Al-Butaymat Explained

Al-Butaymat
Native Name:البطيمات
Native Name Lang:ar
Other Name:Buteimat, al-Buteimat
Settlement Type:Village
Etymology:"the place with the terebinths."[1]
Pushpin Map:Mandatory Palestine
Pushpin Mapsize:200
Coordinates:32.5533°N 35.0939°W
Grid Name:Palestine grid
Grid Position:159/217
Subdivision Type:Geopolitical entity
Subdivision Name:Mandatory Palestine
Subdivision Type1:Subdistrict
Subdivision Name1:Haifa
Established Title1:Date of depopulation
Established Date1:May 1948[2]
Established Title2:Repopulated dates
Unit Pref:dunam
Population As Of:1945
Population Total:110[3] [4]
Blank Name Sec1:Cause(s) of depopulation
Blank Info Sec1:Fear of being caught up in the fighting
Blank3 Name Sec1:Current Localities
Blank3 Info Sec1:Gal'ed[5] Former: Regavim[6]

Al-Butaymat (Arabic: البطيمات, El Buteimât) was a Palestinian Arab village the Haifa Subdistrict, located 31km (19miles) southeast of Haifa. It was depopulated during the 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on May 1, 1948, under the Battle of Mishmar HaEmek.

History

In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) found "traces of ruins" here.[7]

Haifa merchant Mustafa al-Khalil acquired land in among other places, Al-Butaymat, in the late Ottoman era.[8]

During the 19th and first half of the 20th century, al-Butaymat was one of the settlements of the so-called "Fahmawi Commonwealth" established by Hebronite clans belonging to Umm al-Fahm. The Commonwealth consisted of a network of interspersed communities connected by ties of kinship, and socially, economically and politically affiliated with Umm al Fahm. The Commonwealth dominated vast sections of Bilad al-Ruha/Ramot Menashe, Wadi 'Ara and Marj Ibn 'Amir/Jezreel Valley during that time.[9]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, ‘’Al Buteimat’’ had a population 137, all Muslims,[10] decreasing in the 1931 census to 112 Muslims, in a total of 29 houses.[11]

In the 1945 statistics the village had a population of 110 Muslims,[3] and they had 3,832 dunams of land according to an official land and population survey.[4] Of this, 8 dunams were for plantations and irrigable land, 2,508 for cereals,[12] while 4 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[13]

In 1945 the kibbutz of Gal'ed was established on what was traditionally village land.[5]

1948 and aftermath

Benny Morris gives May 1948 as depopulation date, and "Fear of being caught up in the fighting" as the cause, but with a question mark.[2] [14] [15] [16] [17]

In 1992 the village site was described: "The site is fenced in, overgrown with grass and cactuses. There are no traces of houses except for adobe bricks scattered around the site. Most of the surrounding lands are used as grazing areas, but some of them are cultivated."[5]

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. Palmer, 1881, p. 154
  2. Morris, 2004, p. xviii village #156. Also gives cause of depopulation, but cause indicated in brackets by a question mark.
  3. Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 13
  4. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 47
  5. Khalidi, 1992, p. 157
  6. Morris, 2004, p. xx, settlement #15, July, 1948. Moved to the land of Qannir in 1949.
  7. Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 71
  8. Yazbak, 1998, p. 142
  9. Marom . Roy . Tepper . Yotam . Adams . Matthew J. . 2024-01-03 . Al-Lajjun: a Social and geographic account of a Palestinian Village during the British Mandate Period . British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies . en . 8-11 . 10.1080/13530194.2023.2279340 . 1353-0194.
  10. Barron, 1923, Table xi, Sub-district of Haifa, p. 34
  11. Mills, 1932, p. 89
  12. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 89
  13. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 139
  14. Morris, 2004, p. 132
  15. Morris, 2004, p. 314
  16. Morris, 2004, p. 350
  17. Morris, 2004, p. 406

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