Al-Mansura, Ramle

Al-Mansura was a small Palestinian Arab village in the Ramle Subdistrict, located 10 km south of Ramla. It was depopulated during the 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on April 20, 1948, under Operation Barak.

See El Mansurah (disambiguation) for other sites with similar names.
Al-Mansura
Village
Etymology: Building[1]
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Al-Mansura, Ramle (click the buttons)
Al-Mansura
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 31°50′16″N 34°51′26″E
Palestine grid136/138
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictRamle
Date of depopulationApril 20, 1948[2]
Area
 • Total2,328 dunams (2.328 km2 or 575 acres)
Population
 (1945)
 • Total90[4][3]
Cause(s) of depopulationMilitary assault by Yishuv forces

History

In 1838, it was noted as a small Muslim village in the Er-Ramleh District.[5][6]

In 1863, Victor Guérin passed by, and noted a spring by the village.[7]

In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine noted it as an adobe village of "moderate size."[8]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Mansura had a population of 31, all Muslims,[9] increasing in the 1931 census to 61, still all Muslims, in a total of 14 houses.[10]

In the 1945 statistics, the village had a population of 90, all Muslim,[4] and the total land area was 2,328 dunums.[3] Of this, Arabs used 2,113 dunums for cereals,[11] while 3 dunams were classified as built-up urban areas.[12]

al-Mansura 1930 1:20,000
al-Mansura 1945 1:250,000

1948, aftermath

Al-Mansura was depopulated on April 20, 1948, after a military assault.[2][13][14]

In 1992 it was described: "The site is planted with sycamore trees and there are also cactuses growing on it. The surrounding land is cultivated by the settlers of Mazkeret Batya, this settlement was founded [] on land belonging to Aqir."[15]

References
  1. Palmer, 1881, pp. 9, 272
  2. Morris, 2004, p. xix, village #260. Also gives cause of depopulation.
  3. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 67
  4. Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 30
  5. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. 120
  6. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, p. 21
  7. Guérin, 1869, pp. 34-35
  8. Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 408
  9. Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Ramleh, p. 21
  10. Mills, 1932, p. 21
  11. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 116
  12. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 166
  13. Morris, 2004, p. 125 note #455, p. 157
  14. Morris, 2004, p. 240 note #581, p. 295
  15. Khalidi, 1992, p. 398

Bibliography
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