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Welcome To Bayt Nattif - بيت نتيف (בית נתיף)

District of Hebron
Ethnically cleansed days ago

العربية

Google Earth
Picture for Bayt Nattif Village - Palestine: : A single picture that summarizes the erasure of the Palestinian people: here is Beit Nattif before and after the
Gallery (106)
Statistic & Fact Value
Occupation Date October 21, 1948
Distance From District 21 (km) Northwest of Hebron
Elevation 425 (meters)
Before & After Nakba, Click Map For Detailswhat's new
Pre-Nakba Map showing before and after destruction
Map Location See location #4 on the map

View from satellite
Military Operation Operation ha-Har
Attacking Units Fourth Battalion of the Har'el Brigade
Defenders Egyptian Muslim Brotherhoods, local Palestinian militias and some Arab Liberation Army volunteers.
Refugees' Migration Routes Many of Bayt Natiff's inhabitants headed for the Hebron hills, and some stayed in the nearby caves for some time.
Exodus Cause Military assault by Zionist troops
Village Temains Bayt Natiff was completely destroyed, and only house rubble left behind.
Ethnically Cleansing Bayt Nattif inhabitants were completely ethnically cleansed.
Terminating Refugee Camps Villagers mostly live in Deheishe, 'Aida, and 'Azza Refugee Camps (in the occupied Bethlehem District)
Pre-Nakba
Land Ownership
Ethnic Group Land Ownership (Dunums)*
Arab 32,762
Jewish 0
Public 11,825
**Total 44,587
*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics
**Town Lands' Demarcation Maps
Land Usage
As of 1945
Land Usage Arab (Dunum)*
Irrigated & Plantation 688
Olive Groves 620
Planted W/ Cereal 20,149
Built up 162
Arable 20,837
Non-Arable 23,588
*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics
Population
Year Population*
1931 1,649
1945 2,150
1948 2,494
Est. Refugees 1998 15,316
*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics
Number of Houses In (1931): 329 (includes Khirbat Umm al-Rus)
Near By Townswhat's new
Bayt Jimal
         
Jarash
       
Zakariyya  
   al-Jab'a
           
'Ajjur
           
Surif
Town's Name Through History The Old Testament referred to Bayt Nattif by Tappuach, and the Romans called it Beyt Letepha.
Schools The village had an elementary school for boys.
Places of Warship One mosque
Shrines / Maqams Bayt Nattif contained several shrines, the most prominent among of these shrines was dedicated to al-Shaykh Ibrahim.
Water Supply Bayt Natif had three wells which supplied it with its water needs.
Archeological Sites The village has about a dozen khirbas lay nearby in its vicinity.
Exculsive Jewish Colonies
Who Usurped Village Lands
Neliv ha-Lamed-He, Avi'ezer, Roglit, and Newe Mikha'el.
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Village Before Nakba

The village stood on a mountain top in the western zone of the Hebron Mountains, overlooking a coastal expanse in the west and facing a broad mountain range in the east. Bayt Nattif was 1 km north of the Bayt Jibrin-Bethlehem highway and was linked by secondary roads to several of the area's other villages. The site has been identified with Tappuach in the Old Testament (Joshua 15:34). The modern name, however, was a rendering of Beyt Letepha, the site's name under the Romans. In 1596, Bayt Nattif was a village in the nahiya of Jerusalem (liwa' of Jerusalem), with a population of 572. It paid taxes on a number of crops, including wheat, barley, olives, and fruit, as well as on other types of produce, such as goats and beehives. In the late nineteenth century, Bayt Nattif stood high on a flat-topped ridge between two broad valleys. The village was surrounded by olive groves and the valleys below were planted in corn.

The village layout was star-shaped, with discrete quarters and wide streets. The residents of Bayt Nattif were Muslim, and the village had a mosque and a number of shrines, the most prominent among them the one dedicated to a Shaykh Ibrahim. It also had an elementary school. Shops were spread throughout all of the quarters. The residents obtained drinking water from three wells located on the village peripheries. They depended for their livelihood chiefly on rainfed agriculture and animal husbandry. They cultivated grain, vegetables, and fruits, such as grapes and olives. In 1944 a total of 20,149 dunums was allocated to cereals; 688 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards. The village was an archaeological site that contained caves, cisterns, mosaic floors, columns, and the vestiges of a Roman road. In 1934 Dimitri Baramki of the Mandate Department of Antiquities directed the excavation of two cisterns in the village of Bayt Nattif which produced mostly ceramic materials dating from between the first and third centuries A.D. Moreover, about a dozen khirbas were found in the vicinity of Bayt Nattif.

