Zikrin

Zikrin

ذكرين
Dhikerin^[1]
Zikrin ذكرين Dhikerin
	Façade of ruined house in Khirbet Dhikrin
	Etymology: Dhikerin el Baradan; Dhikerin the cool
	1870s map 1940s map modern map 1940s with modern overlay map A series of historical maps of the area around Zikrin (click the buttons)
	Zikrin Location within Mandatory Palestine
	Coordinates: 31°39′48″N 34°51′38″E / 31.66333°N 34.86056°E
Palestine grid	136/119
Geopolitical entity	Mandatory Palestine
Subdistrict	Hebron
Date of depopulation	22–23 October 1948
Area
• Total	17,195 dunams (17.195 km2 or 6.639 sq mi)
Population (1945)
• Total	960
Cause(s) of depopulation	Military assault by Yishuv forces

Zikrin (Arabic: ذكرين), pronounced Dhikrin, was a Palestinian Arab village in the Hebron Subdistrict, depopulated in the 1948 Palestine War. The site is located about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) northwest of Beit Gubrin and sits at a mean elevation of 212 metres (696 ft) above sea-level, its access somewhat impeded by hedges of buckthorn and cactus. The entire site is dotted with grottoes and caves, and razed structures.

History

The village was called Kefar Dikrina in Roman times.^[6] Geographer, Adolf Neubauer mentions the village as formerly being called Kefar Dhikrin (Hebrew: כפר דכרין) in several Rabbinic sources, including the Babylonian Talmud.^[7] Neubauer cites one of the sources, saying that the village's name is derived from the fact that the womenfolk of the village bare only male children (hence: dikhra = male). According to Lamentations Rabbah, the region of Kefar Dhikrin was one of the most densely populated areas of the country at that time.^[8] These sources mostly date back to the 3rd and 4th centuries CE.

In 1479, it was mentioned by Tucher of Nurnberg, who travelled from Bethlehem to Gaza and lodged at Zikrin. He noted cisterns here.^[9]^[10]

Ottoman era

In 1596, Zikrin was part of the Ottoman Empire, nahiya (subdistrict) of Gaza under the Gaza Sanjak, with a population of 40 Muslim households, an estimated 220 persons. They paid a fixed tax rate of 25% on several products, including wheat, barley, sesame and fruits, and vineyards; a total of 8,000 akçe.^[11]

In 1838, Edward Robinson described Dhikrin as a "large" Muslim village, located in the Gaza district.^[9]^[12]

In 1863 Victor Guérin visited, and found here a village with about 600 inhabitants. On the west side of the village, there were as many as 40 cisterns. Guérin toured the village with the village Sheikh, whom he described as a "tall, young and intelligent" man, whose father was the Sheikh of Bayt Jibrin, and whose uncles were the same in Tell es-Safi and 'Ajjur.^[13] Socin found from an Ottoman village list of about 1870 that Zikrin had 38 houses and a population of 101, though the population count included men, only.^[14] Hartmann found that Zikrin had 60 houses.^[15]

In 1883, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described Zikrin as being a stone village with gardens and "numerous" water wells.^[1]^[6]

In 1896 the population of Dikrin was estimated to be about 609 persons.^[16]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Zekrin had a population of 693, all Muslims,^[17] increasing in the 1931 census to 726, still all Muslim, in a total of 181 houses.^[18]

The modern village had an elementary school and a few shops. The villagers, who were Muslim, were farmers.^[6]

In 1945 statistics, it had a population of 960, all Muslims,^[4] and a total land area of 17,195 dunams.^[3] In 1944/45 15,058 dunams (15.058 km²; 5.814 sq mi) of village land was planted with cereals,^[6]^[19] while 63 dunams were built-up (urban) areas.^[20]

1948 and aftermath

On 6 August 1948, in the middle of the official Second truce, two squads from the 53rd Battalion of the Givati Brigade raided Zikrin, lobbing grenades and torching three or four houses. About 10 adult males, two children and one woman were killed in the village, according to IDF sources. The last three were killed accidentally, according to the report, while IDF suffered one soldier "slightly injured."^[21]

Zikrin was finally depopulated on 22–23 October 1948 during the third stage of Operation Yoav under the command of Yigal Allon.^[6] According to Morris, most of the villagers fled before the troops arrived, those who remained were expelled eastwards.^[22] According to Morris, Yigal Allon was so successful in completely driving out the local population during Operation Yo'av, that the villagers found it almost impossible to "reinfiltrate" to their old villages, as there was no longer any local Arab population to help them resettle. During a military "sweep" of the villages in early 1949, they found most villages empty. In Zikrin it is reported that the troops found "two Arabs" who "managed to escape."^[23]

