Khirbat Al-Lawz

Khirbat Al-Lawz was a Palestinian Arab village in the Jerusalem Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War on July 13, 1948, by the Har'el Brigade of Operation Dani. It was located 11 km west of Jerusalem, situated north of Wadi al-Sarar.

Khirbat Al-Lawz
خربة اللوز
Map of Khirbat Al-Lawz-area, 1870s
Map of Khirbat Al-Lawz-area, 1870s
Etymology: the ruin of the almond[1]
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Khirbat Al-Lawz (click the buttons)
Khirbat Al-Lawz is located in Mandatory Palestine
Khirbat Al-Lawz
Khirbat Al-Lawz
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 31°46′04″N 35°06′41″E
Palestine grid160/130
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictJerusalem
Date of depopulationJuly 13, 1948
Area
 • Total4,502 dunams (4.502 km2 or 1.738 sq mi)
Population
 (1945)
 • Total450[2][3]

History

Ottoman era

In 1838, Khirbet el-Lauz was noted as a Muslim village, part of Beni Hasan area, located west of Jerusalem.[4]

In 1863, Victor Guérin found it to be a hamlet of eighty inhabitants, most of them shepherds.[5]

Socin found from an official Ottoman village list from about 1870 that chirbet el-loz had a population of 83, with a total of 38 houses, though the population count included men, only.[6] Hartmann found that chirbet el-loz had 30 houses.[7]

In 1883, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described Khurbet el Loz as "a village of moderate size on the slope of a high ridge near the summit. It has a sort of terrace below it, and stands some 800 feet (240 meters) above the southern valley. There are rock-cut tombs at the place."[8]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Kherbet al-Ley had a population of 234 Muslims,[9] increasing in the 1931 census to 315 Muslims, in 67 houses.[10]

In the 1945 statistics, the village had a population of 450 Muslims,[2] while the total land area was 4,502 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[3] Of this, 728 were used for plantations and irrigable land, 693 for cereals,[11] while 13 dunams were classified as built-up areas.[12]

Khirbat al-Lawz had a shrine dedicated to a local sage known as al-Shaykh Salama.[13]

1948 and after

During the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, the village held out against Jewish attack until mid-1948, when the inhabitants left after observing the fall of nearby Suba.[14] In May 1950, the village site was settled by a group of Yemenite Jews, but they moved to Even Sapir in the following year.[14]

In 1992 the village site was described: "Grass and thorns grow among the stone rubble and terraces all across the site, as well as almond, fig, and carob trees. A thick forest of cypress and fir trees has been planted around the site. South of it, in the forest, is a well surrounded by several almond and fig trees. The forest is dedicated to the memory of Moshe Dayan, the Israeli general."[13]

  • Mount Eitan and its slope with the remains of the village
    Mount Eitan and its slope with the remains of the village
  • The remains (stone clusters) above and below the path the transcends nowadays through the village remains
    The remains (stone clusters) above and below the path the transcends nowadays through the village remains
  • Mulberry tree of the village that remained and around it stones and other residues of houses
    Mulberry tree of the village that remained and around it stones and other residues of houses
  • A closer look of the Mulberry tree and the remains
    A closer look of the Mulberry tree and the remains

References
  1. Palmer, 1881, p. 308
  2. Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 25
  3. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 57
  4. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. 123
  5. Guérin, 1869, pp. 4-5
  6. Socin, 1879, p. 150
  7. Hartmann, 1883, p. 122
  8. Conder and Kitchener, 1883, p. 21
  9. Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Jerusalem, p. 14
  10. Mills, 1932, p. 41
  11. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 103
  12. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 153
  13. Khalidi, 1992, p. 300
  14. Nir Hasson (23 June 2023). "This Murder Was Pinned on Palestinian Terrorists. Intelligence Docs Suggest They Were Jews". Haaretz.

Bibliography
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