al-Kabri الكابري Kabira Le Quiebre (Crusader name) | |
|---|---|
.jpg) the cemetery of Al-Kabri | |
| Etymology: The Bridge (in Turkish)[1] | |
.jpg) 1870s map.jpg) 1940s map.jpg) modern map.jpg) 1940s with modern overlay mapA series of historical maps of the area around Al-Kabri (click the buttons) | |
  al-Kabri Location withinMandatory Palestine | |
| Coordinates:33°00′56″N35°09′03″E / 33.01556°N 35.15083°E /33.01556; 35.15083 | |
| Palestine grid | 164/269 |
| Geopolitical entity | Mandatory Palestine |
| Subdistrict | Acre |
| Date of depopulation | 5, 21 May 1948[3] |
| Area | |
• Total | 28.7 km2 (11.1 sq mi) |
| Population (1945) | |
• Total | 1,530[2] |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Fear of being caught up in the fighting |
| Secondary cause | Military assault byYishuv forces |
| Current Localities | Kabri,[4]Ga'aton,[4]Me'ona,[4]Ein Ya'akov,[4]Ma'alot,[4]Kefar Vradim[4] |
Al-Kabri (Arabic:الكابري) was aPalestinian Arab town in theGalilee located 12.5 kilometers (7.8 mi) northeast ofAcre. It was captured by theHaganah 21 May 1948, a week after theState of Israel was declared. In 1945, it had a population of 1,530[5] and a total area cultivated of 20,617[6]dunams. It is near the site ofTel Kabri.
In the 13th century, al-Kabri was known as "Le Quiebre" and belonged to the fief ofCasal Imbert (az-Zeeb). In 1253,King Henry granted the whole estate of Casal Imbert, including Le Quiebre, toJohn of Ibelin.[7] Shortly after, in 1256, John of Ibelin leased az-Zeeb and all its dependent villages, including Le Quiebre, to theTeutonic Order for ten years.[8] In 1261, az-Zeeb, together withLe Fierge and Le Quiebre, were sold to the Teutonic Order, in return for an annual sum for as long asAcre was in Crusader hands.[9] In 1283, it was still a part of the Crusader states, as it was mentioned under the name "al-Kabrah", as part of their domain in thehudna (truce agreement) between the Crusaders based in Acre and theMamluk sultanal-Mansur Qalawun.[10]
According toal-Maqrizi, it was under Mamluk rule by 1291, as it was mentioned under the name of "al-Kabira" in that year when Sultanal-Ashraf Khalil allocated the town's income to acharitable organization inCairo.[5][11]
Al-Kabri was incorporated into theOttoman Empire in 1517, and by the 1596tax records it was part ofnahiya (subdistrict) ofAkka, part ofSafad Sanjak with an all-Muslim population of ten households. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 25% on various agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, cotton, beehives and/or goats and occasional revenues; a total of 1,691akçe. 7/12 of the revenue went to aWaqf.[13][14]
InPierre Jacotin's map from 1799 the village was calledKabli.[15] The place was well known for its springs, including Ayn Mafshuh, Ayn Fawwar, Ayn al-'Asal, and Ayn Kabri. The number of springs made al-Kabri the main supplier of water in theDistrict of Acre. Ancient aqueducts supplied water from the springs to Acre, and two additional canals were built byAhmad Pasha al-Jazzar in 1800, andSulayman Pasha al-Adil in 1814.[4][16]
In 1875, the French explorerVictor Guérin visited the village:
Many of the houses are built of good materials, which seem ancient. They are constructed of stones finely cut, mixed with simple rubble, perfectly jointed by means of little stones so placed as to fill up spaces and to make the whole compact. The site of an ancient church, now completely destroyed, is still, to a certain extent, to be traced. Manycolumns have been removed from it, and numbers of cut stones of medium size. Above the village, the ruins of houses prove that the place was once much more populous than now.[17]
At twenty-five minutes walk from El Kabry is a spring called Neba Fawara. Formerly received in a basin, of which the foundations only are now visible, it runs away in a considerable stream, which waters several gardens.Enormous fig-trees show the extraordinary fruitfulness of the soil. A little farther I pass along arcades entirely covered with high bushes, which form part of theaqueduct of El Kabry. The ground rises here, so that the canal supported by these arcades is at the level of the ground, then it disappears altogether, reappearing again, according to the level of the ground. El Kabry is in a very advantageous position, thanks to its precious springs, which must always have caused the foundation of a group, more or less considerable, of houses. The name of Kabry shows that it was once called Gobara, a name given byJosephus to a place in another part of Galilee. It contains two abundant springs; one is received in a reservoir similar to that of Et Tell, and from there, by an opening made expressly, the water runs off in a cascade to turn mills and water gardens. The second spring gushes from the bottom of a kind of vaulted cave, into which one descends by steps, and it feeds the aqueduct, which, sometimes subterranean, sometimes on the level of the ground, sometimes borne in arcades, supplies Akka with water. Reconstructed by Jezzar Pasha at the end of the last century, this aqueduct has succeeded one much older, of which traces yet remain.
