Welcome To 'Awlam - عولم (עולם)

District of Tiberias Ethnically cleansed days ago	العربية Google Earth
	Gallery (18)

Statistic & Fact

Value

Occupation Date

May 12, 1948

Distance From District

15 (km) Southwest of Tiberias

Elevation

250 (meters)

Before & After Nakba, Click Map For Details

Pre-Nakba Map showing before and after destruction

Pre-Nakba Aerial View

Map Location

See location #24 on the map

View from satellite

Military Operation

Some unidentified troops from the Haganah

Exodus Cause

Abandonment based on Arab orders

Village Temains

'Awlam was completely obliterated defaced.

Ethnically Cleansing

'Awlam inhabitants were completely ethnically cleansed.

Pre-Nakba
Land Ownership

Ethnic Group	Land Ownership (Dunums)*
Arab	10,816
Jewish	7,725
Public	5
**Total	18,546

*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics
**Town Lands' Demarcation Maps

Land Usage
As of 1945

Land Usage	Arab (Dunum)*	Jewish (Dunum)*
Irrigated & Plantation	202	158
Olive Groves	410	0
Planted W/ Cereal	6,623	4,516
Built up	28	22
Arable	6,825	4,674
Non-Arable	3,968	3,029

*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics

Population

Year	Population*
1596	83
19th century	120
1922	496
1931	555
1945	720
1948	835
Est. Refugees 1998	5,129

*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics

Number of Houses

In (1931): 139 (includes 'Arab Muwaylhat)

Near By Towns

	Hadatha ↑ (N)
Ma'dhar ←	'Awlam	→ al-Dalhamiyya
	↓ Sirin

Schools

'Awlam had an elementary school for boys which was founded by the Ottomans, however, it closed its doors during the British Mandate period.

Places of Warship

One mosque

Nearby Wadies & Rivers

'Awlam is situated on the slopes of the westward-flowing Wadi 'Awlam (a tributary of Wadi al-Bira).

Water Supply

The village had six springs supplying it with drinking water.

Exculsive Jewish Colonies
Who Usurped Village Lands

Kefar Qish is nearby village lands

Village Before Nakba

The village was situated on the slopes of the westward-flowing Wadi 'Awlam (a tributary of Wadi al-Bira) and faced the northwest. It was linked by a secondary road to a highway that led to Tiberias and some neighboring villages. 'Awlam is identified with the important Roman city of Oulamma, which the Crusaders referred to later as Heulem. In 1596, 'Awlam was a village in the nahiya of Tiberias (liwa' of Safad) with a population of eighty-three. It paid taxes on a number of crops, including wheat and barley, as well as on other types of property, such as goats and beehives.

In the late nineteenth century, 'Awlam was described as a village built of adobe bricks and was situated on elevated ground. The village's 120 residents cultivated 30 faddans (1 faddan = 100-250 dunums). During the British Mandate the village had an irregular shape, with its longest axis running from east to west. Most of the houses (which were built very close to each other) were built of stones and adobe brick. Their roofs were made of timber and reeds covered with a layer of mud. A small number of houses, however, were built of stone and cement, or concrete. The villagers, all of whom were Muslims, included members of a Bedouin tribe called the 'Arab al-Muwaylhat. The village had a mosque and an elementary school that was founded in the Ottoman period but was closed during the Mandate.

The villagers drew their drinking and domestic water from more than six springs. They relied on agriculture and cattle breeding for their livelihood. They planted various kinds of grain; vegetables and fruits (such as figs, grapes, and pomegranates) also were cultivated. Fruit orchards were planted to the north, northwest, and west of the village. In 1944/45 a total of 6,623 dunums were allotted to cereals; 202 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards. As mentioned above, historical documents indicate that the village was built on at least part of the site of an earlier town. This is confirmed by the many examples of reused building materials and the unused fragments of earlier construction that were found in the village.

Village Occupation and Ethnic Cleaning

Israeli military intelligence claimed that the villagers were ordered to leave on 6 April 1948 by the Arab Higher Committee, ostensibly because they feared that the villagers would support the Zionists. However, this claim is belied by the History of the Haganah, which states that units of the Golani Brigade entered 'Awlam in the following month, on 12 May, and that the villagers 'fled in fear of the Jews.' With this operation, the lower Galilee was emptied of its Arab inhabitants. In the same assault, the Haganah took three other villages: Sirin (Baysan sub-disctrict), Hadatha, and Ma'dhar. It is not clear what became of the inhabitants.

Zionists Colonies on Village Lands

There are no Israeli settlements on village lands. Zionists established Kefar Qish (192230) 4.5 km west of the village site in 1946, on lands belonging to the nearby village of Ma'dhar.

Village Today

Nothing remains of the village buildings except stone rubble; only a spring that was used by the villagers has been left unchanged. The site has been made into a cow pasture, and cactuses grow on it. The nearby lands are cultivated by the residents of the Kefar Qish settlement.

Source

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

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

Pre-Nakba Aerial view of the village / صورة من الجو للقرية اخذت قبل النكبة

Display Name	Clan/Hamolah	Country of Residence
جواد المغربي	المغربي	-
siham qazaq	-	-
محمد المغربي	-	اربد, الاردن
Maram Moughrabi	المغربي	اربد

All Registered Members

Tracing all That remains of 'Awlam Since Nakba
قرية وعين عولم المهجرة في هضبة سيرين Duration: min 33 sec

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