Al-Dawayima

al-Dawayima
الدوايمة
ad-Dawayima
Etymology: The little Dom tree[1]
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Al-Dawayima (click the buttons)
al-Dawayima is located in Mandatory Palestine
al-Dawayima
al-Dawayima
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 31°32′10″N 34°54′43″E / 31.53611°N 34.91194°E / 31.53611; 34.91194
Palestine grid141/104
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictHebron
Date of depopulation29 October 1948[4]
Area
[3]
 • Total60,585 dunams (60.585 km2 or 23.392 sq mi)
Population
 (1945)
 • Total3,710[2][3]
Cause(s) of depopulationMilitary assault by Yishuv forces
Current localitiesKarmei Katif; Amatzia

Al-Dawayima, Dawaymeh or Dawayma (Arabic: الدوايمة) was a Palestinian town, located in the former Hebron Subdistrict of Mandatory Palestine, and in what is now the Lakhish region, some 15 kilometres south-east of Kiryat Gat.[5]

According to a 1945 census, the town's population was 3,710, and the village lands comprised a total land area of 60,585 dunums of which nearly half was cultivable. The population figures for this town also included the populations of nearby khirbets, or ancient villages. During the 1948 Palestine war, the al-Dawayima massacre occurred. According to Saleh Abd al-Jawad an estimated 80-200 civilian men, women and children were killed.[6] According to John Bagot Glubb, a UN report said that 30 women and children were killed.[7]

In 1955, the ruins of the town were replaced by the Israeli moshav of Amatzia.

  1. ^ Palmer, 1881, p. 367
  2. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 23
  3. ^ a b Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 50 Archived 2011-06-04 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Morris, 2004, p. xix, village #324. Also gives cause for depopulation
  5. ^ Zafrir Rinat, 'Bulldozing Palestinian History on Israel's southern hills,' at Haaretz 22 June 2013.
  6. ^ Saleh Abdel Jawad (2007), Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War, in Benvenisti & al, 2007, pp. 59–127 See p. 67
  7. ^ Glubb, 1957, pp. 211-212