PROFILPELAJAR.COM

Khirbat al-Zababida

خربة الزبابدة
Khirbat al-Zababida خربة الزبابدة
	Etymology: The ruin of Zebabdeh (a family name)
	1870s map 1940s map modern map 1940s with modern overlay map A series of historical maps of the area around Khirbat al-Zababida (click the buttons)
	Khirbat al-Zababida Location within Mandatory Palestine
	Coordinates: 32°15′11″N 34°50′14″E / 32.25306°N 34.83722°E
Palestine grid	134/184
Geopolitical entity	Mandatory Palestine
Subdistrict	Tulkarm
Date of depopulation	May 15, 1948
Area
• Total	10,879 dunams (10.879 km2 or 4.200 sq mi)
Current Localities	Yakum Ga'ash

Khirbat al-Zababida (Arabic: خربة الزبابدة, the Ruin of the People of Kafr Zibad) was a Palestinian Arab village in the Tulkarm Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War on May 15, 1948. It was located 20 kilometres (12 mi) southwest of Tulkarm, south of Wadi al-Faliq. Khirbat al-Zababida was mostly destroyed except for four deserted houses.

History

In the 1860s, the Ottoman authorities granted the village of Kafr Zibad an agricultural plot of land called Ghabat Kafr Zibad in the former confines of the Forest of Arsur (Ar. Al-Ghaba) in the coastal plain, west of the village.^[5]^[6] This formed the foundation for Khirbat Zababida, In 1870, Victor Guérin noted it as an old, rather ruined hamlet, named Kharbet el-Belakieh. It was located on a small hill, and had a path leading to a harbour, where water melons were being shipped out.^[7]

In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) found at Kh. ez Zebabdeh "a small modern ruined village".^[8]

British Mandate era

By 1944/45 the village jurisdiction was 10,879 dunams, of which 4,626 was Arab owned, 4,884 was Jewish owned, while 1,369 was publicly owned.^[3] Of this, Arabs used 344 dunums of land used for citrus and bananas, 3,839 dunums to cereals, 215 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards,^[9] while a total of 1,750 dunams were classified as uncultivable areas.^[10]

1948, aftermath

The Israeli settlement of Yakum was established in 1947 on village land,^[4] while Ga'ash was established in 1951, also on village land.^[4]

In 1992 the village site was described: "The site is deserted and overgrown with wild vegetation and trees. All but four of the houses have been destroyed. These four houses still have intact roofs. Three of them were made of cement bricks, and one of hard igneous stone. Iron girders from five destroyed houses protrude from piles of stones.[..] A picnic site has been built for Kibbutz Yaqum on the edge of a natural pond."^[4]

References

^ Palmer, 1881, p. 175
^ Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 21
^ ^a ^b Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 75
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Khalidi, 1992, p. 567
^ Marom, Roy, "The Contribution of Conder's Tent Work in Palestine for the Understanding of Shifting Geographical, Social and Legal Realities in the Sharon during the Late Ottoman Period", in Gurevich D. and Kidron, A. (eds.), Exploring the Holy Land: 150 Years of the Palestine Exploration Fund, Sheffield, UK, Equinox (2019), pp. 212-231
^ Marom, Roy (2022). "The Oak Forest of the Sharon (al-Ghaba) in the Ottoman Period: New Insights from Historical- Geographical Studies, Muse 5". escholarship.org. Retrieved 2023-10-06.
^ Guérin, 1875, p. 383
^ Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p.141
^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 95
^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 176