Barfiliya
Encyclopedia
Barfiliya was a Palestinian
Arab
village located 10.5 kilometres (6.5 mi) east of Ramla
that was depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Located on a tell
, excavations conducted there by Israel
i archaeologists beginning in 1995 found artifacts
dating back to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A
(PPNA) period (circa 9,500-8,000 BCE).
Barfiliya lay on a road between Jerusalem and Lydda that was built in Roman times. During the Crusades
, it was known as Porfylia. In the early Ottoman
era, it was a small village of 44 inhabitants. By 1945, before the end of the British Mandate of Palestine and the outbreak of 1948 Arab–Israeli War, its population had grown to 730. Depopulated on July 14, 1948, Barifiliya was subsequently destroyed.
Jaar, along with the villages of Annabeh
, Al-Burj
, and Bir Main
. A high road between Jerusalem and Jaffa
ran through Barfiliya and Lydda, after passing the Plain of Ajalon and crossing the Beth Horon roads.
in Palestine
, a road was built that connected Lydda to Jerusalem and passed through Barfiliya and other villages like Beit Liqya
, Biddu
and Beit Iksa
.
The Crusaders
knew Barfiliya by the name Porfylia or Porphiria. Under their rule, it was one of five villages to make up the diocese
of Lydda. The village came to belong to the prior and canons of the Holy Sepulchre in November 1113; granted permission to build a church there by their bishop in 1170-1, it is unknown if they ever did in fact do so. Crusader rule in most of Palestine came to an end after the victory of Saladin
's forces over those of the Crusaders in the 1187 Battle of Hattin
.
Barfiliya, like the rest of Palestine, was ruled by the Ottoman Empire
between 1517 and 1918. In 1596, the village formed part of the nahiya (subdistrict) of al-Ramla under the liwa'
(district) of Gaza
with a population of 44. Villagers paid taxes on wheat, barley, sesame and fruit, as well as goats, beehives and vineyards. In the late 19th century, Barfiliya is described as a small hamlet, situated on a slope, 2000 feet (609.6 m) above a valley. The villagers cultivated olive
s.
During the Sinai and Palestine Campaign
of World War I
, in the lead up to the 1917 Battle of El Burj, the Australian Light Horse Brigades led by Major-General Hodgson reached Barfiliya on November 28-29 in an effort to relieve Commonwealth
troops in their battles against German and Turkish troops.
After the war's end, the Ottoman Empire was partitioned
and a Palestine Mandate was accorded to Britain
by the League of Nations
. Under Mandatory rule in 1945, the village comprised a total area of 7,134 dunum
s, and the population was entirely Arab in ethnicity. A large number of inhabitants were employed in cereal farming. However, some land was allocated to irrigation and plantation as well as the growing of olives.
Types of landuse in dunam
s by Arabs in 1945:
The land ownership of the village before occupation in dunam
s:
During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Barfiliya briefly became a destination for Palestinian refugee
s from Lydda. One survivor of the Lydda Death March, Haj As'ad Hassouneh, reports that when Jews came to Lydda in July 1948, they called the people together and told them to, "Go to Barfiliya," where the Arab Legion
was still stationed. Only one or two knew where Barfiliya was, and though the distance could usually be travelled in about 4 hours, it took the group made up of men, women, children, the elderly, the sick, among others, three days to make the journey. In the hot, dry summer, without adequate provisions, many died of thirst along the way.
Barfiliya itself was depopulated as a result of a military assault by Israel
i forces on July 14, 1948. It was captured by the 8th Armoured Brigade and by elements of the Kiryati Brigade
along with other villages in the area north of the Latrun
enclave. On September 13, David Ben-Gurion
requested the destruction of Barfiliya, among other Palestinian villages whose inhabitants fled or were expelled. All 58 Palestinian villages in the al-Ramla district that came under Israeli control were depopulated in 1948, and those mentioned in Ben-Gurion's memorandum were either partially or totally destroyed.
