Kafr Lam

Kafr Lam
كفر لام
Kfar Lam
The fortress of Kafr Lam as seen from the southeast
The fortress of Kafr Lam as seen from the southeast
Etymology: The village of Lam[1]
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Kafr Lam (click the buttons)
Kafr Lam is located in Mandatory Palestine
Kafr Lam
Kafr Lam
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 32°38′15″N 34°56′04″E / 32.63750°N 34.93444°E / 32.63750; 34.93444
Palestine grid144/227
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictHaifa
Date of depopulationJuly 16, 1948[4]
Area
 • Total
6,838 dunams (6.838 km2 or 2.640 sq mi)
Population
 (1944-45)
 • Total
340[2][3]
Cause(s) of depopulationMilitary assault by Yishuv forces
Secondary causeInfluence of nearby town's fall
Current LocalitiesHaBonim,[5] Ein Ayala[6]

Kafr Lam (Arabic: كفر لام) was a Palestinian Arab village located 26 kilometres (16 mi) south of Haifa on the Mediterranean coast. The name of the village was shared with that of an Islamic fort constructed there early in the period of Arab Caliphate rule (638–1099 CE) in Palestine. To the Crusaders, both the fort and the village, which they controlled for some time in the 13th century, were known as Cafarlet.

Kafr Lam was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. While the village was largely destroyed, some of its former structures and their ruins can be seen in the Israeli moshav of HaBonim, established on the lands of Kafr Lam in 1949.

  1. ^ Palmer, 1881, p. 140
  2. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 14
  3. ^ a b Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 48
  4. ^ Morris, 2004, p. xviii, village #175. Also gives cause of depopulation.
  5. ^ Morris, 2004, p. xxii, Settlement #121.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Khalidip170 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).