Statistic/Fact	Value
Israeli occupation date	May 18, 1948
Distance from district center	32 (km) North East of Gaza
Elevation from the sea	50 (meters)
Map location	See location number #12 on the map
Israeli military operation	Second stage of Operation Barak
Israeli attacking brigade	Possibly Giva'ti Brigade
Exodus Cause	Feer of Jewish attack, or of being caught in the fighting
Village remains after destruction by Israelis	The village has been completely defaced.
Ethnically cleansing by Israelis	al-Sawafir al-Sharqiyya inhabitants were completely ethnically cleansed.
Land ownership before occupation	Ethnic Group Land Ownership (Dunums) Arab 13,200 Jewish 103 Public 528 Total 13,831
Land usage in 1945	Land Usage Type Arab (Dunum) Jewish (Dunum) Area planted w/ citrus 930 0 Irrigated & Plantation 386 0 Planted W/ Cereal 11,821 103 Built up 40 0 Cultivable 13,137 103 Non-Cultivable 551 0
Population before occupation	Year Population 1922 588 1931 787 1945 970 1948 1,125 Est. Refugees 1998 6,910
Number of houses	Year Number of houses 1931 148 1948 211
Schools	The village shared a school with the other two Sawafir villages, and it had an enrollment of about 280 in 1945.
Religious institutions	One mosque
Exculsive jewish colonies on town's lands	'En Tzurim, Deganim, Shafir, Zerachya, and Nir Banim.
Related Maps	خرائط تفصيلية للمحافظة View from satellite Help us map this town at WikiMapia
More Information	Language External Links Arabic PalGates Hebrew Nakba in Hebrew   Nakba-Online

Bibliography and References

Town Today

According to the Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi, the village remaining structures on the village land are:
""No village houses remain on the site. Some traces of the former village are still present on the surrounding lands, however. There is a building for a water-pump in Isma'il al-Sawafiri's orchard, an old sycamore tree in the al-Buhaysi family's orchard, and an old cypress tree in an otherwise vacant field."

• Nakba Oral History Podcast: Interview with Ramadan Abdullah al-Biheisei