Yasur ياصور | |
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| Etymology: personal name[1] | |
.jpg) 1870s map.jpg) 1940s map.jpg) modern map.jpg) 1940s with modern overlay mapA series of historical maps of the area around Yasur, Gaza (click the buttons) | |
  Yasur Location withinMandatory Palestine | |
| Coordinates:31°45′56″N34°44′53″E / 31.76556°N 34.74806°E /31.76556; 34.74806 | |
| Palestine grid | 126/130 |
| Geopolitical entity | Mandatory Palestine |
| Subdistrict | Gaza |
| Date of depopulation | 11 June 1948[4] |
| Area | |
• Total | 16,390dunams (16.39 km2; 6.33 sq mi) |
| Population (1945[3]) | |
• Total | 1,070[2][3] |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Military assault byYishuv forces |
| Current Localities | Talmei Yehiel,[5]Bnei Ayish[5] |
Yasur (Arabic:ياصور) was aPalestinian village, located 40 kilometres northeast ofGaza, that was depopulated during the1948 Arab–Israeli War. Its inhabitants fled a military assault by the First Battalion ofIsrael'sGivati Brigade on 9 June 1948, part ofOperation Barak.[6]
The village consisted of an estimated 244 houses, an elementary school for boys, and a village mosque.[6] Following the war the area was incorporated into theState of Israel andTalmei Yehiel andBnei Ayish were established on the former lands of Yasur. The ruins of the built area of the village were demolished, and the site is today located in an industrial park between Bnei Ayish and theHatzor Airbase.
Ceramics from theByzantine times have been found at Yasur.[7]
During theMamluk period (1205-1517), a mail station between Gaza and Damascus was located in Yasur, although this was later transferred to the village ofBayt Daras.[5]
It was incorporated into theOttoman Empire in 1517 with the rest ofPalestine, and in the 1596tax records it was located in thenahiya (subdistrict) ofGaza part ofSanjak of Gaza, with 55 allMuslim households, an estimated population of 303. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 25% for the crops that they cultivated, which included wheat, barley, fruit, and sesame as well as on other types of property, such as goats, beehives and water buffaloes, a total of 16,000akçe. All of the revenue went to aMuslim charitable institution.[8]
TheAmerican scholarEdward Robinson travelled throughPalestine in 1838, and noted Yasur,[9] as a Muslim village, located in the Gaza district.[10]
James Turner Barclay mentions passing Yasur,Bayt Dajan andal-Sarafand, on his travels betweenJaffa andHaifa inThe City of the Great King: Or, Jerusalem as it Was, as it Is, and as it is, 1858.[11]
In 1863, French explorerVictor Guérin found the village situated on a hill and containing 450 villagers. The houses were built with sun baked bricks, and surrounded bytobacco plantations andolives. The only ancient remains he saw was acolumn of mutilated, gray-whitemarble near awell.[12] An Ottoman village list from about 1870 found thatJasur had a population of 103, in 72 houses, though the population count included men, only.[13][14]
In 1882 thePEF'sSurvey of Western Palestine described Yasur as an "ordinaryadobe village"". It had a well to the south and large gardens to the north and east.[15]
Yasur was also mentioned inThe Life and Letters of Thomas Hodgkin (1918).
In the1922 census of Palestine conducted by theBritish Mandate authorities, Yasur had a population of 456 inhabitants, allMuslims.[16] In the1931 census, Yasur had 129 occupied houses and a population of 648 Muslims, 5 Christians and 1 Jew.[17]
In the1945 statistics the population of Yasur consisted of 1,070 Muslims[2] and the total land area was 16,390dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[3] Of this, Arabs used 636 dunams for citrus and bananas, 180 for plantations and irrigable land, 12,173 for cereals,[18] while 35 dunams were built-up areas.[19]
In early 1949 it was reported that many of the residents of Yazur were living in tents in what becameMaghazi refugee camp in theGaza Strip.[20]
According toWalid Khalidi, 1992:
"The village is a closed, fenced-in military zone. At the village entrance there is a sign: 'TAT Aircraft Parts Industrial Firm.' A single undemolished house stands some 10 m away from the entrance. Next to it is a demolished one and a number of cactuses. A dirt road, lined by cactuses and olive and almond trees, passes by the southern boundary of the fence. The area inside and outside the fence has also been planted with eucalyptus trees"[5]
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