Miska مسكة | |
|---|---|
Village | |
 Remains of the villagemosque, 2007 | |
| Etymology: The water-hole[1] | |
.jpg) 1870s map.jpg) 1940s map.jpg) modern map.jpg) 1940s with modern overlay mapA series of historical maps of the area around Miska, Tulkarm (click the buttons) | |
  Miska Location withinMandatory Palestine | |
| Coordinates:32°13′04″N34°55′29″E / 32.21778°N 34.92472°E /32.21778; 34.92472 | |
| Palestine grid | 143/180 |
| Geopolitical entity | Mandatory Palestine |
| Subdistrict | Tulkarm |
| Date of depopulation | 15 April 1948[4][5] |
| Area | |
• Total | 8,076dunams (8.076 km2; 3.118 sq mi) |
| Population (1948) | |
• Total | 880[2][3] |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Expulsion byYishuv forces |
| Current Localities | Sde Warburg,Mishmeret[6] |
Miska was aPalestinian village, located fifteen kilometers southwest ofTulkarm, depopulated in 1948.
Miska was founded by descendants of theArabian tribe of Miskain during the 7th centuryIslamic conquest of Palestine.[7]
According to the Arab geographerYaqut, writing in the 1220s, Miska was known for its fruit, especially themisk (musk) apple variety which was said to have been transferred to Egypt by theFatimid vizierAbu Muhammad al-Yazuri, who died in 1058.[8]
The French commanderJean Baptiste Kléber and his troops passed by the village on their way toNapoleon'ssiege of Acre in 1799.[9]Pierre Jacotin named the villageMeski on his map from the same campaign.[10]
In the 1860s, the Ottoman authorities granted the village an agricultural plot of land called Ghabat Miska in the former confines of the Forest of Arsur (Ar. Al-Ghaba) in the coastal plain, west of the village.[11][12]
In 1870,Victor Guérin visited and estimated that the population of Miskeh was 300. He further noted that "In the court of themedhafeh (guest-house) I saw a column and a marble chapter, apparently of Byzantine work. Round the houses are gardens, planted principally with fig-trees, among which here and there rise palms."[13]
In 1870/1871 (1288AH), an Ottoman census listed the village in thenahiya (sub-district) of Bani Sa'b.[14]
In 1882, thePEF'sSurvey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Miska anadobe village of small size, with olives to the north and south, and awell to the south.[15]
In the1922 census of Palestine conducted by theBritish Mandate authorities,Meskeh had a population of 443; allMuslims,[16] increasing in the1931 census to 635, still all Muslim, in a total of 123 houses.[17]
In the1945 statistics the population ofMiska andSde Warburg was 880 Arabs and 180 Jews,[2] while the total land area was 8,076dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[3] Of this, Arabs used 1,115 dunams forcitrus andbananas, 304 dunams for plantations and irrigable land, 3,245 for cereals,[18] while 88 dunams were classified as built-up areas.[19]
On 15 April 1948, Miska'sArab inhabitants were expelled on the order of theHaganah, the primaryJewish force prior to the outbreak of the1948 Arab–Israeli War.[4] The village, with the exception of a boy's elementary school and a mosque, was destroyed on the orders ofYosef Weitz, aJewish National Fund official.[7]
On 16 June 1948,David Ben-Gurion, almost certainly based on a progress report fromYosef Weitz, noted Miska as one of the Palestinian villages that they had destroyed.[20]
Sde Warburg was established in 1938 on land that traditionally belonged to the village.Mishmeret was established in 1946, to the northwest of the village site, on village land.Ramat HaKovesh, founded 1932, is about 1 km due west of the village site, though not on village land.[6]
The Palestinian historianWalid Khalidi described the village in 1992: "The site is covered with citrus groves; cactuses grow along the perimeter of these groves. The two-room school still stands and is used as housing for the watchmen who guard the orchards. The mosque serves as a storehouse for bales of hay and agricultural tools. The large cement fragments of a demolished enclosure built around the village well are visible. Most of the surrounding land has been planted by Israelis with citrus trees."[21]
The school buildings were destroyed by order of theIsrael Land Administration in 2006 following commemoration activities at the site organised byPalestinian Citizens of Israel and Israeli NGOZochrot.[22][23]
Authority control databases: National |
|---|
