Al-Imara
al-Imara (Arabic: العمارة), was a Palestinian village, located in the northern Naqab Desert 27 kilometers (17 mi) northwest of Beersheba.
al-Imara
العمارة | |
---|---|
Etymology: "the Building" | |
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Al-Imara (click the buttons) | |
al-Imara Location within Mandatory Palestine | |
Coordinates: 31°18′11″N 34°31′14″E | |
Palestine grid | 104/080 |
Geopolitical entity | Mandatory Palestine |
Subdistrict | Beersheba |
Date of depopulation | October 1948 |
Cause(s) of depopulation | Expulsion by Yishuv forces |
Current Localities | Urim[1] Ofakim[2] |
History
In the British mandate period the village was classified as a hamlet by the Palestine Index Gazetteer.[3]
Post-1948
During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the village was captured by the Yiftach Brigade in early October, meeting with no resistance. The Ofakim development town[2] and the Jewish kibbutz of Urim are built on the lands of the former village, with the latter being approximately 1 kilometer (0.62 mi) south of the original village site.[1]
The Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi, described the village remains in 1992: "The village site has been completely built over by the kibbutz of Urim. Although the kibbutz was established in 1946 near the village of Al-Imara, during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, it was moved to the site of the former British police station. About 2 km southeast of the current kibbutz there are remains of several stone structures. These were the houses that belonged to Bedouin families before 1948 and were not considered part of al-Imara.[1]
References
- Khalidi, 1992, p. 73
- Davis, Uri (2008), In Search of the Abu Sitta Sword (PDF), p. 12, archived from the original on 2010-11-01CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
- Khalidi, 1992, p.72
Bibliography
- Khalidi, W. (1992). All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948. Washington D.C.: Institute for Palestine Studies. ISBN 0-88728-224-5.
- Morris, B. (2004). The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-00967-6.
External links
- Welcome to al-Imara at Palestine Remembered
- al-'Imara, Zochrot