Kawkaba كوكبا Kaukaba | |
|---|---|
| Etymology: Star, or mountain, or donjon[1] | |
.jpg) 1870s map.jpg) 1940s map.jpg) modern map.jpg) 1940s with modern overlay mapA series of historical maps of the area around Kawkaba (click the buttons) | |
  Kawkaba Location withinMandatory Palestine | |
| Coordinates:31°37′51″N34°39′46″E / 31.63083°N 34.66278°E /31.63083; 34.66278 | |
| Palestine grid | 117/115 |
| Geopolitical entity | Mandatory Palestine |
| Subdistrict | Gaza |
| Date of depopulation | 12 May 1948[4] |
| Area | |
• Total | 8,542dunams (8.542 km2; 3.298 sq mi) |
| Population (1945) | |
• Total | 680[2][3] |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Influence of nearby town's fall |
| Current Localities | Kokhav Michael[5] |
Kawkaba (Arabic:كوكبا), known to theCrusaders asCoquebel, was aPalestinian Arab village that was occupied by Israel duringOperation Yoav during the1948 Arab-Israeli War, and depopulated.
The village was on an uneven stretch of red-brown soil on the southern coastal plain. It lay on the highway constructed by the British duringWorld War II, which paralleled the coastal highway.[5]
The site was known during theCrusades as Coquebel. Kawkaba contained an archaeological site with a pool, cisterns, the foundations of buildings,columns, severedcapitals. North of it was Khirbat Kamas, which was identified as the Crusader Camsa and which yielded some archaeological artifacts.[5]
Kawkaba was incorporated into theOttoman Empire in 1517 with the rest ofPalestine, and by 1596tax record it was known asKawkab, with a population of 16Muslim households; an estimated 88 persons. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 33.3% on a number of crops, including wheat, barley, sesame, fruit trees and vineyards; a total of 2,640akçe. 6/24 of the revenue went to awaqf.[6]
During the 17th and 18th centuries, the area of Kawkaba experienced a significant process of settlement decline due tonomadic pressures on local communities. The residents of abandoned villages moved to surviving settlements, but the land continued to be cultivated by neighboring villages.[7]
In 1838,Edward Robinson notedKaukaba as a Muslim village, located in the Gaza district.[8]
In 1863Victor Guérin found that the village has a population of five hundred inhabitants. In the interior of aoualy dedicated toSheikh Mohammed he observed mutilated fluted white marble column, next to aCorinthiancapital. At thewell, he noted two barrels, also ancient columns, one with white marble, the second gray granite, which were, he thought, exhumed in that area and did not come from elsewhere.[9]
An Ottoman village list of about 1870 showedKokabe with a population of 72, in 20 houses, though the population count included men, only.[10][11]
In 1882, thePEF'sSurvey of Western Palestine described it as a smalladobe village, with a well to the west and a pool to the north.[12] The village had a rectangular layout along the above-mentioned road, and expanded north–south alongside it.[5]
In the1922 census of Palestine, conducted by theBritish Mandate authorities,Kukaba had a population of 439, allMuslims,[13] increasing in the1931 census to 522, still all Muslims, in 121 houses.[14]
Kawkaba shared an elementary school with the villages ofBayt Tima andHulayqat. Its houses were made ofadobe and cement, and its shops were located at the village center, on the western side of the road. On its eastern site were two water sources: a spring and a 70-meter deep well. The villagers engaged inrainfed agriculture, cultivating grain and winter and summer vegetables. Towards the end of the British Mandate period they also cultivated fruits, such as figs and grapes, on all their land expect to the west.[5]
In the1945 statistics the population ofKaukaba was 680 Muslims,[2] while the total land area was 8,542dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[3] Of this, a total of 166 dunams were used for plantations and irrigable land, 8,166 for cereals,[15] while 40 dunams were built-up areas.[16]
The village that was captured by Israel duringOperation Yoav during the1948 Arab-Israeli War. The fall of the village was preceded by the events at nearbyBurayr; where theHaganahOded Brigade apparently executed a large number of military age Palestinians. The Kawkaba villages had offered to surrender to the Yishuv's forces but theHaganah drove out the last of the inhabitants on the 27/28 May 1948.[17] The village was on the front line between the Israeli and Egyptian armies through the summer of 1948 and appears to have changed hands several times.[18]
Following the war the area was incorporated into theState of Israel and in 1950 themoshav ofKokhav Michael was founded on village land, southeast of the village site.[5]
According to Khalidi, by 1992 the remaining structures on the village land were:
"The site is overgrown with sycamore and Christ's -thorn trees. The old road, as well as crumbled walls and debris in a wooded part of the site are clearly visible. The land in the vicinity is cultivated by Israeli farmers."[5]
