Saris, Jerusalem

Saris
ساريس
Landscape near Saris, on a 1587 print by Jean Zuallart[1]
Landscape near Saris, on a 1587 print by Jean Zuallart[1]
Etymology: Saris, personal name[2]
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Saris, Jerusalem (click the buttons)
Saris is located in Mandatory Palestine
Saris
Saris
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 31°47′53″N 35°04′26″E / 31.79806°N 35.07389°E / 31.79806; 35.07389
Palestine grid157/133
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictJerusalem
Date of depopulation16–17 April 1948[5]
Area
[4]
 • Total10,699 dunams (10.699 km2 or 4.131 sq mi)
Population
 (1945)
 • Total560[3][4]
Cause(s) of depopulationMilitary assault by Yishuv forces
Current LocalitiesShoresh, Sho'eva, Neve Ilan

Saris (Arabic: ساريس) was a Palestinian Arab village that was depopulated during the major offensive launched by the Haganah on 16 April 1948. Called Operation Nachshon, and launched before the British had left Palestine, its objective was to capture villages between Jerusalem and the coastal plain, in order to break to siege of the Jews of Jerusalem.[6]

  1. ^ Zuallart, 1587, p. 118
  2. ^ Palmer, 1881, p. 326
  3. ^ Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 25
  4. ^ a b Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 58
  5. ^ Morris, 2004, p. xx, village #345. Also gives cause of depopulation.
  6. ^ Palestine Remembered – Saris