| Al-Ashrafiyya | |
| Native Name: | الأشرفية |
| Native Name Lang: | ar |
| Other Name: | Ashrafiya[1] |
| Pushpin Map: | Mandatory Palestine |
| Pushpin Mapsize: | 200 |
| Coordinates: | 32.47°N 35.4714°W |
| Grid Name: | Palestine grid |
| Grid Position: | 194/208 |
| Subdivision Type: | Geopolitical entity |
| Subdivision Name: | Mandatory Palestine |
| Subdivision Type1: | Subdistrict |
| Subdivision Name1: | Baysan |
| Established Title1: | Date of depopulation |
| Established Date1: | May 12, 1948 |
| Established Title2: | Repopulated dates |
| Unit Pref: | dunam |
| Area Total Dunam: | 6711 |
| Population As Of: | 1945 |
| Population Total: | 230[2] [3] |
| Blank Name Sec1: | Cause(s) of depopulation |
| Blank Info Sec1: | Influence of nearby town's fall |
| Blank3 Name Sec1: | Current Localities |
| Blank3 Info Sec1: | Sheluhot,[4] [5] Reshafim[6] |
Al-Ashrafiyya (Arabic: الأشرفية), was a Palestinian Arab village in the District of Baysan. It was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine. It was located 4.5 km southwest of Baysan.
The village was depopulated on May 12, 1948, during Operation Gideon. The village was completely destroyed and the inhabitants fled to Jordan.
Just east of the village site, (at 196/208) pottery remains from the Byzantine era have been found, together with coins dating to the time of Justinian I (527–565 C.E.).[7]
In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the Mandatory Palestine authorities, Ashrafiyet Kuzma had 29 inhabitant; 27 Muslims and 2 Christians, while Ashrafiyet Rushdi had 7 Muslims; a total of 36 inhabitants.[8] The 2 Christians were Roman Catholics.[9]
In the 1931 census there were 4 villages named Ashrafiyat, where Ashrafiyat Kazma had 123 Muslims and 2 Christians in a total of 34 houses, while the three others were all Muslims; 48 in 11 houses in Ashrafiyat Abd el Hadi, 10 in 3 houses in Ashrafiyat Haddad, and 36 in 10 houses in Ashrafiyat Zamriq. In total there were 219 inhabitants in a total of 58 houses.[10]
In the 1945 statistics, the population consisted of 230 Muslims,[2] and the land area was 6711 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[3] Of this, the land ownership census the Land Ownership (Dunums) was as follows:[3]
| Owner | Dunams |
|---|---|
| Arab | 4,608 |
| Jewish | 1,293 |
| Public | 810 |
| Total | 6,711 |
The use of village land in 1945:[11] [12]
| Land Usage | Arab | Jewish | Public |
|---|---|---|---|
| Citrus and bananas | 143 | 11 | - |
| Irrigated and plantation | 4,458 | 772 | - |
| Cereal | 7 | 510 | 583 |
| Urban | - | - | - |
| Cultivable | 4,608 | 1,293 | 583 |
| Non-cultivable | - | - | 227 |
In March, 1948, Yosef Weitz had started pressing the Haganah to expel Arab tenant farmers, and kibbutz leaders in the Baysan valley had demanded new settlements in their area, as "a means of freeing our land [from Arabs] and preventing the return of the beduins who had fled to Transjordan". On 22 April, 1948, Haganah agreed to set up five new settlements on non-Arab land, including land in Al-Ashrafiyya.[13] [14]
The Palestinian inhabitants of Al-Ashrafiyya, along with those of the neighbouring village of Farwana, fled to Jordan with the approach of the pre-state Israeli forces of the Golani Brigade during Operation Gideon on 11 May 1948.[15]
Following the war the area was incorporated into the State of Israel and two kibbutzim were established on village land in 1948, Shluhot and Reshafim, both east of the village site.[4]
In 1992, it was described: "The site and the area around it are cultivated by the residents of Reshafim. A fishery also has been built on the site."[4]
