Bayt Naqquba بيت نقّوبة Beit Nakuba | |
|---|---|
| Etymology: The house of the mountain pass[1] | |
.jpg) 1870s map.jpg) 1940s map.jpg) modern map.jpg) 1940s with modern overlay mapA series of historical maps of the area around Bayt Naqquba (click the buttons) | |
  Bayt Naqquba Location withinMandatory Palestine | |
| Coordinates:31°48′11″N35°07′33″E / 31.80306°N 35.12583°E /31.80306; 35.12583 | |
| Palestine grid | 161/134 |
| Geopolitical entity | Mandatory Palestine |
| Subdistrict | Jerusalem |
| Date of depopulation | early April 1948[2] |
| Area | |
• Total | 2.9 km2 (1.1 sq mi) |
| Population (1948[3]) | |
• Total | 278 |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Military assault byYishuv forces |
| Current Localities | Beit Nekofa[4] |
Bayt Naqquba (Arabic:بيت نقّوبة,Hebrew:בית נקובא, also spelledBait Naqquba) was aPalestinian village inBritish Mandate Palestine, located 9.5 kilometers west ofJerusalem, nearAbu Ghosh. BeforePalmach andHaganah troops occupied the village duringOperation Nachshon on April 11, 1948, approximately 300 PalestinianArabs lived there.[5] After the1948 Arab–Israeli War, amoshav namedBeit Nekofa was founded close to the site byJewish immigrants fromYugoslavia. In 1962, residents of Bayt Naqubba built a new village namedEin Naqquba, south of Beit Nekofa.[5]
In 1838Beit Nikoba was noted as aMuslim village in the District ofBeni Malik, west of Jerusalem.[6]
In 1863Victor Guérin found the village located on cultivated slopes and inhabited with 200 inhabitants,[7] while an Ottoman village list from about 1870 found 23 houses and a population of 88, though that population count included men only.[8][9]
In 1883, thePEF'sSurvey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Bayt Naqquba as a village built on a slope with a spring to the south.[10]
Around 1896 the population ofBet Nakuba was estimated to be about 135 persons.[11]
In the1922 census of Palestine, during the earlyBritish Mandate of Palestine period, there were 120 villagers, all Muslims,[12] increasing in the1931 census to 177 Muslims, in 41 houses.[13]
The villagers planted olive trees and vineyards, which grew mainly west of the village and on the valley floors, and irrigated their crops with water drawn from the village springs. Olive trees covered 194 dunum of land.[14] In the1944/5 statistics, the village had a population of 240 Muslims, and the total land area was 2,797dunams.[15][16] 303 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards, 515 dunams were for cereals,[17] while 9 dunams were built-up (urban) Arab land.[18]
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Like the people of Abu Ghosh, the inhabitants of Bayt Naqquba were known for their friendly relations with their Jewish neighbors in KibbutzKiryat Anavim.[19]Benny Morris writes: "It is possible that the inhabitants of Beit Naqquba had receivedboth an order to evacuate from Arab military commanders inEin Karim and "strong advice" to the same effect from Lisser andNavon. But it is likely that the "advice" given in the name of theHarel Brigade, which physically controlled the area, was more potent of the two factors in precipitating the evacuation."[19] The village was taken around the 11 April 1948 duringOperation Nachshon.[20]
Between 1948 and 1964 the inhabitants of Bayt Naqquba lived atSataf, "under trees, because the Arabs had not allowed them to come over their lines, out of distrust and revenge".[21] Afterwards they were allowed to stay temporarily in Abu Ghosh. In 1962, they established a new village,Ein Naqquba on some of their land south of the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway.
A few houses are used either as dwellings or as stables. These houses were built of stone and many had domed roofs. Stones recovered from the ruins of the village houses have been used as steps for entrances to new Jewish homes. Almond and olive trees and cactuses cover the village site. In what was probably a unique case among all the villages occupied and depopulated, a new Arab village with the same name was established south of the original site in 1962, and some refugees from the old village were allowed to live there. The old village cemetery lies about 0.5 km south of the village site. It is maintained by a more recent Arab village.[20]
