Aqir Akir, Akkur | |
|---|---|
 Palestinian house in Aqir, post 1948 | |
| Etymology: Barren[1] | |
.jpg) 1870s map.jpg) 1940s map.jpg) modern map.jpg) 1940s with modern overlay mapA series of historical maps of the area around Aqir (click the buttons) | |
  Aqir Location withinMandatory Palestine | |
| Coordinates:31°51′34″N34°49′15″E / 31.85944°N 34.82083°E /31.85944; 34.82083 | |
| Palestine grid | 133/140 |
| Geopolitical entity | Mandatory Palestine |
| Subdistrict | Ramle |
| Date of depopulation | 6 (??) May 1948[4] |
| Area | |
• Total | 11,322dunams (11.322 km2; 4.371 sq mi) |
| Population (1945) | |
• Total | 2,480[2][3] |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Military assault byYishuv forces |
| Current Localities | Kiryat Ekron,[5]Mazkeret Batya[5]Ganei Yohanan[5] |
Aqir, also speltAkir andAkkur, was aPalestinian Arab village in theRamle Subdistrict, located 9 km southwest ofRamla and 1 km north of Wadi al-Nasufiyya[6] (today calledNahal Ekron). It was depopulated and demolished and replaced byKiryat Ekron.
Until the early 20th century, Aqir was thought to lie at the site of the ancient Philistine city ofEkron, that has now been identified asTel Mikne, 9 km to the south.[7] The error seems rooted in antiquity; The Romans referred to the village asAccaron.[6]
Archeological excavations indicate that a pottery workshop operated there during theRoman era, and a glass workshop was there during theByzantine era. Buildings from theAbbasid era have also been excavated.[8]
In the 10th century,Al-Muqaddasi writes of Aqir (Ekron) as "A large village with a mosque. Its inhabitants are much given to good works. The bread here is not to be surpassed for quality. The village lies on the high road fromAr-Ramlah toMakka."[9][10]Yakut called it Al Akir, and said it belonged to Ar Ramlah.[11]
The village mosque had a construction text, made innaskhi script, and dating it to 1296–7.[12]
In 1596, Aqir (Amir) appeared inOttomantax registers as being in theNahiya of Ramla of theLiwa of Gaza. It had a population of 31 Muslim households and paid taxes on wheat, barley, and other produce.[13]
Themihrab in the mosque had an inscription above it dating it to 1701-1702 CE.[14]
The scholarEdward Robinson passed by the village in 1838, and described it as being surrounded by "well-tilled gardens and fields of the richest soil". The village itself was described as being of "considerable size", built of bricks oradobe.[15] It was further noted that it was a Muslim village, located in the Ramleh region.[16]
In the 19th century, Aqir receivedEgyptian migrants.[17]
In 1857William McClure Thomson described the village as a "forlorn cluster of low earth-roofed hovels" and "though the village itself is squalid and the people rude, the wide valley below it is extremely fertile"[18]
In 1863Victor Guérin noted Aqir as a large village, with 800 inhabitants.[19] An Ottoman village list from about 1870 counted 155 houses and a population of 512, though the population count included men only.[20][21]
In the mid 1870sClaude Reignier Conder described Aqir (naming it "Ekron") as "a mud hamlet, with gardens fenced with prickly pears"[22]
In 1882, thePEF'sSurvey of Western Palestine described it as "anadobe village on low rising ground, with cactus hedges surrounding its gardens, and awell to the north."[23]
Excavations revealed traces of Late Ottomaninfantjar-burials, commonly associated withnomads oritinerant workers ofEgyptian origins.[24]
At the time of the1922 census of Palestine, Aqir had a population of 1155 inhabitants, all Muslims.[25] This had increased to 1689 Muslims and 2 Christians by the1931 census.[26]
Between 1941 and 1948, theRAF Aqir airfield was located nearby. In 1945, the village had a population of 2,480 Muslims[3] with two elementary schools: one for boys, founded in 1921 which had an enrollment of 391 boys in 1945 and a second for girls, which had an enrollment of 46 girls in 1945. There were twomosques in the village.[5]
In the1945 statistics, the village had 1,300 dunums of land used for citrus and banana cultivation, 8,968 dunums were used for cereals, 914 dunums irrigated or used for orchards,[5][27] while 46 dunams were classified as built-up public areas.[28]
The village was depopulated during the1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on 6 May 1948 duringOperation Barak by theGivati Brigade. The remaining village houses were taken over byKiryat Ekron soon after.[29]
According to the Palestinian historianWalid Khalidi, the village's remaining structures on the village land were, in 1992:
A number of small houses remain, several of which are occupied by Jewish families. One is a cement house with a gabled roof and rectangular doors and windows, another is similar in its features, but its roof is flat. Cypresses, cycamores and cactuses grow on the site. The surrounding lands are cultivated by Israelis.[5]
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