Al-Ja'una الجاعونة Jaauneh[1] | |
|---|---|
Village | |
 The village overlooked theJordan Valley | |
| Etymology: from personal name[2] | |
.jpg) 1870s map.jpg) 1940s map.jpg) modern map.jpg) 1940s with modern overlay mapA series of historical maps of the area around Al-Ja'una (click the buttons) | |
  Al-Ja'una Location withinMandatory Palestine | |
| Coordinates:32°58′18″N35°31′58″E / 32.97167°N 35.53278°E /32.97167; 35.53278 | |
| Palestine grid | 200/264 |
| Geopolitical entity | Mandatory Palestine |
| Subdistrict | Safad |
| Date of depopulation | 9 May 1948[5] |
| Area | |
• Total | 839dunams (83.9 ha; 207 acres) |
| Population (1945) | |
• Total | 1,150[3][4] |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Forced removal |
| Current Localities | Rosh Pinna |
Al-Ja'una or Ja'ouna (Arabic: الجاعونة), was a Palestinian village situated inGalilee nearal-Houleh Plateau, overlooking theJordan Valley. The village lay on a hillside 450–500 meters above sea level, 5 kilometers east ofSafad near a major road connecting Safad withTabariya. The village had its Arab residentsexpelled by Zionist forces in 1948 and was thereafter resettled by Jews, becoming a part of theIsraeli settlement ofRosh Pinna.[6]
Broken pillars and acapital have been found here.[7]
Al-Ja'una was mentioned in the 1596Ottomancensus as being a village in thenahiya (subdistrict) ofJira, in theSafad Sanjak, with 27 households and 4 bachelors, an estimated population of 171. All the villagers wereMuslim. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 25% on various agricultural products, such aswheat,barley,olives,goats,beehives, and a powered mill; a total of 2,832akçe. 1/12 of the revenue went to aMuslim charitable institution.[8][9][10]
The village appeared under the name ofGahoun on the map thatPierre Jacotin compiled duringNapoleon's invasion of 1799.[11]
In 1838, it was noted asel-Ja'uneh, a Muslim village, located in theel-Khait district.[12]
In 1875,Victor Guérin found that Al-Ja'una had 200 Muslim inhabitants.[13]
In 1881 thePEF'sSurvey of Western Palestine described it as a stone village of 140-200 residents who grewfigs andolives.[1][14] There were two springs in awadi, south of the village.[1] Amosque and an elementary school for boys was established in the village in Ottoman times.[14]
The settlement ofRosh Pinna is located to the southeast of the village site. It was first established in 1878 on land purchased from the villagers of al-Ja'una but has expanded over the years to include part of the former village land of Al-Ja'una.[14]
Laurence Oliphant visited Rosh Pinna and Al-Ja'una in 1886, and wrote:
"Jauna, which was the name of the village to which I was bound, was situated about three miles (5 km) from Safad, in a gorge, from which, as we descended it, a magnificent view was obtained over the Jordan valley, with theLake of Tiberias lying three thousand feet below us on the right, and the waters of Merom, or the Lake of Huleh, on the left. The intervening plain was a rich expanse of country, only waiting development. The new colony had been established about eight months, the land having been purchased from the Moslem villagers, of whom twenty families remained, who lived on terms of perfect amity with the Jews."[15]
A population list from about 1887 showedJa’auneh to have about 930 inhabitants; 555 Muslims and 375 Druze.[16]
In the1922 census of Palestine, conducted by theBritish Mandate authorities, Ja'uneh had a population of 626; all Muslims,[17] increasing in the1931 census to 799, still all Muslims, in a total of 149 houses.[18]
Felix Salten visited Rosh Pinna in 1924 and noted also Al-Ja'una in his travel bookNeue Menschen auf alter Erde:
“Right next to Rosh Pin[n]a, the Arab villageDzha’une. These early settlers still employ Arab workers, a practice that naturally had to cease within the new rebuilding movement. The Arabian children ofDzha’une all go to school that has been built for them by the settlement [of Rosh Pinna] and they are taught Hebrew there.”[19]
In the1945 statistics the population was 1,150 Muslims,[3] and the total land area was 839dunums; 824 of which were owned by Arabs, 7 by Jews, and 8 public.[4] Of this, 172 dunums were plantations and irrigable land, 248 used forcereals,[20] while 43 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[21]
The village was forcibly depopulated during the1948 Arab–Israeli War. According to Israeli historianBenny Morris, the evacuation of the residents took place either in late April, or on 9 May, coinciding with the final attack onSafad.[6]
At midnight on 5–6 June 1949, the remaining villagers in Al-Ja'una (together with those ofAl-Khisas andQaytiyya) were surrounded byIsraeli Defence Force units, who then forced the villagers into trucks "with brutality—with kicks, curses and maltreatment...." (according toKnesset member andAl HaMishmar editorEliezer Peri) and left them on a hill near'Akbara.[22] When questioned about the expulsions,David Ben-Gurion responded that there was "sufficient" military justification.[23]'Akbara served as a "dumping spot" for the "remainders" from various depopulated Palestinian villages, and its conditions were to remain bad for years.[24]
Walid Khalidi, writing in 1992 about the remains of Al-Ja'una, stated: "The settlement of Rosh Pinna occupies the village site. Many of the houses remain; some are used by the residents of the settlement; other stone houses have been abandoned and destroyed."[6]
