Al-Sawafir al-Shamaliyya

al-Sawafir al-Shamaliyya
al-Sawafir al-Shamaliyya
Arabic	السوافير الشمالية
Also Spelled	al-Sawafir al-Halil
District	Gaza
Coordinates	31°42′47.63″N 34°42′15.25″E / 31.7132306°N 34.7042361°E / 31.7132306; 34.7042361Coordinates: 31°42′47.63″N 34°42′15.25″E / 31.7132306°N 34.7042361°E / 31.7132306; 34.7042361
Population	680 (1945)
Area	5,861 dunums 5.9 km²
Date of depopulation	May 18, 1948[1]
Cause(s) of depopulation	Fear of being caught up in the fighting
Current localities	Shafir[2]

Al-Sawafir al-Shamaliyya (Arabic: السوافير الشمالية‎) was a Palestinian Arab village in the District of Gaza, located 33 kilometers (21 mi) northeast of Gaza situated along the southern coastal plain of Palestine 50 meters (160 ft) above sea level. It had a population of 680 in 1945. Al-Sawafir al-Shamaliyya was depopulated in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.^[3]

History

The village was possibly located at the site of the biblical Shafir, mentioned by Eusibius as a "beautiful town" between Ascalon and Bayt Jibrin. Most modern scholars, however, located Shafir at Khirbat al-Qawm. The Crusader name of the village was Zeophir. They recorded that it was the property of Bishop of Jerusalem in the early 12th century.^[3]

Al-Sawafir al-Shamaliya appears in Ottoman tax records for the 16th century as "Sawafir al-Halil". It was under the administration of the nahiya of Gaza, part of the Liwa of Gaza. With a population of 616 in 1596, the village paid taxes on wheat, barley, olive and fruit trees.^[3]

In the late 19th century, al-Sawafir al-Shamaliyya had several small gardens and wells.^[4] Many of its houses were built of adobe, although few were made of stone. The residents were Muslim, and the village had its own mosque, but shared a school with the neighboring villages of al-Sawafir al-Gharbiyya and al-Sawafir al-Sharqiyya. The number of students in the school was 280 in the mid-1940s. Agriculture was the mainstay of the economy, and grain, citrus, grapes, and apricots were grown.^[3]

1948 War and aftermath

Al-Sawafir al-Shamaliyya was captured by the Haganah in Operation Barak on May 12. Its residents may have been pushed out by the attack on Bayt Daras on May 10 which was preceded by a mortar attack, but it's more likely that the village was depopulated on the attack of the village itself, according to an Associated Press dispatch which quoted a Haganah source. At the near end of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Egyptian and Sudanese forces planned to recapture al-Sawafir al-Shamaliyya, but were prevented from doing so at an early stage.^[3]

There are no Jewish settlements on the village's lands. According to Palestinian historian, Walid Khalidi, "A few vacant houses and segments of houses, standing amidst wild vegetation, mark the site. One of them has a covered porch supported on two columns. An old village road is also identifiable, and cactuses and fig trees grow on the site."^[3]

See also

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

References

Bibliography

External links

• Welcome To al-Sawafir al-Shamaliyya
• al-Sawafir al-Shamaliyya from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center