, considered one potential site for ancient Be'eroth (the other possibilities being the tells of Daniyal
or Simzu
). Since 1995, Shimon Gibson and Egon Lass have conducted salvage excavations in the hills of Modi'in in units of land belonging to "one of the main ancient settlements in the region," identified by Gibson as having been in "Khirbet el-Burj (Titura), Bir Ma'in (Re'ut) and Berfilya." Archaeological remains of ancient human activities are designated 'features' and numbered accordingly. The landscape archaeology survey and excavations to date have idenitifed the following features: "farm buildings, towers, cistern
s, sherd
scatters, PPNA flint scatters, roads, terraces, stone boundaries, stone clearance heaps, threshing floors, caves, tombs, wine press
es, cupmarks, stone quarries, lime kiln
s, and charcoal burners."
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
village located 10.5 kilometres (6.5 mi) east of Ramla
Ramla
Ramla , is a city in central Israel. The city is predominantly Jewish with a significant Arab minority. Ramla was founded circa 705–715 AD by the Umayyad Caliph Suleiman ibn Abed al-Malik after the Arab conquest of the region...
that was depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Located on a tell
Tell
A tell or tel, is a type of archaeological mound created by human occupation and abandonment of a geographical site over many centuries. A classic tell looks like a low, truncated cone with a flat top and sloping sides.-Archaeology:A tell is a hill created by different civilizations living and...
, excavations conducted there by Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i archaeologists beginning in 1995 found artifacts
Artifact (archaeology)
An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...
dating back to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A
Pre-Pottery Neolithic A
Pre-Pottery Neolithic A denotes the first stage in early Levantine Neolithic culture, dating around 9500 to 8500 BC. Archaeological remains are located in the Levantine and upper Mesopotamian region of the Fertile Crescent...
(PPNA) period (circa 9,500-8,000 BCE).
Barfiliya lay on a road between Jerusalem and Lydda that was built in Roman times. During the Crusades
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...
, it was known as Porfylia. In the early Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
era, it was a small village of 44 inhabitants. By 1945, before the end of the British Mandate of Palestine and the outbreak of 1948 Arab–Israeli War, its population had grown to 730. Depopulated on July 14, 1948, Barifiliya was subsequently destroyed.
Geography
Barfiliya was located in WadiWadi
Wadi is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some cases, it may refer to a dry riverbed that contains water only during times of heavy rain or simply an intermittent stream.-Variant names:...
Jaar, along with the villages of Annabeh
Innaba
Innaba was a Palestinian Arab village in the District of Ramla. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War on July 10, 1948 by the Yiftach and Eighth brigades of Operation Dani. It was located 7 km east of Ramla....
, Al-Burj
Al-Burj, Ramla
Al-Burj was a Palestinian Arab village in the District of Ramla. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War on July 15, 1948 under the second phase of Operation Dani. It was located 14 km east of Ramla. The village was defended by the Jordanian Army but was destroyed by Israelis with...
, and Bir Main
Bir Ma'in
Bir Ma'in was a Palestinian Arab village in the District of Ramla. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War on July 15, 1948 during the second phase of Operation Danny by the First and Second Battalions of the Yiftach Brigade. It was located 14 km east of Ramla. The village was...
. A high road between Jerusalem and Jaffa
Jaffa
Jaffa is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa was incorporated with Tel Aviv creating the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. Jaffa is famous for its association with the biblical story of the prophet Jonah.-Etymology:...
ran through Barfiliya and Lydda, after passing the Plain of Ajalon and crossing the Beth Horon roads.
History
During the rule of the Roman EmpireRoman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
in Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
, a road was built that connected Lydda to Jerusalem and passed through Barfiliya and other villages like Beit Liqya
Beit Liqya
Beit Liqya is a Palestinian town located in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the northern West Bank, 21 kilometers Southwest of Ramallah...
, Biddu
Biddu
Biddu or Biddu Appaiah is an Indian-British music producer, composer, song-writer and singer who produced and composed many hit records worldwide during a career spanning five decades...
and Beit Iksa
Beit Iksa
Beit Iksa is a Palestinian village in the Jerusalem Governorate, located 6 kilometers northwest of Jerusalem in the West Bank. Beit Iksa, a village of 1,600 inhabitants, was classified as "Area B" as a result of the Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in 1995...
.
