Raml Zayta was a Palestinian

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 15 km northwest of Tulkarm

Tulkarm

Tulkarem or Tulkarm is a Palestinian city in the northern Samarian mountain range in the Tulkarm Governorate in the extreme northwestern West Bank adjacent to the Netanya and Haifa districts to the west, the Nablus and Jenin Districts to the east...

. In 1945, the village had a population of 140. Raml Zayta was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine

1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine

The 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine lasted from 30 November 1947, the date of the United Nations vote in favour of the termination of the British Mandate for Palestine and the UN Partition Plan, to the termination of the British Mandate itself on 14 May 1948.This period constitutes the...

. According to Benny Morris

Benny Morris

Benny Morris is professor of History in the Middle East Studies department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in the city of Be'er Sheva, Israel...

, the causes and date of the depopulation are unknown,
however, he also notes that within a fortnight of a 30 March 1948 meeting "the Hagana, for strategic reasons, decided that no Arabs should remain in the Hadera area and those still there were to be expelled"

However, the British historian R. Esber interviewed refugees from Raml Zaita. Zakiya Abu Hammad said that Yishuv

Yishuv

The Yishuv or Ha-Yishuv is the term referring to the body of Jewish residents in Palestine before the establishment of the State of Israel...

 forces besieged the village for about two weeks, causing a lack of food:

"[The Jews] started going into people's homes and forcing them out. They told us, "You either leave or we´ll kill you." Some people were killed on the roads, as they abandoned their homes...They followed us. Those who were lucky, escaped with their lives, others did not."

See also

• Welcome To Raml Zayta
• Raml Zayta, from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center
  Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center
  Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center is an organization established in 1996. It is located at 4 Raja Street, Ramallah in the West Bank. The traditional manor that houses the centre was the former family home of Khalil Salem Salah, the mayor of Ramallah between 1947/1951, is now owned by the Palestinian...