Al-Mirr
| Al-Mirr | |
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 Al-Mirr
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| Arabic | |
| Name Meaning | "The passage".[1] |
| Sub-district | Jaffa |
| Coordinates | 32°06′43.20″N 34°54′57.15″E / 32.112°N 34.915875°ECoordinates: 32°06′43.20″N 34°54′57.15″E / 32.112°N 34.915875°E |
| Population | 170[2] (1945) |
| Area | 51[2] dunums |
| Date of depopulation | February or March, 1948[3] |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Fear of being caught up in the fighting |
Al-Mirr, also named Mahmudiyeh ("the property of Mahmud"),[1] was a Palestinian Arab village in the District of Jaffa, which was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on February 1, 1948.
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[edit] Location
The village was located 16.5 kilometers (10.3 mi) northeast of Jaffa, on the southern bank of the al-'Awja river. A short, secondary track linked it to the railway line running between Ras al-Ayn and Petah Tikva.[4]
[edit] History
A mill and dam built at this site in late Roman/early Byzantine period were repaired in Crusader times and some of the remains of both can still be seen.[5]
Excavations of the mill have recovered several 14th century coins, which indicate that it was in use in the Mamluk period.[6]
The modern village was founded during the reign of the Mahmud II (1808–39), the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and was also known as "Al Mahmudiyya".[4] In the late 19th century, al-Mirr was described as "a small mud village, with mill close to the river."[7]
During the British Mandate for Palestine, the population was recorded as 75 Muslims in 1922,[8] and the village was classified as a hamlet in the Palestine Index Gazetteer.[4]
In 1945 the population numbered 170, and worked in agriculture and with transportation. Cultivated lands in the village in 1944-45 included 2 dunums planted with citrus and bananas, and 31 dunums planted with cereals.[4][9]
[edit] 1948, and aftermath
Before the outbreak of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, al-Mirr's inhabitants left on February 3, 1948 out of fear of Jewish attack.[10] According to Benny Morris, some of the inhabitants returned on February 15, but fled for the final time one month later.[10] However, according to Walid Khalidi, citing the New York Times, the villagers apparently returned yet again, as Jewish forces attacked the village in mid-May.[11] The 13 May attack would have occurred around the same time as an attack into the area by Irgun.[4]
The remains of a Turkish bridge lies where the village was.[4]
Andrew Petersen, an archaeologist specializing in Islamic architecture, visited the mill in 1991. He found that it had probably been built in several phases. Presently, it consists of a rectangular building, 60 m. NS x 10 m EW, on two levels.[12] At the lower level are at least 13 parallel water inlets. These inlets are of two different types, (indicating different construction date); a flat slab roof, and pointed vaulted roof. Between the two levels are holes in the floor, presumably this is where the millstones were connected to the turbines.[12]
[edit] See also
| Old mill of Al-Mirr, presently in Yarkon Park | ||||||
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[edit] References
- ^ a b Palmer, 1881, p.216
- ^ a b Hadawi, 1970, p.52
- ^ Morris, 2004, p. xviii village #199. Also gives cause of depopulation
- ^ a b c d e f Khalidi, 1992, p.250.
- ^ Denys Pringle (1997), Secular buildings in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem : an archaeological gazetteer, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 72
- ^ Shkolnik, 1994, p32. Cited in Petersen, 2001, p. 222
- ^ Conder and Kitchener, 1881, II:252
- ^ J. B. Barron, ed. (1923), Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922, Government of Palestine, Table VII
- ^ Hadawi, 1970, p.96
- ^ a b Morris (2004), p. 129.
- ^ Khalidi, 1992, p. 250, citing the New York Times, 13.05.1948 and 13.05.1948. The NYT statement is based on British Army statement, which, according to Khalidi, incorrectly refers to the village of Antipatris
- ^ a b Petersen, 2001, p. 222-223
[edit] Bibliography
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Al-Mirr |
- Conder, Claude Reignier and H.H. Kitchener (1881): The Survey of Western Palestine: memoirs of the topography, orography, hydrography, and archaeology. London:Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund. vol 2
- Hadawi, Sami (1970), Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine, Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center, http://www.palestineremembered.com/Articles/General-2/Story3150.html
- Khalidi, Walid (1992), All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948, Washington D.C.: Institute for Palestine Studies, ISBN 0-88728-224-5
- Morris, Benny (2004), The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-00967-7, 9780521009676
- Palmer, E. H. (1881): The survey of Western Palestine: Arabic and English name lists collected during the survey by Lieutenants Conder and Kitchener, R. E. Transliterated and explained by E.H. Palmer.
- Petersen, Andrew (2001): A Gazetteer of Buildings in Muslim Palestine: Volume I (British Academy Monographs in Archaeology)
- Pringle, Denys (1997), Secular buildings in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: an archaeological Gazetter, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-46010-1, http://books.google.com/?id=-_NbE5obqRMC
- Shkolnik, Y. (1994); Urban River, EGMI, 34, March-April, pp. 16–34, 71. Cited in Petersen, 2001.
