Raml Zayta

This article is about the Palestinian village in the Tulkarm District depopulated in 1948. For other places, see Zeita.

Raml Zayta
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Raml Zayta
Arabic	رمل زيتة
Also Spelled	Raml Zeita (Khirbat Qazaza)
Sub-district	Tulkarm
Coordinates	32°26′6″N 34°56′12″E
Population	140 (1945)
Area
Date of depopulation	unknown
Cause(s) of depopulation
Current localities	Sde Yitzchaq, Chadera

Raml Zayta (Arabic: رمل زيتة‎, Raml Zeitâ) was a Palestinian Arab village located 15 km northwest of Tulkarm. In 1945, the village had a population of 140. Raml Zayta was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine. According to Benny Morris, the causes and date of the depopulation are unknown, however, he also notes that within a fortnight of a 30 March 1948 meeting "the Hagana, for strategic reasons, decided that no Arabs should remain in the Hadera area and those still there were to be expelled"

However, the British historian R. Esber interviewed refugees from Raml Zaita. Zakiya Abu Hammad said that Yishuv forces besieged the village for about two weeks, causing a lack of food:

"[The Jews] started going into people's homes and forcing them out. They told us, "You either leave or we´ll kill you." Some people were killed on the roads, as they abandoned their homes...They followed us. Those who were lucky, escaped with their lives, others did not."

References

Bibliography

• Esber, Rosemarie M. (2008), Under the Cover of War, The Zionist Expulsions of the Palestinians. Arabicus Books & Media. ISBN 0-9815131-7-4, ISBN 978-0-9815131-7-1.
• 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 978-0-521-00967-6. http://books.google.com/?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=benny+morris&q.

See also

• Welcome To Raml Zayta
• Raml Zayta, from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center