The Crusaders
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...
knew Barfiliya by the name Porfylia or Porphiria. Under their rule, it was one of five villages to make up the diocese
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
of Lydda. The village came to belong to the prior and canons of the Holy Sepulchre in November 1113; granted permission to build a church there by their bishop in 1170-1, it is unknown if they ever did in fact do so. Crusader rule in most of Palestine came to an end after the victory of Saladin
Saladin
Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb , better known in the Western world as Saladin, was an Arabized Kurdish Muslim, who became the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria, and founded the Ayyubid dynasty. He led Muslim and Arab opposition to the Franks and other European Crusaders in the Levant...
's forces over those of the Crusaders in the 1187 Battle of Hattin
Battle of Hattin
The Battle of Hattin took place on Saturday, July 4, 1187, between the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem and the forces of the Ayyubid dynasty....
.
Barfiliya, like the rest of Palestine, was ruled by the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
between 1517 and 1918. In 1596, the village formed part of the nahiya (subdistrict) of al-Ramla under the liwa'
Liwa (arabic)
Liwa or Liwa is an Arabic term meaning district, banner, or flag, a type of administrative division. It was interchangeable with the Turkish term "Sanjak" in the time of the Ottoman Empire. After the fall of the empire, the term was used in the Arab countries formerly under Ottoman rule...
(district) of Gaza
Gaza
Gaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...
with a population of 44. Villagers paid taxes on wheat, barley, sesame and fruit, as well as goats, beehives and vineyards. In the late 19th century, Barfiliya is described as a small hamlet, situated on a slope, 2000 feet (609.6 m) above a valley. The villagers cultivated olive
Olive
The olive , Olea europaea), is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin as well as northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the...
s.
During the Sinai and Palestine Campaign
Sinai and Palestine Campaign
The Sinai and Palestine Campaigns took place in the Middle Eastern Theatre of World War I. A series of battles were fought between British Empire, German Empire and Ottoman Empire forces from 26 January 1915 to 31 October 1918, when the Armistice of Mudros was signed between the Ottoman Empire and...
of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, in the lead up to the 1917 Battle of El Burj, the Australian Light Horse Brigades led by Major-General Hodgson reached Barfiliya on November 28-29 in an effort to relieve Commonwealth
Commonwealth
Commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has sometimes been synonymous with "republic."More recently it has been used for fraternal associations of some sovereign nations...
troops in their battles against German and Turkish troops.
After the war's end, the Ottoman Empire was partitioned
Partitioning of the Ottoman Empire
The Partitioning of the Ottoman Empire was a political event that occurred after World War I. The huge conglomeration of territories and peoples formerly ruled by the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire was divided into several new nations.The partitioning was planned from the early days of the war,...
and a Palestine Mandate was accorded to Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
by the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
. Under Mandatory rule in 1945, the village comprised a total area of 7,134 dunum
Dunum
Dunum is a municipality in the district of Wittmund, in Lower Saxony, Germany....
s, and the population was entirely Arab in ethnicity. A large number of inhabitants were employed in cereal farming. However, some land was allocated to irrigation and plantation as well as the growing of olives.
Types of landuse in dunam
Dunam
A dunam or dönüm, dunum, donum, dynym, dulum was a non-SI unit of land area used in the Ottoman Empire and representing the amount of land that can be plowed in a day; its value varied from 900–2500 m²...
s by Arabs in 1945:
| Land Usage | Dunams |
|---|---|
| Irrigated & Plantation | 241 |
| Olives | 191 |
| Cereal | 2,739 |
| Urban | 17 |
| Cultivable | 2,980 |
| Non-cultivable | 4,137 |
The land ownership of the village before occupation in dunam
Dunam
A dunam or dönüm, dunum, donum, dynym, dulum was a non-SI unit of land area used in the Ottoman Empire and representing the amount of land that can be plowed in a day; its value varied from 900–2500 m²...
s:
| Owner | Durnams |
|---|---|
| Arab | 7,130 |
| Jewish | 0 |
| Public | 4 |
| Total | 7,134 |
1948 war and aftermath
Palestinian refugee
Palestinian refugees or Palestine refugees are the people and their descendants, predominantly Palestinian Arabic-speakers, who fled or were expelled from their homes during and after the 1948 Palestine War, within that part of the British Mandate of Palestine, that after that war became the...