Besides these two springs there is a third not far off, called Ain Jatun, of equal importance, which fertilises the proverbially fruitful territory of Kabry.[18]
In 1881 thePEF'sSurvey of Western Palestine described the village as a "village built of stone, containing about 400 Moslems, situated on the edge of the plain, with gardens and olives, figs and mulberries, apples and pomegranates; there is a large spring and birket here, at which the aqueduct conveying water to 'Akka commences."[19]
A population list from about 1887 showedel Kabry to have about 690 inhabitants, all Muslims.[20]
In the1922 census of Palestine conducted by theBritish Mandate authorities, al-Kabri had a population of 553 inhabitants, allMuslims,[21] increasing in the1931 census to 728 Muslims in 173 houses.[22] During this period, al-Kabri's houses were built of stone,mud, and reinforced concrete. The village contained amosque and a boys' elementary school. Agriculture was the base of the economy with villagers cultivating olives, citrus, and bananas and engaged in animal husbandry, including raising cattle.[4]
The population grew to 1,530 in the1945 statistics, still all Muslim.[2][23] Together with the nearbyTarshiha, the villages had 47,428dunums of land at this time.[24] Of this, a total of 743dunums of land in the two villages was used for citrus and bananas, 5,301 were plantation and irrigable land, 14,123 for cereals,[25] while 252 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[26]
| Part ofa series on the |
| Nakba |
|---|
_(cropped).jpg) |
During the1948 Palestine war, Al-Kabri was first badly shaken by thePalmach raid on the village on the night 31 January/1 February 1948, in which the house of the mainal-Husayni-affiliated notable, Fares Efendi Sirhan, was partly demolished by a huge explosion. After this, Sirhan and his family fled toLebanon.[27]
On 27 March 1948, theYehiam convoy bringing supplies to besiegedKibbutz Yehiam was ambushed while passing by al-Kabri and 46 Haganah members were killed.[28][29]
In April 1948, theHaganah prepared an initial blueprint for an operation called "Ehud", which provided for attacks on al-Kabri,al Nahar,al-Bassa andal-Zib for "the destruction of the gangs [and] the menfolk, [and] the destruction of property".[27] Yaacov Pundaq, a Haganah commander in theCarmeli Brigade's 21st Battalion, who was responsible for the area aroundNahariya designated to be part of the future Arab state in the1947 United Nations Partition Plan, had repeatedly caused damage to the Kabri aqueduct nearby, the primary conduit for feeding Acre. In the face of successful repair work by Arabs, he contaminated the site's waters with flasks oftyphoid, or typhoid anddiphtheria bacteria. This was the most serious use of Israel's deployment ofbiological warfare in 1948.[30]
The village was likely occupied on the night of 20–21 May during the second stage ofOperation Ben-Ami, by which time most of the inhabitants had fled.[4] During their dispersal inGalilee some of the villagers were killed when it was discovered that they came from al-Kabri, in retaliation for the convoy ambush.[31]
According to Palestinian historianWalid Khalidi, the remaining structures in al-Kabri's lands in 1992 were "crumbled walls and stone rubble, overgrown with thorns, weeds, and bushes."
A Jewish community by the same name,Kabri, was built on land adjacent to the site of the Palestinian village, which is also for agriculture and pasture land.[4]
Al-Kabri was at the eastern end of the Western Galilee coastal plain. It was less than 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from thesea, with theGa'aton River nearby to the south. The closest modern city isNahariyya to the west. The villages lands were home to four springs: Ayn Mafshuh, Ayn Fawwar, Ayn al-'Asal, and Ayn Kabri.[4][32] It is these springs that have brought people to the site since the Neolithic.[32]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) (p.56)
