Al-Butayha Explained

Al-Butayha
Native Name:البطيحة
Native Name Lang:ar
Settlement Type:Village
Pushpin Map:Mandatory Palestine
Pushpin Mapsize:200
Coordinates:32.9164°N 35.6244°W
Grid Name:Palestine grid
Grid Position:208/257
Subdivision Type:Geopolitical entity
Subdivision Name:Mandatory Palestine
Subdivision Type1:Subdistrict
Subdivision Name1:Safad
Established Title1:Date of depopulation
Established Date1:May 4, 1948
Established Title2:Repopulated dates
Unit Pref:dunam
Area Total Dunam:16690
Population As Of:1945
Population Total:650
Blank Name Sec1:Cause(s) of depopulation
Blank3 Name Sec1:Current Localities
Blank3 Info Sec1:Almagor[1]

Al-Butayha (Arabic: البطيحة) was a Palestinian Arab village in the Safad Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on May 4, 1948, by the Palmach's First Battalion during Operation Matateh. It was located 13 km southeast of Safad, quarter of a mile east of the Jordan River, a little northeast of the northern tip of the Sea of Galilee. Many of the inhabitants were forced into Syria.

History

Al-Butayha was located close the Syrian border. The name means "marshland" in Arabic, in reference to the vast stretch of land in the area. In 1459 the village was visited by the Arab geographer al-Qalqashandi.[1]

British Mandate era

It was classified as a hamlet by the Palestine Index Gazetteer.[1]

In the 1944/45 statistics the village was counted with Arab al-Shamalina, and together they had 650 Muslim inhabitants, with a land area of 16,690 dunums,[2] [3] with 3,842 dunums allocated to cereal farming, 238 dunums under irrigation or used for orchards,[4] while 12,610 dunams were classified as non-cultivable land.[5]

1948, and aftermath

On May 4, 1948, the village was attacked by Haganahs during Operation Matateh ('Operation Broom'), part of Operation Yiftach.[1] Their orders were to "destroy any points of assembly for invading forces from the east”.

The Palmach's first Battalion, in addition to units from the Alexandroni Brigade and local Haganah troops, started with firing mortar rounds against the villages, then proceeded to burn down them down. A report stated they "blew up most of the houses and burned the tents of Kedar", between Tabgha and Buheita. Some 15 Arabs were killed, and the rest fled to Syria.[6] According to Israeli historian Benny Morris, Operation Matateh resulted in 2000 Arabs all fleeing across the border to Syria.[1]

Today

The village was razed in 1948. Some of the cultivated trees such as olives and palms still grow among the ruined houses.[1] Today the village lands are occupied by the settlement of Almagor, which was established in 1961. A popular picnicking spot, Park ha-Yarden ("Jordan River Park"), is 200 metres south of the site.[1]

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. Khalidi, 1992, p. 441
  2. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 69
  3. Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 9
  4. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 118
  5. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 168
  6. Morris, 2004, p. 250