Al-Manara, Palestine

Al-Manara (Arabic: المنارة‎) was a Palestinian Arab village in the Tiberias Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on March 1, 1948, by Jewish troops. It was located 5 km south of Tiberias.

Al-Menara

المنارة
Village
Etymology: the light-house[1]
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Al-Manara, Palestine (click the buttons)
Al-Menara
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 32°45′17″N 35°32′32″E
Palestine grid201/240
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictTiberias
Date of depopulationearly March, 1948[2]
Area
 • Total4,185 dunams (4.185 km2 or 1.616 sq mi)
Population
 (1945)
 • Total490[3][4]
Cause(s) of depopulationMilitary assault by Yishuv forces

History

Al-Manara contains Khirbat al-Manara and Khirbat Sarjuna.[5] The Crusaders referred to al-Manara as Menan.[5]

In 1881, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine noted at el Menarah: "Ruined Arab houses, all basalt; no cisterns."[6]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Manara had a population of 122; 121 Muslims and 1 Jew,[7] increasing in the 1931 census to 214 Muslims, in 33 houses.[8]

In the 1944/1945 statistics it had total population of 490 Muslims,[3] and together with the people of Nasir ad-Din they had 4,185 dunams of land.[4] Of this, 4,172 dunams of land were used for cereals,[9] while 13 dunams were classified as built-up (urban) area.[10]

1948, aftermath

Al-Manara was depopulated in early March, 1948.[2]

There are no Israeli settlement on village land, the closest is Poria Illit, located to the south of the site.[5] In 1992 the village site was described: "The site has been levelled and is strewn with pieces of black stone. At its northern edge are walls of dark stone, with doum palm trees growing in their midst. At the site, a sign (in Arabic, Hebrew, and English) reads, "This is a historical site, please protect it"."[5]

References
  1. Palmer, 1881, p. 131
  2. Morris, 2004, p. xvii, village #99. Also gives cause of depopulation
  3. Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 12
  4. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 72
  5. Khalidi, 1992, p. 531
  6. Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 413
  7. Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Tiberias, p. 40
  8. Mills, 1932, p. 83
  9. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 123
  10. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 173

Bibliography
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