Al-Shuna

Al-Shuna (Arabic: الشونة) was a Palestinian Arab village in the Safad Subdistrict. It was ethnically cleansed and depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on April 30, 1948, by the Palmach's First Battalion of Operation Yiftach. It was located 6 km south of Safad, overlooking the deep gorge of Wadi al-'Amud.

Al-Shuna
الشونة
Village
Etymology: Kŭlảt esh Shûneh, the castle of the granary[1]
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Al-Shuna (click the buttons)
Al-Shuna is located in Mandatory Palestine
Al-Shuna
Al-Shuna
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 32°54′30″N 35°29′13″E
Palestine grid195/257
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictSafad
Date of depopulation"Not known"[2]
Area
 • Total3,660 dunams (3.66 km2 or 1.41 sq mi)
Population
 (1945[3])
 • Total170[4][3]

History

Victor Guérin describes this place in 1875 as "built of white limestone mixed with stones of black basalt in alternate courses. We think that although this custom is common in modern Arab building, it can be shown to have been an ancient usage, so that the building may be old. Round it are the vestiges of a ruined hamlet."[5]

In 1881 the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine found at Kŭlảt esh Shûneh: "A modern Arab building of basaltic stone; used probably as a barn, as the name implies".[6]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine Shuneh had a population of 83; all Muslim,[7] increasing in the 1931 census to 337, still all Muslims, in a total of 65 houses.[8]

In the 1945 statistics the population was 170 Muslims,[4] with a total of 3,660 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.[3] Of this, 995 dunums were used for cereals,[9] while 2,481 dunams was non-cultivable area.[10]

The village had a school and a mosque.

1948, aftermath

Today, a wildlife sanctuary known as the Nachal 'Amud Reserve is located in the vicinity.

References
  1. Palmer, 1881, p. 130
  2. Morris, 2004, p. xvii, village #72. Gives both date and cause of depopulation as "Not known"
  3. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 71 Archived 2011-06-04 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 11
  5. Guérin, 1880, p. 353; as given in Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 412
  6. Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 412
  7. Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Safad, p. 41
  8. Mills, 1932, p. 111
  9. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 121 Archived 2018-09-26 at the Wayback Machine
  10. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 171 Archived 2018-09-26 at the Wayback Machine

Bibliography
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