| Al-Barriyya | |
| Native Name: | البريّة |
| Native Name Lang: | ar |
| Etymology: | The desert[1] |
| Pushpin Map: | Mandatory Palestine |
| Pushpin Mapsize: | 200 |
| Coordinates: | 31.8881°N 34.9183°W |
| Grid Name: | Palestine grid |
| Grid Position: | 142/144 |
| Subdivision Type: | Geopolitical entity |
| Subdivision Name: | Mandatory Palestine |
| Subdivision Type1: | Subdistrict |
| Subdivision Name1: | Ramle |
| Established Title1: | Date of depopulation |
| Established Date1: | July 10–13, 1948[2] |
| Established Title2: | Repopulated dates |
| Unit Pref: | dunam |
| Area Total Dunam: | 2,831 |
| Population As Of: | 1945 |
| Population Total: | 510[3] [4] |
| Blank Name Sec1: | Cause(s) of depopulation |
| Blank Info Sec1: | Military assault by Yishuv forces |
| Blank3 Name Sec1: | Current Localities |
| Blank3 Info Sec1: | Azarya,[5] [6] Beyt Chashmonay |
Al-Barriyya was a Palestinian village in the Ramle Subdistrict of Mandatory Palestine. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War on July 10, 1948, as part of Operation Dani. It was located 5.5 km southeast of Ramla, on the eastern bank of Wadi al-Barriyya.
The area of the destroyed village has been overbuilt by Beit Hashmonai.
The Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) noted in 1882 that: "The name Barriyeh, 'Desert,' applied to a village, is explained by the inhabitants to be due to their ancestors having about 50 years ago lived in Abu Shusheh, whence they were expelled by the other villagers, and had to settle in the 'Desert,' or 'Outer Part.' They own most of the gardens of Abu Shusheh at the present day. This information is obtained from Mr. Bergheim."[7] While the name is recorded already in the 16th century, the literal etymology of "desert, outer part' is confirmed by modern comparative linguistics.[8]
In 1860, Saintine described it as a "modern village", without any antiquities.[9] In 1863 Victor Guérin noted that the village was situated on a low eminence, and "the few houses which compose it consist of roughly constructed huts."[10]
An official Ottoman village list of about 1870 showed that it had a total of 20 houses and a population of 72, though the population count included men, only.[11] [12]
In 1882, PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described as a small adobe hamlet, surrounded by cultivated land.[13]
After the end of World War I, the Ottoman Empire was partitioned and a Palestine mandate was accorded to Britain by the League of Nations. In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Bariyeh had a population of 295 residents; all Muslims,[14] increasing in the 1931 census to 388, still all Muslims, in a total of 86 houses.[15]
In the 1945 statistics, the village had a population of 510 Muslims[3] with total of 2,831 dunums of land.[4] Of this, 51 dunums of land were used for plantations and irrigable land, 2,627 dunums were used for cereals,[16] while 55 dunams were classified as built-up public areas.[17]
The village was depopulated on July 10–13, 1948, after military assault by Yishuv forces, as part of Operation Dani.[2]
The Israeli settlements of Azarya and Beyt Chashmonay was constructed on village land.[6]
In 1992 the village site was described: "The village site is mostly cleared and has been leveled except for one remaining stone house and fragments of the walls of two concrete houses with steel bars protruding from them".[6]
