Al-Nabi Rubin, Acre

Place in Acre, Mandatory Palestine

al-Nabi Rubin النبي روبين an-Nabi Rubin, Neby Rubin
Etymology: The prophet Rubin^[1]
1870s map 1940s map modern map 1940s with modern overlay map A series of historical maps of the area around Al-Nabi Rubin, Acre (click the buttons)
33°04′49″N 35°17′29″E / 33.08028°N 35.29139°E / 33.08028; 35.29139
Palestine grid	177/276
Geopolitical entity	Mandatory Palestine
Subdistrict	Acre
Date of depopulation	early November 1948^[4]
Area
• Total	18,563 dunams (18.6 km² or 7.2 sq mi)
Population (1945)
• Total	1,000 with Tarbikha and Suruh^[2]^[3]
Cause(s) of depopulation	Expulsion by Yishuv forces
Current Localities	Shomera, Even Menachem, Zar'it, Shtula

Al-Nabi Rubin (Arabic: النبي روبين, literally "Prophet Rubin" or "Prophet Reuben"), was a Palestinian village located 28 kilometers northeast of Acre. Al-Nabi Rubin students used to attend school in the nearby village of Tarbikha.

History

Ottoman era

In 1881, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Al-Nabi Rubin: This is a small village round the tomb of the Neby, containing about ninety Moslems, it is situated on a prominent top, and surrounded by many olives, a few figs and arable land; there are two cisterns and a birket near.^[5]

British rule

In the 1945 statistics the population Tarbikha, Suruh and Al-Nabi Rubin together was 1000 Muslims according to an official land and population survey,^[2]^[3] all were Muslims,^[6] and they had a total of 18,563 dunams of land.^[3] 619 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 3,204 used for cereals,^[7] while 112 dunams were built-up (urban) land.^[8]

Israeli period

The village was captured by Israel as a result of the Haganah's offensive, Operation Hiram during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and was mostly destroyed with the exception of its shrine. Al-Nabi Rubin inhabitants were expelled to Lebanon in two waves, the aged and infirm were the last to depart when the IDF trucked them to the Lebanese border.^[9]

A shrine thought to be dedicated to the prophet Rubin is the only original structure that remains on former village's lands.^[10]

References

^ Palmer, 1881, p. 53
^ ^a ^b Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 5
^ ^a ^b ^c Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 41
^ Morris, 2004, p. xvii, village #68. Also gives cause of depopulation.
^ Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 149.
^ Village Statistics The Palestine Government, April 1945 Archived 2012-06-09 at the Wayback Machine, p. 3
^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 81
^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 131
^ Morris, 2004, pp. 506-507
^ Khalidi, 1992, p. 27

Bibliography

Conder, C.R.; Kitchener, H.H. (1881). The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology. Vol. 1. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
Department of Statistics (1945). Village Statistics, April, 1945. Government of Palestine.
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 2009-11-13.
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.
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.