Following the war, the area was incorporated into the State of Israel and the land that had belonged to the village was left undeveloped. Kibbutz Beit Nir is about 3 km south of the village site.^[6]

The Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi described the village site in 1992 as being "overgrown with tall weeds, scrub, and other wild vegetation, containing several olive and carob trees. Truncated stone terraces, partially overgrown with cactuses, further marked the site. Some of the surrounding lands were cultivated by Israeli farmers for wheat, and the rest was used as rangeland."^[6]

Gallery

Zikrin map, 1948 1:250,000 (top left quadrant)
Zikrin map, 1948 1:20,000
Old wall near Khirbet Dhikrin
Quarried rock in Kh. Dhikrin
Quarried rock
Entrance to cave in Kh. Dhikrin
Cave at Kh. Dhikrin
Old wall in Kh. Dhikrin
Razed structure in Kh. Dhikrin
Tomb of Sheikh Abu 'Imran, on hill west of Dhikrin
Interior of tomb of Sheikh Abu 'Imran, on hilltop west of Dhikrin
Tomb of Sheikh Abu 'Imran, on hill west of Dhikrin
Tomb of Sheikh Abu 'Imran
Tomb of Sheikh Abu 'Imran
Ruined tower south of Dhikrin, mentioned in SWP map number 20
Ruined tower south of Dhikrin, mentioned in SWP map number 20
View of what remains of tower
Cobwebs block entrance to cave in Kh. Dhikrin
Mouth of deep well, in dale northwest of Dhikrin
Ancient well with stone trough in dale northwest of Kh. Dhikrin
Stone water trough and mouth of deep well, in dale NW of Dhikrin
General view - Dhikrin

References

^ ^a ^b Conder and Kitchener, 1883, p. 258.
^ Palmer, 1881, p. 367
^ ^a ^b ^c Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 51
^ ^a ^b Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 23
^ Morris, 2004, p. xix, village #297. Also gives cause of depopulation
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Khalidi, 1992, p. 228
^ Neubauer, 1868, p. 71
^ Midrash Rabba (Eikha Rabba 2:5)
^ ^a ^b Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 2, pp. 362-363
^ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 1, p. 12
^ Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 147. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 228
^ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. 119
^ Guérin, 1869, pp. 107 -108
^ Socin, 1879, p. 163
^ Hartmann, 1883, p. 143
^ Schick, 1896, p. 123
^ Barron, 1923, Table V, Sub-district of Hebron, p. 10
^ Mills, 1932, p. 34
^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 94
^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 144
^ Morris, 2004, p. 447, note #213, p. 461
^ Morris, 2004, p. 466
^ Morris, 2004, pp. 518-9

Bibliography

Barron, J.B., ed. (1923). Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922. Government of Palestine.
Conder, C.R.; Kitchener, H.H. (1883). The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology. Vol. 3. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
Department of Statistics (1945). Village Statistics, April, 1945. Government of Palestine.
Guérin, V. (1869). Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine (in French). Vol. 1: Judee, pt. 2. Paris: L'Imprimerie Nationale.
Hadawi, S. (1970). Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine. Palestine Liberation Organization Research Centre.
Hartmann, M. (1883). "Die Ortschaftenliste des Liwa Jerusalem in dem turkeschen Staatskalender dur Syrien auf das Jahr 1288 der Flucht (1871)". Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins. 6: 102–149.
Hütteroth, W.-D.; Abdulfattah, K. (1977). Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century. Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft. ISBN 3-920405-41-2.
Khalidi, W. (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.
Mills, E., ed. (1932). Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas. Jerusalem: Government of Palestine.
Morris, B. (2004). The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-00967-6.
Neubauer, A. (1868). La géographie du Talmud : mémoire couronné par l'Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres (in French). Paris: Lévy.
Palmer, E.H. (1881). The Survey of Western Palestine: Arabic and English Name Lists Collected During the Survey by Lieutenants Conder and Kitchener, R. E. Transliterated and Explained by E.H. Palmer. Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
Robinson, E.; Smith, E. (1841). Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838. Vol. 2. Boston: Crocker & Brewster.
Robinson, E.; Smith, E. (1841). Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838. Vol. 3. Boston: Crocker & Brewster.
Schick, C. (1896). "Zur Einwohnerzahl des Bezirks Jerusalem". Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins. 19: 120–127.
Socin, A. (1879). "Alphabetisches Verzeichniss von Ortschaften des Paschalik Jerusalem". Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins. 2: 135–163.

External links

Welcome To Thikrin
Zikrin, Zochrot
Survey of Western Palestine, Map 20: IAA, Wikimedia commons
Zikrin, from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center

[SWP258-1] Conder and Kitchener, 1883, p. 258.

