Al-Khunayzir

Village in Baysan, Mandatory Palestine

Al-Khunayzir الخنيزر 'Arab al Khuneizir^[1]
Village
Etymology: Tell el Khaneizîr, the mound of the swine^[2]
1870s map 1940s map modern map 1940s with modern overlay map A series of historical maps of the area around Al-Khunayzir (click the buttons)
32°25′17″N 35°31′20″E / 32.42139°N 35.52222°E / 32.42139; 35.52222
Palestine grid	199/203
Geopolitical entity	Mandatory Palestine
Subdistrict	Baysan
Date of depopulation	May 20, 1948^[1]
Area ^[4]
• Total	3,107 dunams (3.107 km² or 1.200 sq mi)
Population (1945)
• Total	260^[3]^[4]
Cause(s) of depopulation	Influence of nearby town's fall^[1]
Current Localities	Tirat Zvi^[5]

Al-Khunayzir (Arabic: الخنيزر), was a Palestinian Arab village in the District of Baysan. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War on May 20, 1948.

History

In 1881, a nearby tell was named as Tell el Khaneizîr, meaning the mound of the swine, and a nearby spring was named as Ain el Khaneizîr meaning the spring of the swine.^[6] خنزير means pig in Arabic.^[2]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the Mandatory Palestine authorities, Kunaizir had a population of 83; all Muslims,^[7] increasing in the 1931 census to 200 Muslims, in a total of 47 houses.^[8]

In the 1945 statistics the population was 260 Muslims,^[3] with a total of 3,107 dunams of land.^[4] Of this, 36 dunams were for citrus and bananas, 1,658 for plantations and irrigated land, 256 for cereals,^[9] while 34 dunams were non-cultivable land.^[10]

1948, and aftermath

According to B. Morris, 'Arab al Khuneizir was abandoned by its population under the "[i]nfluence of nearby town's fall", on 20 May 1948.^[1]

In 1992 it was described: "The only remaining landmarks is a cemetery on Tall Abu al-Faraj (199/203), north of the site. To the north and the west of this tell are the springs of 'Uyun Umm al-Faraj and 'Ayn al-Khanazir. Most of the village site and the land around it are covered with palm trees."^[5]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Morris, 2004, p. xvii, village #131. Also gives cause of depopulation
^ ^a ^b Palmer, 1881, p. 169
^ ^a ^b Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 6
^ ^a ^b ^c Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 43
^ ^a ^b Khalidi, 1992, p. 54
^ Palmer p.157
^ Barron, 1923, Table IX, p. 31
^ Mills, 1932, p. 79
^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 85
^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 135

Bibliography

Barron, J.B., ed. (1923). Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922. Government of Palestine.
Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics (1945). Village Statistics, April, 1945.
Hadawi, S. (1970). Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine. Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center. Archived from the original on 2018-12-08. Retrieved 2009-08-18.
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.
Mills, E., ed. (1932). Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas. Jerusalem: Government of Palestine.
Morris, B. (2004). The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-00967-6.
Palmer, E.H. (1881). The Survey of Western Palestine: Arabic and English Name Lists Collected During the Survey by Lieutenants Conder and Kitchener, R. E. Transliterated and Explained by E.H. Palmer. Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.