s from Lydda. One survivor of the Lydda Death March, Haj As'ad Hassouneh, reports that when Jews came to Lydda in July 1948, they called the people together and told them to, "Go to Barfiliya," where the Arab Legion
Arab Legion
The Arab Legion was the regular army of Transjordan and then Jordan in the early part of the 20th century.-Creation:...
was still stationed. Only one or two knew where Barfiliya was, and though the distance could usually be travelled in about 4 hours, it took the group made up of men, women, children, the elderly, the sick, among others, three days to make the journey. In the hot, dry summer, without adequate provisions, many died of thirst along the way.
Barfiliya itself was depopulated as a result of a military assault by Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i forces on July 14, 1948. It was captured by the 8th Armoured Brigade and by elements of the Kiryati Brigade
Kiryati Brigade
The Kiryati Brigade was formed in 1948 by David Ben-Gurion and was one of the original nine brigades that made up the Haganah. The Kiryati Brigade was initially responsible for securing the area in and around Tel Aviv...
along with other villages in the area north of the Latrun
Latrun
Latrun is a strategic hilltop in the Ayalon Valley in Israel overlooking the road to Jerusalem. It is located 25 kilometers west of Jerusalem and 14 kilometers southeast of Ramla.-Etymology:...
enclave. On September 13, David Ben-Gurion
David Ben-Gurion
' was the first Prime Minister of Israel.Ben-Gurion's passion for Zionism, which began early in life, led him to become a major Zionist leader and Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization in 1946...
requested the destruction of Barfiliya, among other Palestinian villages whose inhabitants fled or were expelled. All 58 Palestinian villages in the al-Ramla district that came under Israeli control were depopulated in 1948, and those mentioned in Ben-Gurion's memorandum were either partially or totally destroyed.
Archaeology
The village of Barfiliya stood on a large tellTell
A tell or tel, is a type of archaeological mound created by human occupation and abandonment of a geographical site over many centuries. A classic tell looks like a low, truncated cone with a flat top and sloping sides.-Archaeology:A tell is a hill created by different civilizations living and...
, considered one potential site for ancient Be'eroth (the other possibilities being the tells of Daniyal
Daniyal
Daniyal was a Palestinian Arab village in the District of Ramla. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War on July 10, 1948 by the Yiftach Brigade under the first phase of Operation Dani. It was located 5 km east of Ramla and south-east of Lydda.In 1945 it had a population of 410...
or Simzu
Jimzu
Jimzu also known as Gimzo, , was a Palestinian village, located three miles southeast of Lydda. Under the 1947 UN Partition Plan of British Mandate Palestine, Jimzu was to form part of the proposed Arab state...
). Since 1995, Shimon Gibson and Egon Lass have conducted salvage excavations in the hills of Modi'in in units of land belonging to "one of the main ancient settlements in the region," identified by Gibson as having been in "Khirbet el-Burj (Titura), Bir Ma'in (Re'ut) and Berfilya." Archaeological remains of ancient human activities are designated 'features' and numbered accordingly. The landscape archaeology survey and excavations to date have idenitifed the following features: "farm buildings, towers, cistern
Cistern
A cistern is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by their waterproof linings...
s, sherd
Sherd
In archaeology, a sherd is commonly a historic or prehistoric fragment of pottery, although the term is occasionally used to refer to fragments of stone and glass vessels as well....
scatters, PPNA flint scatters, roads, terraces, stone boundaries, stone clearance heaps, threshing floors, caves, tombs, wine press
Wine press
A wine press is a device used to extract juice from crushed grapes during wine making. There are a number of different styles of presses that are used by wine makers but their overall functionality is the same. Each style of press exerts controlled pressure in order to free the juice from the fruit...
es, cupmarks, stone quarries, lime kiln
Kiln
A kiln is a thermally insulated chamber, or oven, in which a controlled temperature regime is produced. Uses include the hardening, burning or drying of materials...
s, and charcoal burners."