Burayka

Burayka was a Palestinian Arab village in the Haifa Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on May 5, 1948. It was located 29 km south of Haifa.

Burayka

بريكة

Bureika,[1] Ibraikeh[2]
Village
Etymology: The little pool[3]
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Burayka (click the buttons)
Burayka
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 32°33′29″N 34°58′32″E
Palestine grid148/213
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictHaifa
Date of depopulationMay 5, 1948[1]
Area
 • Total11,434 dunams (11.434 km2 or 4.415 sq mi)
Population
 (1945)
 • Total290[5][4]
Cause(s) of depopulationInfluence of nearby town's fall

History

The Crusaders called the place for Broiquet.[6] In 1265, Burayka was among the villages and estates sultan Baibars allocated to his amirs after he had expelled the Crusaders. Half of the income from Burayka went to his emir Jamal al-Din Musa b. Yaghmur, the other half to emir 'Alam al-Din Sanjar al-Hilli al-Ghazzawi.[7]

Ottoman era

In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described it as "a small village on a hill-top, with a well to the north, and wooded country round."[8] A population list from about 1887 showed that Bureikeh had about 115 inhabitants, all Muslim.[9] A school, founded in 1889 during the Ottoman period, was located in the village, but was closed during the British Mandate period.[6]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Ibraikeh had a population of 249, all Muslims,[2] increasing in the 1931 census to 237, still all Muslims, in 45 houses.[10]

In the 1945 statistics the village had a population of 290 Muslims,[5] and Arabs had a total of 1,864 dunams of land according to an official land and population survey.[4] Of this, 78 dunams were for plantations and irrigable land, 1,538 for cereals,[6][11] while 15 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[12]

Burayka 1945 1:20,000
Burayka 1945 1:250,000

1948, aftermath

Initially, the villagers did not want to take part in the war, and they opposed garrisoning ALA militiamen in their village.[13]

According to Yishuv sources, the AHC had in early March, 1948, ordered the villagers to evacuate, so that it could serve as a base for Arab irregular forces, However, most of the villagers seems to have stayed in the village at this stage.[14] The village was finally depopulated in early May, in the aftermath of the Battle of Mishmar HaEmek, when IZL attacked the remaining villages in the area with mortar fire.[15]

Today, a civilian explosives factory is located on the site.[16]

References
  1. Morris, 2004, p. xviii, village #161. Also gives cause of depopulation.
  2. Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Haifa, p. 34
  3. Palmer, 1881, p. 146
  4. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 47
  5. Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 13
  6. Khalidi, 1992, p. 155
  7. Ibn al-Furat, 1971, pp. 82, 209, 249 (map)
  8. Conder and Kitchener, 1882, p. 41
  9. Schumacher, 1888, p. 180
  10. Mills, 1932, p. 89
  11. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 89
  12. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 139
  13. Morris, 2004, p. 97
  14. Morris, 2004, p. 130
  15. Morris, 2004, p. 243
  16. "תעשיות חרושת חומרי נפץ - היסטוריה" [Explosives industries - History]. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 30 November 2010.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)

Bibliography
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