Damun الدامون Damun[1] | |
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.jpg) 1870s map.jpg) 1940s map.jpg) modern map.jpg) 1940s with modern overlay mapA series of historical maps of the area around Al-Damun (click the buttons) | |
  Damun Location withinMandatory Palestine | |
| Coordinates:32°52′37″N35°10′59″E / 32.87694°N 35.18306°E /32.87694; 35.18306 | |
| Palestine grid | 167/254 |
| Geopolitical entity | Mandatory Palestine |
| Subdistrict | Acre |
| Date of depopulation | 15–16 July 1948[2] |
| Area | |
• Total | 20.4 km2 (7.9 sq mi) |
| Population (1945) | |
• Total | 1,310 |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Military assault byYishuv forces |
Damun (Arabic:الدامون,romanized: al-Damūn), was aPalestinian Arab village located 11.5 kilometres (7.1 mi) from the Mediterranean port city ofAcre that was depopulated during1948 Arab-Israeli war. In 1945, Damun had 1,310 inhabitants, most of whom were Muslim and the remainder Christians. Damun bordered theNa'amin River (Belus River), which the village's inhabitants used as a source of irrigation and drinking water from installed wells.[3]
Excavations at the site has shown potsherds dating from the Late Bronze Age, up to and including Early Islamic, Crusader, Mamluk and Ottoman times.[4] It might be the village Damun in lower Galilee, noted in Roman times.[5]
Damun is mentioned in 11th-century Arabic and Persian sources. Local tradition then identified the village as containing the tomb of the prophetDhul-Kifl, who is twice mentioned in theQur'an. Despite general Islamic tradition claiming the tomb to be inal-Kifl nearNajaf orKifl Hares nearNablus,Nasir Khusraw, who visited the region in 1047, wrote "I reached a small cave, which is in Damun where I performed theziyarat too, for it is said to be the tomb of Dhul-Kifl."[6][7]
After theCrusader invasion ofPalestine in 1099, Damun became part of theKingdom of Jerusalem and was referred to by the Crusaders asDamar orDamor.[3] It remained in their hands when most of Palestine was conquered by theAyyubids under SultanSaladin in 1187.[6] In 1253John Aleman,Lord of Caesarea, sold several villages, including Damun, to theKnights Hospitaller.[8][9][10] It was mentioned as part of the Crusaders' domain in thehudna (truce agreement) between theAcre-based Crusaders and theMamluks under SultanQalawun in 1283.[6][11]
Damun, like the rest of Palestine, was incorporated into theOttoman Empire in 1517, and in thedefter (tax census) of 1596 the village was located in the AcreNahiya (Subdistrict), part of theSafad Sanjak (District). The population consisted of 33 households and two bachelors, all Muslims. The inhabitants paid a fixed tax rate of 20% on wheat, barley, fruit trees, cotton, goats and beehives, in addition to "occasional revenues"; total revenue was 6,045akçe.[12][a]
From the early 18th century to at least 1775, the village was controlled by theZayadina, a local Arab family which rose to prominence in northern Palestine under the leadership of SheikhDaher al-Umar. The villagemosque was built by itsmultazim (tax farmer), Daher's uncleAli ibn Salih al-Zaydani, in 1722–23. Inscriptions on the mosque provided key information about the genealogy of the Zayadina (namely the elusive name of Daher's grandfather) and included a poem dedicated to Ali ibn Salih.[6] In the late 18th century,Giovanni Mariti noted that around Damun andMi'ar were two "delightful valleys, ornamented with groves and wild shrubs. The peasants who live in the hamlets around, enjoy a most pleasant situation."[13] A map byPierre Jacotin fromNapoleon's invasion of 1799 showed the place, named asDamoun.[14]
In 1875, Damun was prosperous with roughly 800 mostly Muslim inhabitants and two mosques. In addition to the purported tomb of Dhul-Kifl, there was a shrine dedicated to a certain Sheikh Abdallah on an adjacent hill. An elementary school for boys was founded by the Ottomans in 1886.[6][15][16] A population list from about 1887 showed that Damun had about 725 inhabitants, all Muslims.[17]
At the time of the1922 census of Palestine, Damun had a population of 727, of whom 687 were Muslims and 40 wereChristians.[18] All the Christians were Roman Catholic.[19] The population increased in the1931 census to 917: 870 Muslims and 47 Christians, living in 183 houses.[20]
At the start of the 20th century, Damun's houses were clustered along one road. Beginning in 1935, the residents started to build them with reinforced concrete. The inhabitants drew their drinking water from nearby springs and irrigated some of their crops from theNa'amin River. They also engaged in skilled activities, particularly plaiting mats and baskets fromesparto grass. The chief crops of Damun were wheat, sorghum, barley, and olives, but it was also well known for its watermelons and cantaloupes.[3]
In the1945 statistics, the population of Damun was 1,310; 1,240 Muslims and 70 Christians,[21][22] The village's total land area was 20,357dunams.[22] Plantations and irrigable land covered 709 dunams and 17,052 dunams were used for grains,[23] while built-up (urban) area of the village consisted of 111 dunams.[24]
Before the1948 Arab-Israeli War theHaganah kept files on all the Palestinian villages. The 1947 entry for al-Damun listed 25 individuals suspected of involvement with the Palestinian nationalist movement.[25] In April 1948 Haganah reports say that the son of the main local landowner, Sadiq Karaman, paid the localArab Liberation Army garrison P£5000 to leave, presumably in an attempt to keep the village from getting involved with the hostilities in the1948 Palestine war.[26]
After the initial Israeli successes in the centralGalilee during the first stage ofOperation Dekel, units of the Haganah'sSheva Brigade moved westward and captured Damun, among other Arab localities, in the second stage of the operation on July 15–16, 1948. Palestinian historianAref al-Aref dates its capture earlier, in May 1948, following the fall of Acre. Israeli historianBenny Morris said that inhabitants were demoralized by the fall of Acre and thenNazareth, and so fled during the bombardment that preceded the attack on the village. The remaining residents were expelled and Damun was razed according to both historians.[3]
As a result of the war, the area was incorporated into theState of Israel.
The village's land is used for agriculture by residents of theYas'ur kibbutz, which itself was built on the land ofBirwa.[3] Damun is among the Palestinian villages for which commemorative Marches of Return have taken place, typically as part ofNakba Day, such as the demonstrations organized bythe Association for the Defence of the Rights of the Internally Displaced.[27]
According to Palestinian historianWalid Khalidi in 1992, the site was "overgrown with thorns, cacti, olive trees, and pines. Stone and concrete rubble is scattered around it. The structure that formerly protected the central water source and regulated its flow stands untended and is collapsing in several places. The cemetery is extant, although the markers over a few graves are collapsing."[3] British historian Andrew Petersen writes that the village had a number of eighteenth or nineteenth-century stone houses, some which had decorated facades.[28]
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