[2] Palmer, 1881, p. 367

[Hadawi51-3] Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 51

[DoS1945-4] Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 23

[5] Morris, 2004, p. xix, village #297. Also gives cause of depopulation

[khalidi228-6] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Khalidi, 1992, p. 228

[7] Neubauer, 1868, p. 71

[8] Midrash Rabba (Eikha Rabba 2:5)

[Robinson-9] Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 2, pp. 362-363

[10] Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 1, p. 12

[11] Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 147. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 228

[Robinsonp119-12] Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. 119

[13] Guérin, 1869, pp. 107 -108

[Socin-14] Socin, 1879, p. 163

[15] Hartmann, 1883, p. 143

[16] Schick, 1896, p. 123

[Barron10-17] Barron, 1923, Table V, Sub-district of Hebron, p. 10

[Census1931-18] Mills, 1932, p. 34

[19] Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 94

[20] Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 144

[21] Morris, 2004, p. 447, note #213, p. 461

[22] Morris, 2004, p. 466

[23] Morris, 2004, pp. 518-9

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v t e Palestinian Arab towns and villages depopulated during the 1948 Palestinian exodus by subdistrict
Acre	Amqa Arab al-Samniyya al-Bassa al-Birwa al-Damun Dayr al-Qassi al-Ghabisiyya Iqrit Iribbin Jiddin al-Kabri Kafr 'Inan Kuwaykat al-Manshiyya al-Mansura Mi'ar al-Nabi Rubin al-Nahr al-Ruways Suhmata al-Sumayriyya Suruh al-Tall Tarbikha Umm al-Faraj az-Zeeb
Beisan	Arab al-'Arida Arab al-Bawati Arab al-Safa al-Ashrafiyya al-Bira Beisan Danna Farwana al-Fatur al-Ghazzawiyya al-Hamidiyya al-Hamra Jabbul Kafra Kawkab al-Hawa al-Khunayzir Masil al-Jizl al-Murassas Qumya al-Sakhina al-Samiriyya Sirin Tall al-Shawk al-Taqa al-Tira Umm 'Ajra Umm Sabuna Yubla Zab'a al-Zawiya
Beersheba	al-Imara al-Jammama al-Khalasa Auja al-Hafir
Gaza	Arab Suqrir Barbara Barqa al-Batani al-Gharbi al-Batani al-Sharqi Bayt 'Affa Bayt Daras Bayt Jirja Bayt Tima Bil'in Burayr Dayr Sunayd Dimra al-Faluja Hamama Hatta Hiribya Huj Hulayqat Ibdis Iraq al-Manshiyya Iraq Suwaydan Isdud al-Jaladiyya al-Jiyya Julis al-Jura Jusayr Karatiyya Kawfakha Kawkaba al-Khisas al-Masmiyya al-Kabira al-Masmiyya al-Saghira al-Muharraqa Najd Ni'ilya Qastina al-Sawafir al-Gharbiyya al-Sawafir al-Shamaliyya al-Sawafir al-Sharqiyya Simsim Summil Tall al-Turmus Yasur
Haifa	Abu Shusha Abu Zurayq Arab al-Fuqara Arab al-Nufay'at Arab Zahrat al-Dumayri 'Atlit Ayn Ghazal Ayn Hawd Balad al-Sheikh Barrat Qisarya Burayka al-Burj al-Butaymat Daliyat al-Rawha' al-Dumun al-Ghubayya al-Fawqa al-Ghubayya al-Tahta Hawsha Ijzim Jaba' al-Jalama Kabara al-Kafrayn Kafr Lam al-Kasayir Khubbayza Lid al-Manara al-Mansi al-Mansura al-Mazar Naghnaghiya Qannir Qira Qisarya Qumbaza al-Rihaniyya Sabbarin al-Sarafand al-Sarkas Sa'sa' al-Sawamir al-Shuna al-Sindiyana al-Tantura al-Tira Umm ash Shauf Umm az-Zinat Wa'arat al-Sarris Wadi Ara Yajur
Hebron	'Ajjur Barqusya Bayt Jibrin Bayt Nattif al-Dawayima Deir al-Dubban Dayr Nakhkhas Kudna Mughallis al-Qubayba Ra'na Tell es-Safi Umm Burj az-Zakariyya Zayta Zikrin
