Al-Mukhayzin

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Al-Mukhayzin
المخيزن
Etymology: Kh. el Mukheizin, the ruin of the storehouses [1]
Historical map series for the area of al-Mukhayzin (1870s).jpg 1870s map
Historical map series for the area of al-Mukhayzin (1940s).jpg 1940s map
Historical map series for the area of al-Mukhayzin (modern).jpg modern map
Historical map series for the area of al-Mukhayzin (1940s with modern overlay).jpg 1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Al-Mukhayzin (click the buttons)
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Al-Mukhayzin
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 31°48′12″N34°48′40″E / 31.80333°N 34.81111°E / 31.80333; 34.81111
Palestine grid 132/134
Geopolitical entity Mandatory Palestine
Subdistrict Ramle
Date of depopulationApril 20, 1948 [2]
Area
[3]
 • Total
10,942 dunams (10.942 km2; 4.225 sq mi)
Population
 (1945)
 • Total
310 [4] [3]
Cause(s) of depopulationMilitary assault by Yishuv forces
Current Localities Chafetz Chayyim, [5] Revadim, [5] Yad Binyamin, [5] Beyt Chilqiyya [5]

Al-Mukhayzin was a Palestinian village in the Ramle Subdistrict. It was ethnically cleansed during the Nakba on April 20, 1948, by the Givati Brigade of Operation Har'el. It was located 10 km southwest of Ramla.

Contents

History

Al-Mukhayzin was a Bedouin settlement established in the 19th century. [6]

During the Ottoman period, it was inhabited the Bedouin tribe of 'Arab al-Wahidat (عرب الوحيدات). These nomadic people depended on livestock, transportation, and basic agriculture for survival. Due to their transient lifestyle and modest material possessions, their presence has left only faint marks in the archaeological record. [7]

In 1838, el-Mukhaizin was noted as a Muslim village in the Gaza district. [8]

Al-Mukhayzin is mentioned as the southern limit reached by the displaced Bedouin tribe al-Wuḥaydī after mid-nineteenth-century pacification campaigns led by the fellāḥīn of Bani Malik and Abu Ghosh. These efforts marked the stabilization of the frontier west of Jerusalem and the reassertion of settled agriculture in the region. [9]

In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine noted at Khurbet el Mukheizin: "A large well and birkeh (=artificial pool), of masonry. Several ruined cisterns and a few scattered stones." [10]

British Mandate era

In the 1931 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, El Mukheizin had 79 Muslim inhabitants, in a total of 19 houses. [11]

In 1944, Chafetz Chayyim was built on what traditionally was village land. [5]

In 1945 statistics, the village had a population of 200 Muslims and 110 Jews, [4] with a land area of 10,942 dunums. [3] Of this, Palestinians used 10,936 dunums for cereals, [12] while 6 dunams were classified as non-cultivable areas. [13]

Al-Mukhayzin (El Mkheizin) 1930 1:20,000 El Mkheizin 1930.jpg
Al-Mukhayzin (El Mkheizin) 1930 1:20,000
Al-Mukhayzin (Mukheiyzin) 1945 1:250,000 Mansura 1945.jpg
Al-Mukhayzin (Mukheiyzin) 1945 1:250,000

1948, aftermath

Al-Mukhayzin was ethnically cleansed by an Israeli military assault on April 20, 1948. [2]

Afterwards, Revadim, Yad Binyamin and Beyt Chilqiyya have all been built on village land. [5]

In 1992 the village site was described: "The village has been completely leveled so that only flat, cultivated fields can be seen. There is a mound of stone and debris, about 2.5 m high, at the southern edge of the site. An orange grove has been planted next the mound, also at the southern edge." [14]

References

  1. ↑ Palmer, 1881, p. 270
  2. 1 2 Morris, 2004, p. xix, village #263. Also gives cause of depopulation.
  3. 1 2 3 Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 67
  4. 1 2 Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 30
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Khalidi, 1992, p. 398
  6. ↑ Grossman, D. (1986). "Oscillations in the Rural Settlement of Samaria and Judaea in the Ottoman Period". in Shomron studies. Dar, S., Safrai, S., (eds). Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishing House. p. 379
  7. ↑ Marom, Roy; Fantalkin, Alexander (2025-01-01). "Vines Among the dunes: sand/dune agriculture in Rimāl Isdūd/Ashdod-Yam during the Late Ottoman and British Mandate periods". Contemporary Levant: 7.
  8. ↑ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. 118
  9. ↑ Orit Peleg-Barkat, Roy Marom, Gregg E. Gardner, Michael Chernin, and Saleh Kharanbeh, "Rural adaptation and settlement change in the late Islamic Jabal al-Khalīl (Judean Foothills)," Journal of Historical Geography 90 (2025): 87–98.
  10. ↑ Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 425
  11. ↑ Mills, 1932, p. 21
  12. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 116
  13. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 166
  14. ↑ Khalidi, 1992, pp. 398–399

Bibliography

See also

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