Welcome To Khan al-Duwayr - خان الدوير (ח'אן א-דויר)

District of Safad Ethnically cleansed days ago	العربية Google Earth
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Statistic & Fact

Value

Occupation Date

May 30, 1948

Distance From District

35 (km) North East of Safad

Elevation

200 (meters)

Before & After Nakba, Click Map For Details

Pre-Nakba Map showing before and after destruction

Map Location

See location #4 on the map

View from satellite

Military Operation

Operation Yiftach (commanded by the ethnic cleansing champion Yigal Allon)

Attacking Units

The Palmach's First Battalion

Exodus Cause

Military assault by Zionist troops

Village Temains

The village has been completely destroyed.

Ethnically Cleansing

Khan al-Duwayr inhabitants were completely ethnically cleansed.

Pre-Nakba
Land Ownership

Ethnic Group	Land Ownership (Dunums)*
Arab	2,163
Jewish	3,054
Public	371
**Total	5,588

**Town Lands' Demarcation Maps

Population

Year	Population*
19th century	20
1931	137
1945	260
1948	302
Est. Refugees 1998	1,852

*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics

Number of Houses

Year	Number of Houses
1931	29
1948	63

Archeological Sites

The village had khirbat Tall al-Qadi lay about 1 km to the northwest of the village.

Exculsive Jewish Colonies
Who Usurped Village Lands

Dafna and Dan are close by village lands

Village Before Nakba

The village was located on the northeast margin of the al-Hula Plain and overlooked it towards the south. A secondary road passed immediately to the northwest of it and linked Khan al-Duwayr to the town of Banyas in Syria, to a number of villages (including al-Khalisa), and to a highway that led to Safad. It had always been an important stop for the commercial caravans journeying between Syria, Palestine, and Lebanon. An archaeological site known as Tall aI-Qadi lay about 1 km to the northwest. This may have been the biblical Laish, referred to in the Old Testament (Judges 18:29) as a walled town conquered by the tribe of Dan in the twelfth century B.C.

In the late nineteenth century, Khan al-Duwayr consisted merely of two stone houses in which twenty people lived. Situated on the slope of a hill, the dwellings were surrounded by olive trees and cultivated land. During the Mandate it was classified as a hamlet in the Palestine Index Gazetteer. Its houses were made of black basalt and mud. In 1944/45 a total of 96 dunums was allocated to cereals; 2,067 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards.

Village Occupation and Ethnic Cleaning

Located in the northern tip of the Galilee panhandle, Khan al-Duwayr may not have been entered by Zionist forces until the end of Operation Yiftach (see Abil al-Qamh, Safad sub-district) in late May 1948. But it is more likely that the village came under attack well before then, as the Haganah pushed to control the northern border before the end of the British Mandate on 15 May. Furthermore, the village was accessible from the Jewish settlement of Dafna, which was one of the launching pads for forays into Syria undertaken by Zionist forces during this period. Thus, it may have been targeted in the early stages of Yiftach, in the second half of April.

Zionists Colonies on Village Lands

There are no Israeli settlements on village land. However, the settlements of Dafna (210292) and Dan (211293), both established in 1939, are close to the village site; the former is about 3 km southwest of it, while the latter is 2 km to the west.

Village Today

The site is deserted, overgrown with grass. Only the ruins of a khan (caravansary) are visible. The surrounding land is either cultivated by Israelis, or used as forest or pasture.

Source

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

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Display Name

Clan/Hamolah

Country of Residence

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