Ijlil al-Qibliyya إجليل القبلية Jalil al-Qibliyya[1] | |
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 Remains of Ijlil al-Qibliyya, in 2010 | |
| Etymology: El Jelil, meaning "illustrious/grand" (Ar), or "a district/circuit"(He)[2] | |
.jpg) 1870s map.jpg) 1940s map.jpg) modern map.jpg) 1940s with modern overlay mapA series of historical maps of the area around Ijlil al-Qibliyya (click the buttons) | |
  Ijlil al-Qibliyya Location withinMandatory Palestine | |
| Coordinates:32°09′36″N34°48′42″E / 32.16000°N 34.81167°E /32.16000; 34.81167 | |
| Palestine grid | 132/174 |
| Geopolitical entity | Mandatory Palestine |
| Subdistrict | Jaffa |
| Date of depopulation | End of March- April 3, 1948[5] |
| Area | |
• Total | 8,692dunams (8.692 km2; 3.356 sq mi) |
| Population (1945) | |
• Total | 470[3][1][4] |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Fear of being caught up in the fighting |
Ijlil al-Qibliyya, alsoal-Jalil, was aPalestinianArab village in theJaffa Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on April 3, 1948.
In 1945 the village has a population of 680, 210 of which were Jewish. Ijlil al-Qibliya was named after al-Shaykh Salih 'Abd al-Jalil, whose maqam was located in the village.
Ijlil al-Qibliyya, (meaning "Southern Ijlil"), was located on a hilltop, 13 km (8 mi) northeast ofJaffa, and about 100 meters southwest of its sister village,Ijlil al-Shamaliyya ("Northern Jilil").[1]
Ijlil was one of fourOttoman-era villages founded near the coast north of theYarkon River (along with the villages ofAl-Shaykh Muwannis,Al-Haram, andUmm Khalid). According to historianRoy Marom, the establishment of Ijlil "demonstrates that the expansion of settlement in the southern Sharon was the result of the internal expansion of the core settlement by residents of the mountainous highlands of Samaria, and not byEgyptian ‘penetrators’ as previously claimed."[6]
In June 1870, the French explorerVictor Guérin visited both villages. He described them as one village, calledEdjlil, situated on a hill and divided into two districts. Together, they had 380 inhabitants. The houses were built oframmed earth or withdifferent small aggregates mixed in with kneaded and driedsilt.[7] In 1870/1871 (1288AH), an Ottoman census listed Ijlil in thenahiya (sub-district) of Bani Sa'b.[8]
In 1882, thePEF'sSurvey of Western Palestine described the two villages, namedEl Jelil, as "amud village, with awell to the south and a second to the north. [..] A small olive-grove exists to the south-east."[9]
In the1922 census of Palestine conducted in 1922 by theBritish Mandate authorities, the two Ijlil villages (spelledJelil) had a population of 154Muslims,[10] increasing in the1931 census to a population of 305, still all Muslim.[11]
In 1943, a kibbutz namedGlil Yam was established on land purchased from the village by theJewish National Fund. In the1945 statistics the population of Ijlil al-Qibliyya was 470 Muslims and 210 Jews, with 8,692dunams of land owned by Muslims and 5,980 by Jews, according to an official land and population survey.[3][4] Of the Muslim owned land, 923 dunams were for citrus and bananas, 85 for plantations and irrigable land, 7,087 for cereals,[12] while 6 dunams were built-up land.[13][14] The kibbutz also owned 521 dunums in of the neighboringIjlil al-Shamaliyya.[3]
In the archive of the city ofHerzliya, it is possible to find evidences to the close relationship with Ijlil, such as a greeting letter that was sent toHajj Akhsein Al-Assi of Ijlil.[15]
In December 1947 and January 1948 the leaders ofal-Shaykh Muwannis,Al-Mas'udiyya,Al-Jammasin al-Sharqi/Al-Jammasin al-Gharbi, and themukhtars of'Arab Abu Kishk and the two Ijlil-villages met withHaganah representatives inPetah Tikva. These villages wanted peace, and promised not to harbor anyArab Liberation Armies or local Arab Militia. They further promised that, in the case they were not able to keep them out alone, they were to call on Haganah for help.[16]
By mid-March 1948, theAlexandroni Brigade had imposed isolation, a "quarantine", ofal-Shaykh Muwannis,'Arab Abu Kishk and the two Ijlil-villages. However, on 12 MarchLehi kidnapped 5 village notables fromal-Shaykh Muwannis.[17] This completely undermined the villagers trust in former agreements, and many left. The people of the two Jalil villages also left, after asking Jewish neighbours to look after their property.[18]
From 26 May 1948, the abandoned villages housed aPOW camp;[19] after the end of the war, it was converted to ama'abara named Glilot after the two former villages.[20] The ma'abara was incorporated intoHerzliya from 1954, and finally dismantled in 1960. The former ma'abara gave its name to two junctions onHighway 5, to theIDF base housingUnit 8200, and to the shopping mall located at West Glilot junction.
The Palestinian historianWalid Khalidi described the village site in 1992: "The site serves as a garbage dump and the original village can hardly be identified. On the thin swath of the hill that has not yet been covered with waste, remnants of stone houses stand next to a gasoline storage tank, along with bushes and cactuses. Approximately 100m east of the tank a deserted house stands next to the remains of a razed building."[14]
In 2004, the groupZochrot conducted tours of the two Ijlil villages. Testimony of former residents was conducted.[21]
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