Jaffa	al-'Abbasiyya Abu Kabir Abu Kishk Bayt Dajan Biyar 'Adas Fajja al-Haram Ijlil al-Qibliyya Ijlil al-Shamaliyya al-Jammasin al-Gharbi al-Jammasin al-Sharqi Jarisha Kafr 'Ana al-Khayriyya al-Mas'udiyya al-Mirr al-Muwaylih Rantiya al-Safiriyya Salama Saqiya al-Sawalima al-Shaykh Muwannis Yazur
Jenin	al-Jawfa al-Mazar Ayn al-Mansi Lajjun Nuris Zir'in
Jerusalem	Allar Aqqur Artuf Bayt 'Itab Bayt Mahsir Bayt Naqquba Bayt Thul Bayt Umm al-Mays al-Burayj Dayr Aban Dayr 'Amr Dayr al-Hawa Dayr Rafat Dayr al-Shaykh Deir Yassin Ayn Karim Ishwa Islin Ism Allah Jarash al-Jura Kasla al-Lawz Lifta al-Maliha Nitaf al-Qabu Qalunya al-Qastal Ras Abu 'Ammar Sar'a Saris Sataf Sheikh Badr Suba Sufla al-Tannur al-'Umur al-Walaja
Nazareth	al-Mujaydil Indur Ma'alul Saffuriyya
Ramle	Abu al-Fadl Abu Shusha Ajanjul Aqir Barfiliya al-Barriyya Bashshit Bayt Far Bayt Jiz Bayt Nabala Bayt Shanna Bayt Susin Bir Ma'in Bir Salim al-Burj al-Buwayra Daniyal Dayr Abu Salama Dayr Ayyub Dayr Muhaysin Dayr Tarif al-Duhayriyya al-Haditha Idnibba Innaba Jilya Jimzu Kharruba al-Khayma Khulda al-Kunayyisa al-Latrun Lydda al-Maghar Majdal Yaba al-Mansura al-Mukhayzin al-Muzayri'a al-Na'ani al-Nabi Rubin Qatra Qazaza al-Qubab al-Qubayba Qula Ramla Sajad Salbit Sarafand al-Amar Sarafand al-Kharab Saydun Shahma Shilta al-Tina al-Tira Umm Kalkha Wadi Hunayn Yibna Zakariyya Zarnuqa
Safad	Abil al-Qamh al-'Abisiyya 'Akbara Alma Ammuqa Arab al-Shamalina Arab al-Zubayd Ayn al-Zaytun Baysamun Biriyya al-Butayha al-Buwayziyya Dallata al-Dawwara Dayshum al-Dirbashiyya al-Dirdara Fara al-Farradiyya Fir'im Ghabbatiyya Ghuraba al-Hamra' Harrawi Hunin al-Husayniyya Jahula al-Ja'una Jubb Yusuf Kafr Bir'im al-Khalisa Khan al-Duwayr Karraza al-Khisas Khiyam al-Walid Kirad al-Baqqara Kirad al-Ghannama Lazzaza Madahil Al-Malkiyya Mallaha al-Manshiyya al-Mansura Mansurat al-Khayt Marus Meiron al-Muftakhira Mughr al-Khayt al-Muntar al-Nabi Yusha' al-Na'ima Qabba'a Qadas Qaddita Qaytiyya al-Qudayriyya al-Ras al-Ahmar Sabalan Safsaf Saliha al-Salihiyya al-Sammu'i al-Sanbariyya Sa'sa' al-Shawka al-Tahta al-Shuna Taytaba Tulayl al-'Ulmaniyya al-'Urayfiyya al-Wayziyya Yarda, Safad al-Zahiriyya al-Tahta al-Zanghariyya Zawiya al-Zuq al-Fawqani al-Zuq al-Tahtani
Tiberias	Awlam al-Dalhamiyya Ghuwayr Abu Shusha Hadatha al-Hamma Hittin Kafr Sabt Lubya Ma'dhar al-Majdal al-Manara al-Manshiyya al-Mansura Nasir al-Din Nimrin al-Nuqayb Samakh al-Samakiyya al-Samra al-Shajara al-Tabigha al-'Ubaydiyya Wadi Hamam al-Wa'ra al-Sawda' Yaquq
Tulkarm	Bayt Lid Bayyarat Hannun Fardisya Ghabat Kafr Sur al-Jalama Kafr Saba al-Majdal al-Manshiyya Miska Qaqun Raml Zayta Tabsur Umm Khalid Wadi al-Hawarith Wadi Qabbani al-Zabadida Zalafa

Zikrin ذكرين Dhikerin^[1]
Façade of ruined house in Khirbet Dhikrin
Etymology: Dhikerin el Baradan; Dhikerin the cool^[2]
1870s map 1940s map modern map 1940s with modern overlay map A series of historical maps of the area around Zikrin (click the buttons)
Zikrin Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 31°39′48″N 34°51′38″E / 31.66333°N 34.86056°E / 31.66333; 34.86056
Palestine grid	136/119
Geopolitical entity	Mandatory Palestine
Subdistrict	Hebron
Date of depopulation	22–23 October 1948^[5]
Area ^[3]
• Total	17,195 dunams (17.195 km² or 6.639 sq mi)
Population (1945)
• Total	960^[3]^[4]
Cause(s) of depopulation	Military assault by Yishuv forces