Umm Kalkha Explained

Umm Kalkha
Native Name:اُم كلخة
Native Name Lang:ar
Etymology:Khurbet Umm Kelkhah; The ruin of kelkha (a plant like fennel) [1]
Pushpin Map:Mandatory Palestine
Pushpin Mapsize:200
Coordinates:31.8142°N 34.8658°W
Grid Name:Palestine grid
Grid Position:137/135
Subdivision Type:Geopolitical entity
Subdivision Name:Mandatory Palestine
Subdivision Type1:Subdistrict
Subdivision Name1:Ramle
Established Title1:Date of depopulation
Established Date1:April 7, 1948
Established Title2:Repopulated dates
Population As Of:1945
Population Total:60[2] [3]
Blank Name Sec1:Cause(s) of depopulation
Blank3 Name Sec1:Current Localities
Blank3 Info Sec1:Yesodot[4] [5]

Umm Kalkha was a small Palestinian village in the Ramle Subdistrict of Mandatory Palestine. It was depopulated during the 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on April 7, 1948, during Operation Nachshon. It was located 12.5 km south of Ramla, situated on the northern banks of Wadi al-Sarar.

History

Umm Kalkha was established during the British Mandate era by the Nashashibi family. Its workers, settling in an area of orchards, came mostly from places near modern Rehovot, including Zarnuqa and al-Qubayba.[6]

Ottoman period

In 1838, Um Kelkha was noted as a place "in ruins or deserted."[7]

In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) noted: "There are traces here of an old town, caves, cisterns of rubble, masonry, and pottery fragments."[8]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Umm Kalka had a population of 1 Muslim,[9] increasing sharply in the 1931 census 24 Muslims, in 6 houses.[10]

In the 1945 statistics the population was 60, all Muslims,[2] while the total land area was 1,405 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[3] Of this, 21 dunums of land were used for citrus and bananas, 93 dunums were plantations or irrigated land, 1,119 were for cereals, [11] while a total of 63 dunams were classified as non-cultivable areas.[12]

1948, aftermath

The Israeli settlement of Yesodot was established on Umm Khalkha land.[4] [5]

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. Palmer, 1881, p. 271
  2. Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 30
  3. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 68
  4. Morris, 2004, p. xx, settlement #14.
  5. Khalidi, 1992, p. 419
  6. Grossman, D. (1986). "Oscillations in the Rural Settlement of Samaria and Judaea in the Ottoman Period". in Shomron studies. Dar, S., Safrai, S., (eds). Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishing House. p. 379
  7. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. 119
  8. Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 426
  9. Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Ramle, p. 21
  10. Mills, 1932, p. 24
  11. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 117.
  12. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 167

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