population
 (1945)
  Total60[2][3]
Current LocalitiesYesodot[4][5]

History

In 1838, Um Kelkha was noted as a place "in ruins or deserted."[6]

In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) noted: "There are traces here of an old town, caves, cisterns of rubble, masonry, and pottery fragments."[7]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Umm Kalka had a population of 1 Muslim,[8] increasing sharply in the 1931 census 24 Muslims, in 6 houses.[9]

In the 1945 statistics the population was 60, all Muslims,[2] while the total land area was 1,405 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[3] Of this, 21 dunums of land were used for citrus and bananas, 93 dunums were plantations or irrigated land, 1,119 were for cereals, [10] while a total of 63 dunams were classified as non-cultivable areas.[11]

Umm Kalkha 1930 1:20,000
Umm Khalkha 1945 1:250,000

1948, aftermath

The Israeli settlement of Yesodot was established on Umm Khalkha land.[4][5]

References

  1. Palmer, 1881, p. 271
  2. Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 30
  3. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 68
  4. Morris, 2004, p. xx, settlement #14.
  5. Khalidi, 1992, p. 419
  6. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. 119
  7. Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 426
  8. Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Ramle, p. 21
  9. Mills, 1932, p. 24
  10. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 117.
  11. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 167

Bibliography

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