Khirbat Bayt Far

Khirbat Bayt Far was a Palestinian village in the Ramle Subdistrict of Mandatory Palestine, located 14 km south of Ramla. It was depopulated during the 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on April 7, 1948.

Khirbat Bayt Far
خربة بيت فار
Village
Etymology: the ruin of the house of the mouse[1]
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Khirbat Bayt Far (click the buttons)
Khirbat Bayt Far is located in Mandatory Palestine
Khirbat Bayt Far
Khirbat Bayt Far
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 31°48′03″N 34°54′57″E
Palestine grid142/134
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictRamle
Date of depopulationApril 7, 1948
Population
 (1945)
 • Total300[2][3]
Current LocalitiesTal Shahar[4][5]

History

Ceramics from the Byzantine era have been found here.[6]

Ottoman era

In 1838, in the late Ottoman era, it was noted as a village in ruins.[7][8]

In 1863 Victor Guérin noted "important ruins" here. "There once stood a hamlet, the ruins of which are scattered over a feeble mound amid the bushes and tall grass."[9]

In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) found here: "Walls and foundations, apparently modern, with caves and a spring."[10]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Bait Far had a population of 28 Muslims,[11] decreasing in the 1931 census to 26 Muslims, in a total of 11 houses.[12]

In the 1945 statistics the village had a population of 300 Muslims[2] with a total of 5,604 dunums of land.[3] Of this, 19 dunums were for plantations and irrigable land, 5,337 dunums were for cereals,[13] while a total of 248 dunams were classified as non-cultivable areas.[14]

1948, aftermath

On 11 January 1948, Kfar Uriah was attacked by Arabs who came from neighboring Beit Jiz and Khirbet Beit Far.[15]

In 1948, Beyt Pe'er was founded on village land, it later changed its name into Tal Shahar.[4][16]

In 1992 the village site was described: "All that is left of the village are debris and girders heaped together in a small area. The site is ringed by carob trees. The remains of an uprooted olive grove lies to the north and east."[4]

References
  1. Palmer, 1881, p. 269
  2. Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 29
  3. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 67
  4. Khalidi, 1992, p. 364
  5. Morris, 2004, p.xxi, settlement #34, October 1948
  6. Dauphin, 1998, p. 900
  7. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, p. 21
  8. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. 120
  9. Guérin, 1869, p. 32
  10. Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 237
  11. Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Ramleh, p. 21
  12. Mills, 1932, p. 18.
  13. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 115
  14. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 165
  15. Morris, 2008, p. 102
  16. Morris, 2004, p. 380 Morris notes that Tal Shahar was first named Tal-Boqer

Bibliography
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