Yazur

Yazur
يازور
Maqam (shrine) of Imam ʿAli, now housing the Sha'arei Zion Synagogue
Maqam (shrine) of Imam ʿAli, now housing the Sha'arei Zion Synagogue
Etymology: Yazur[1][2]
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Yazur (click the buttons)
Yazur is located in Mandatory Palestine
Yazur
Yazur
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 32°01′34″N 34°48′17″E / 32.02611°N 34.80472°E / 32.02611; 34.80472
Palestine grid131/159
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictJaffa
Date of depopulation1 May 1948[5]
Area
[4]
 • Total9,742 dunams (9.742 km2 or 3.761 sq mi)
Population
 (1945)
 • Total4,030[3][4]
Cause(s) of depopulationMilitary assault by Yishuv forces
Secondary causeInfluence of nearby town's fall
Current LocalitiesAzor,[6] Holon

Yazur (Arabic: يازور, Hebrew: יאזור) was a Palestinian Arab town located 6 kilometers (3.7 mi) east of Jaffa. Mentioned in 7th century BCE Assyrian texts, the village was a site of contestation between Muslims and Crusaders in the 12th-13th centuries.

During the Fatimid period in Palestine, a number of important people were born in Yazur. In the modern era, the town was the birthplace of Ahmed Jibril, the founder of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC).

Yazur was depopulated and mostly destroyed during the 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine. The Israeli town of Azor was developed on the site.

  1. ^ Palmer, 1881, p. 220
  2. ^ The original name said to be Adalia, according to a local, see Clermont-Ganneau, in QSPEF, 1874, p 5
  3. ^ Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 28
  4. ^ a b Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 53
  5. ^ Morris, 2004, p. xviii, village #215. Also gives cause(s) of depopulation.
  6. ^ Morris, 2004, p. xxi, Settlement #92.