Fajja
| Fajja | |
|---|---|
  Fajja | |
| Arabic | فجّة |
| Name meaning | from personal name[1] |
| Subdistrict | Jaffa |
| Coordinates | 32°05′18.04″N 34°54′15.98″E / 32.0883444°N 34.9044389°ECoordinates: 32°05′18.04″N 34°54′15.98″E / 32.0883444°N 34.9044389°E |
| Palestine grid | 141/165 |
| Population | 1,570 (1945) |
| Area |
4,419 dunams 4.4 km² |
| Date of depopulation | May 15, 1948[2] |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Whispering campaign |
| Current localities | Petah Tikva[3] |
Fajja (Arabic: فجّة, Hebrew: פג'ה) was a Palestinian Arab town located 15 kilometers northeast of Jaffa.
History
In 1882, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Fajja as a small village built of adobe bricks.[4]
British Mandate era
In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Fajjeh had a population of 164, all Muslims,[5] increasing sharply in the 1931 census, to 707, still all Muslims, in a total of 165 houses.[6]
The town had one elementary school, founded in 1922. By 1945 it had 181 students, including 10 females.[3]
In 1945, the town had 1,570 inhabitants, including 370 Jews, and a total land area of 4,419 dunams.[7] Of this, a total of 768 dunums was used for citrus and bananas, 61 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards, 3,863 used for cereals,[8] while 7 dunams were classified as built-up areas.[9]
1948, aftermath
It was conquered by the Haganah and Irgun on May 15, 1948 without any resistance. Most of the Arab inhabitants fled the town before its capture by Israeli forces due to alleged attacks by the Irgun on February 17. In June 1948, the town was demolished based on the recommendation of Yosef Weitz of the Jewish National Fund.[10] Most of the town's land is currently a part of the jurisdiction of the city of Petah Tikva.
See also
- List of Arab towns and villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
- List of villages depopulated during the Arab-Israeli conflict
Footnotes
- ↑ Palmer, 1881, p. 214
- ↑ Morris, 2004, p. xviii, village #203. Also gives cause of depopulation.
- 1 2 Khalidi, 1992, p. 240
- ↑ Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP II, p.251. Cited in Khalidi, 1992, p. 240.
- ↑ Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Jaffa, p. 20
- ↑ Mills, 1932, p. 13
- ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 52
- ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 95
- ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 145
- ↑ District of Jaffa: Fajja Town Statistics and Facts.Information extracted from Bibliography and References Benny Morris and Walid Khalidi.
Bibliography
- Barron, J.B., ed. (1923). Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922. Government of Palestine.
- Conder, Claude Reignier; Kitchener, H. H. (1882). The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology. 2. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
- Hadawi, Sami (1970). Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine. Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center.
- Khalidi, Walid (1992). All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948. Washington D.C.: Institute for Palestine Studies. ISBN 0-88728-224-5.
- Mills, E, ed. (1932). Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas. Jerusalem: Government of Palestine.
- Morris, Benny (2004). The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-00967-6.
- Palmer, E. H. (1881). The Survey of Western Palestine: Arabic and English Name Lists Collected During the Survey by Lieutenants Conder and Kitchener, R. E. Transliterated and Explained by E.H. Palmer. Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
External links
- Palestine Remembered - Fajja
- Survey of Western Palestine, Map 13: Wikimedia commons
- Rantiya at Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center
- Fajja from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center