Village Occupation and Ethnic Cleaning

Bayt Nattif was captured during Operation Ha-Har by the Fourth Battalion of the Har'el Brigade. But some discrepancies exist in the Israeli accounts of the occupation of the village. While a Palmach report states that the 'inhabitants fled for their lives' as Israeli forces advanced, the Haganah version states that Bayt Nattif was occupied 'after some light resistance.' The latter gives the date of the occupation as 22 October 1948, while the former puts the attack on the previous day. According to the History of the War of Independence, 'in Bayt Nattif, the inhabitants' bundles were found, indicating that they apparently wanted to leave the village previously, but that they did not have enough time to take along their belongings.'

The village was strategically located, and with its occupation, Israeli forces succeeded in blocking the Bethlehem-Ajjur-Bayt Jibrin road, 'the transportation artery which was important for Egyptian troops in this sector.' Israeli raids continued in the area of Bayt Nattif in the months between its capture and the signing of the Armistice Agreement in April 1949. Israeli historian Benny Morris states that the aim was to drive out refugees from nearby villages who were encamped in the area south of Bayt Nattif.

Bayt Nattif is identified by the History of the Haganah as 'the village of the murderers of the 35,' a reference to a PaImach column of thirty-five soldiers that was wiped out when it was sent in January 1948 to participate in a battle around a number of settlements in the area. But reports in the New York Times from that period indicate that the Palmach unit, part of a shock force sent to participate in the battle of Kfar Etziyon, apparently made a wrong turn and was ambushed at nearby Surif. However, the Arab version was that the Zionist force deliberately attacked Surif, holding it for more than an hour before being driven out. As a result of the clash at Surif, Haganah forces encircled the three nearby villages of Bayt Nattif, Dayr Aban, and Zakariyya in a 'punitive' attack which lasted over twenty-four hours. No casualty figures are given in the account of the siege filed by the New York Times correspondent.

Zionists Colonies on Village Lands

Four settlements were established on village land: Netiv haLamed-He, built in 1949, and Avi'ezer, Roglit, and Newe Mikha'el, all built in 1958.

Village Today

Piles of rubble that have been cleared by bulldozers are scattered over a wide area. Six steel beams stand in the midst of the debris at the site's center. In the rubble one can also see the remnants of arched house entrances. There are two large, open graves on the northeast side the bones in the graves are visible. An area east of the site is thinly covered by cactuses and carob and olive trees.

Source

Dr. Walid al-Khalidi, 1992: All That Remains.

