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Welcome To al-Khalisa - الخالصة (אל-ח'אלצה)

District of Safad
Ethnically cleansed days ago
العربية

Google Earth
Picture for al-Khalisa Village - Palestine: : Let us tour Khalisa's looted Khan, May 2021 -- جولة في ألخان ، قرية ألخالصة ألمهجرة كريات شمونة . #3
 Gallery (99)
Statistic & Fact Value
Occupation Date May 11, 1948
Distance From District 28 (km) North East of Safad
Elevation 150 (meters)
Before & After Nakba, Click Map For Detailswhat's new
Pre-Nakba Map showing before and after destruction
Map Location See location #11 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
Defenders Local Palestinian militia
Acts of Terror Massacre occured by Zionist troops against the town's inhabitants.
Exodus Cause Haganah 'Wispering' campaign (psychological warfare)
Village Temains The village has been mostly destroyed with exception of the village school, a British Mandate government's office, and the village mosque.
Ethnically Cleansing al-Khalisa inhabitants were completely ethnically cleansed.
Pre-Nakba
Land Ownership
Ethnic Group Land Ownership (Dunums)*
Arab 10,773
Jewish 0
Public 507
**Total 11,280
*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics
**Town Lands' Demarcation Maps
Land Usage
As of 1945
Land Usage Arab (Dunum)*
Irrigated & Plantation 5,586
Planted W/ Cereal 3,775
Built up 20
Arable 9,361
Non-Arable 1,899
*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics
Population
Year Population*
1596 160
19th century 50
1931 1,369
1945 1,840
1948 2,134
Est. Refugees 1998 13,108
*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics
Number of Houses
Year Number of Houses
1931 259
1948 403
Near By Townswhat's new
al-Zuq al-Fawqani
↑
(N)
Hunin  ←
al-Khalisa
→   al-Zuq al-Tahtani
            ↙
al-Manara
↓
Hulah Lake
↘           
al-Buwayziyya
Schools The village had an elementary school for boys, which used to admit students from neighboring villages.
Inhabitants Place of Origin al-Ghawarina clan were the original founders of the village and constituted most of the population
Local Council The village had council that administered the village affairs
Places of Warship One mosque (still standing, but it needs renovations guys!)
Exculsive Jewish Colonies
Who Usurped Village Lands		 Qiryat Shemona
Featured Video

Village Before Nakba

The village stood in the midst of bare mounds and overlooked wide expanses of land on all sides except the south. It was on the confluence of the wadis of al-Awsaja and al-Khalasa. It was identified with the Nabatean town of Elusa by E. Robinson in 1838. The site appears to have been a station on the caravan route from Petra to Gaza. According to a biography of Hilarion written by St. Jerome in the early fifth century, when Hilarion visited Elusa in the fourth century he was served wine from local vineyards. The town of Elusa is found on the sixth century Madeba mosaic map of Palestine. It appears to have been a capital city in the administrative region of Palestina Tertia until the Islamic conquest.

We know very little about al-Khalasa in the early Muslim period. The Arab geographer Muhammad al-Dimashqi (d. 1327) mentioned it as a town lying within the administrative jurisdiction of Gaza , and al-Maqrizi (d. 1441) said that it was one of the larger 'cities' in the southern part of Palestine. As traffic on the Negev trade routes declined however al-Khalasa diminished in importance. It was not until the early years of the present century that it attracted much attention; in 1905 the École Biblique of Jerusalem studied the archeological remains there, and the British Survey drew up a plan of the entire archaeological site in 1914. This renewed interest in al-Khalasa coincided with a decision by Muslim Bedouin from the al-Azazima tribe to settle there. They built a village that was triangular in outline, sandwiched between the two wadis' banks. Their houses were made of stone and mud.

Al-Khalasa had an elementary school, established in 1941, and also had a number of shops. The villagers drew their drinking water from a well and earned their living through animal husbandry and commerce. Excavations in al-Khalasa in 1938 revealed a ruined town, inscribed architectural fragments, and tombs. Between 1973 and 1980 three seasons of excavation at al-Khalasa uncovered the remains of an enlarged Nabatean theater, the largest church in the Negev other ecclesiastical buildings buildings, defense towers built into the city wall, and houses.

Village Occupation and Ethnic Cleaning

The village probably came under Israeli control fairly early in the war. The commander of the Negev Brigade, Nachum Sarig, is quoted in the History of the Haganah as saying after the war that, 'By May 15, the entire Negev was under complete Hebrew control.' But there is a possibility that, like Beersheba, it held out as late as October 1948, until Operation Yoav.

Zionists Colonies on Village Lands

There are no Israeli settlements on village lands. The area is used for military training.

Village Today

The village probably came under Israeli control fairly early in the war. The commander of the Negev Brigade, Nachum Sarig, is quoted in the History of the Haganah as saying after the war that, 'By May 15, the entire Negev was under complete Hebrew control.' But there is a possibility that, like Beersheba, it held out as late as October 1948, until Operation Yoav.

Source

Dr. Walid al-Khalidi, 1992: All That Remains.
Related Maps Town Lands' Demarcation Maps
خرائط للقضاء توضح حدود القرى والاودية
Town's map on MapQuest
View from satellite
Help us map this town at WikiMapia
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Bibliography and References

Want to browse more? 80,000 pictures were grouped in these gallaries:

Display Name Clan/Hamolah Country of Residence
ali El-khatib El-Khatib Beirut, Lebanon
أبو عمر محمد عمر آل رميض عيسى الإبراهيم Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
قصي - دمشق
حلم فلسطينية رميض -
muhammad hamad el fryjat -
rami hamad elfrijat damascuse
Hassan Hamade - Berlin, Germany
معن ميسرة رشدي الاسعد - بغداد, العراق
ابو ربيع الدوالي berlin
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aburida abdallah -
walid ahmad - beirut
Ibrahim Al - Kawsmeh Lebanon, Al-Khalsa
Iman Alkhatib - Beiruit, Lebanon
Dr Marzouk al-Gawarniya -
Husien Raad khatib lebanon, lebanon
youssef mahmoud mahamde, ghawarneh utrecht, holland
Mouhammed El-Ibrahim Alghawarna Texas, USA
freijih - canada
Khaled Ali Al Romayh Denmark, Denmark
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