Fajja Explained

Fajja
Native Name:فجّة
Native Name Lang:ar
Etymology:from personal name[1]
Pushpin Map:Mandatory Palestine
Pushpin Mapsize:200
Coordinates:32.0867°N 34.9022°W
Grid Name:Palestine grid
Grid Position:141/165
Subdivision Type:Geopolitical entity
Subdivision Name:Mandatory Palestine
Subdivision Type1:Subdistrict
Subdivision Name1:Jaffa
Established Title1:Date of depopulation
Established Date1:May 15, 1948[2]
Established Title2:Repopulated dates
Unit Pref:dunam
Area Total Km2:4.4
Area Total Dunam:4,419
Population As Of:1945
Population Total:1,200[3]
Blank Name Sec1:Cause(s) of depopulation
Blank Info Sec1:Whispering campaign
Blank3 Name Sec1:Current Localities
Blank3 Info Sec1:Petah Tikva

Fajja (ar|فجّة) was a Palestinian town located 15 kilometers northeast of Jaffa. Ethnically cleansed during the Nakba, its land area is today part of the Israeli city of Petah Tikva.

History

Pottery remains from the Chalcolithic, Middle Bronze II, Iron, Persian and Roman eras have been found here.[4] [5]

Winepresses, dated to the Roman/Byzantine era (5th and 6th century) have been excavated here,[4] [6] and pottery remains from the Byzantine era have also been found.[5]

Pottery from the early Islamic period (eighth–tenth centuries CE) have been excavated here, as has glass artefacts from the early Umayyad era, and ceramic jugs from the Abbasid era.[5]

Ceramic vessels dating to the twelfth–thirteenth centuries CE (ie Crusader or Ayyubid era) "including a glazed yellow bowl with an incised decoration that may represent a Latin letter" have also been found.[5]

Ottoman era

In 1856 the village was named el−Fejjeh on Kiepert's map of Palestine published that year.[7]

In 1870, Victor Guérin found the village to be divided into two quarters, each with its own Sheikh. He estimated it to have 300 inhabitants,[8] while an Ottoman village list from about the same year found that Fajja had a population of 110, in 35 houses, though the population count only included men.[9] [10]

In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Fajja as a small village built of adobe bricks.[11]

British Mandate era

See also: Battle of Jaffa (1917). In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Fajjeh had a population of 164, all Muslims,[12] increasing sharply in the 1931 census, to 707, still all Muslims, in a total of 165 houses.[13]

The town had one elementary school, founded in 1922. By 1945 it had 181 students, including 10 females.[14]

In the 1945 statistics, Fajja had 1,200 Muslim inhabitants, in addition to 370 Jews, and a total land area of 4,419 dunams.[3] [15] Of this, a total of 768 dunams was used for citrus and bananas, 61 dunams were irrigated or used for orchards, 3,863 used for cereals,[16] while 7 dunams were classified as built-up areas.[17]

1948, aftermath

In early April, the villagers of Fajja sued for a truce with their Jewish neighbours.[18] Also, the villagers of Fajja later contacted their Jewish neighbours and promised "quiet".[19] It was occupied by the Haganah and Irgun on May 15, 1948, without any resistance. Most of the Arab inhabitants fled the town before its capture by Israeli forces due to alleged attacks by the Irgun on February 17. In June 1948, the town was demolished based on the recommendation of Yosef Weitz of the Jewish National Fund.[20] Most of the town's land is currently a part of the jurisdiction of the city of Petah Tikva.

In 1992 the village site was described by Walid Khalidi: "The village has been completely razed except for one house and a pond. Eucalyptus trees and cactuses further mark the site. The surrounding land is partly occupied by buildings; the rest is cultivated."[14]

See also

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. Palmer, 1881, p. 214
  2. Morris, 2004, p. xviii, village #203. Also gives cause of depopulation.
  3. Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 27
  4. Kaplan and Kaplan, cited in Bar-Nathan, 2002, p. 108
  5. Haddad, 2009, Petah Tiqwa
  6. Kaplan and Cohen, 1963, cited in Gorzalczany, 2005, Petah Tiqwa, Mahane Yehuda
  7. Kiepert, 1856, Map of Southern Palestine
  8. Guérin, 1875, pp. 371-372
  9. Socin, 1879, p. 154
  10. Hartmann, 1883, p. 137 also noted 35 houses
  11. Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP II, p.251. Cited in Khalidi, 1992, p. 240.
  12. Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Jaffa, p. 20
  13. Mills, 1932, p. 13
  14. Khalidi, 1992, p. 240
  15. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 52
  16. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 95
  17. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 145
  18. Morris, 2004, p. 246, note #644 on p. 298
  19. Morris, 2004, p. 240, note #581 on p. 295
  20. http://www.palestineremembered.com/Jaffa/Fajja/index.html District of Jaffa: Fajja Town Statistics and Facts

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