Related Maps Town Lands' Demarcation Maps
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ليسا المشايخ المشايخ ابو ظبي, الامارات العربية
obaida karamh - مخيم العروب شمال الخليل
يحيى زكريا سلامة الغروز الغروز عمان
Hassan Hamdo Mahmoud Jaber Sawaqiq -
ابو حميدة - عمان
وليد الدبس بيت نتيف - الدبس الخبر, الخبر
ابوجواد - ابوظبي, ابوظبي
ابو اشرف المشايخ سوريا, سوريا
Imad Abu Srour abu srour abu dhabi
abu roobbe ikhmayes NY, United States
saedbasheer بشير الضفة الغربية, بيت نتيف
montaha rajab مشايخ -
عيد اخميس الاردن, الاردن
ابن فلسطين اخميس -
Abu Abdulla - Amman, Jordan
محمد ابو ريالة ابو ريالة بيت لحم
ابوالبراء بيت نتيف البقعة, البقعة
عمر جميل المشايخ المشايخ ابو ظبي
سيما جمال المشايخ المشايخ عمان
جمال جميل المشايخ المشايخ ابو ظبي
abo qasswal قصول الاردن, الاردن
ابواحمد ابوعياش الزرقاء, الزرقاء
yousef bassam omar a3mar jordan, jordan
سماعنه أعمر عمان الاردن
lozan ikhmayees ikhmayees -
هاني اخميس - -
ربيع عبدالحافظ احمد حمدالله حمدالله الزرقاء, الاردن
محمد حمدالله حمدالله الزرقاء, الاردن
رائد محمد عقل المشايخ -
احمد دندن - الزرقاء, الاردن
احمد علي احمد السيد احمد السيد احمد amman, jordan
يوسف فتحي ابو حميدة السماعنة الاردن, الاردن
بنت الخليل السماعنة الاردن, المقابلين
Mohamad A D Alsayedahmad - -
هيثم كعوش كعوش الزرقاء, الاردن
أم أسامة المشايخ الزرقاء, الأردن
محمد يحيى كعوش كعوش الزرقاء, الاردن
جمعية السماعنة بيت نتيف عمان, الاردن
YAHIA -ALMASHAIEKH المشايخ عمان, الاردن
eng.zakariya المشايخ عمان, الاردن
نانسي ياسر ذيب الدبس الدبس بيت لحم
BEBO - -
osama al asmar - amman
abushaireh abu shaireh veneto, Italy
fayez nasralla nasralla bayern, germany
أبو ياسين الغروز أبو عيسى -
ابو عمر نانوس نانوس zarka, zarka
محمد احمد ابوحلاوه - عمان, الاردن
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Abu Mohammad - Jordan-Zarqa
ديمة - -
يحيى ابو جاجة المشايخ jordan, jordan
حازم عبد الحميد ابو حميده ابو حميده عمان
رزق ابو جاجة ابو جاجة jordan, jordan
Bayan Ramadan Mohammad Nasralla Shawakek-NASRALLA Amman, jordan
ibrahim issa abu srour abu srour bethlehem, palestine
ابو علاء ابو سرور -
نضال دندن الشواقيق الزرقاء, الاردن
ابراهيم المشايخ المشايخ عمان, الاردن
moodisaied assayed ahmad UAE, UAE
IBRAHIM ABDULKHALEQ SALEM ABU MOHAMMAD JUBAIL, SAUDI ARABIA
issa.yusuf.issa.ikhmayis ikhmayis amman-jordan
yusuf.muad.yusuf.issa.ikhmayis ikhmayis amman-jordan
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waled obei yusuf issa ikhmayis ikmayis amman, jordan
muhamed yusuf issa ikhmaies - amman-jordan
هاني حمدو محمود عايش ابو حميدة amman-al-zohour, jordan
Dr.Ibrahim h.Abu Srour ABU SROUR SPAIN, SPAIN
banan barakat Barakat Amman
Mohamed Sadi Barakat Abo Rashed Amman, Jordan
Majd Abu Halaweh Abu halaweh Palestine, Ramallah
وليد الدبس الدبس الاردن, الاردن
ahmad_sunris - -
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abdelkarim abusrour abusrour ontario, canada
Tarek Abu Halawa - Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Abu Aljuj Ikhmayes New york, New york
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abu baraa ikhmies estearn, saudia arabia
mutasim - incheon, s korea
ahmad hamdan -
zahra ikhmaies ikhmaies New York, U.S.A
Osama-Hamdan Abu Mohammed Abu Dhabi, UAE
Ruba Al-Ghrouz Al-Ghroz Farwaniya, Kuwait
samy ikhmayis IKHMAYIS SAN PAULO, brazil
BRUNO IKHMAYIS sao paulo, brazil
akram karama karama hebron, palestine
Ziyad Muslat - Ottawa, Canada
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Jihad Hafez Yousef Ikhmayes Ikhmayes Jordan, Jordan
Mohammad Hamdi Yacoub Ikhmais Ikhmais Jordan, Jordan
Bassel Nemer Yousef Ikhmies Ikhmies JORDAN, jordan
NEDAL IKHMAIS Ikhmais Jordan, Jordan
Prof. Ibrahim Alghrouz Alghrouz Jerusalem, Palestine
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Jamal Abdul Razzak Sayyed Ahmad Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia
Fayez Abdel Razaq Al sayyed Ahmad TX, USA
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said al-sayyed ahmed - amman
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