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Welcome To Kuwaykat - كويكات (כויכאת)

District of Acre
Ethnically cleansed days ago
العربية

Google Earth
Picture for Kuwaykat Village - Palestine: : That is how the
Gallery (85)
Statistic & Fact Value
Occupation Date July 10, 1948
Distance From District 9 (km) Northeast of Acre
Elevation 55 (meters)
Before & After Nakba, Click Map For Detailswhat's new
Pre-Nakba Map showing before and after destruction
Pre-Nakba Aerial Viewwhat's new
Pre-Nakba Aerial View
Map Location See location #19 on the map

View from satellite
Military Operation Dekel Operation
Attacking Units Sheva' (Seventh) and Carmeli brigades
Exodus Cause Military assault by Zionist troops
Village Temains Kuwaykat was mostly destroyed with the exception of its shrine.
Ethnically Cleansing Kuwaykat inhabitants were completely ethnically cleansed.
Pre-Nakba
Land Ownership
Ethnic Group Land Ownership (Dunums)*
Arab 4,668
Jewish 0
Public 65
**Total 4,733
*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics
**Town Lands' Demarcation Maps
Land Usage
As of 1945
Land Usage Arab (Dunum)*
Irrigated & Plantation 1,246
Olive Groves 500
Planted W/ Cereal 3,316
Built up 26
Arable 4,562
Non-Arable 145
*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics
Population
Year Population*
1596 300
1922 604
1931 789
1945 1,050
1948 1,218
Est. Refugees 1998 7,480
*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics
Number of Houses
Year Number of Houses
1931 163
1948 251
Near By Townswhat's new
al-Ghabisiyya
↑
(N)
'Amqa
↗        
al-Ghabisiyya  ←
Kuwaykat
→   'Amqa
↓
Abu Sinan
↘           
Abu Sinan
Town's Name Through History The Crusades referred to Kuwaykat by Coket.
Schools Kuwaykat had an elementary school for boys which was founded by the Ottomans in 1887.
Places of Warship One Mosque.
Shrines / Maqams One shrine for the Druze Shaykh Abu Muhammad al-Qurayshi which remains standing to this date. However, where are the Druze of Palestine to renovate their shrine?
Archeological Sites Kuwaykat has many archaeological remains especially nearby Tel Mimas, which contains an ancient water reservoir, wine presses, and rock-hewn tombs.
Exculsive Jewish Colonies
Who Usurped Village Lands		 Beyt ha-'Emeq
Featured Video

Village Before Nakba

The village stood on a slightly elevated hill in the eastern portion of the plain of Acre. Secondary roads linked it to the Acre–Safad highway and to neighboring villages. The Crusaders knew it as Coket. Travelers who visited Kuwaykat in the late nineteenth century described it as a village built of stone that was situated at the foot of hills. The village's 300 residents cultivated olives. According to a later description, most of the village's houses were made of adobe brick and were built close together, separated only by narrow alleys that intersected at right angles. Its entire population was Muslim. Kuwaykat had an elementary school (built by the Ottomans in 1887), a mosque, and a shrine for the Druze Shaykh Abu Muhammad al-Qurayshi. Because of Kuwaykat's relative proximity to Acre, its inhabitants were able to take advantage of the city's educational, medical, and commercial services. Wells provided water for irrigation and domestic needs.

Kuwaykat's lands were considered among the most fertile in the sub-disctrict. Grain, olives, and watermelons were its chief crops. In 1944/45 a total of 3,316 dunums was allotted to cereals; 1,246 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards, of which 500 dunums were planted with olive trees. In addition to agriculture, the inhabitants of Kuwaykat also engaged in livestock breeding and dairy production. Archaeological remains in the village and its vicinity, especially in Tall Mimas, included ancient water reservoirs, wine presses, and rock–hewn tombs.

Village Occupation and Ethnic Cleaning

The first large attack on the village came on 11 June 1948, just before the first truce of the war went into effect. Eyewitnesses who were interviewed in later years said that the assault was repulsed by the local Arab militia, which numbered around sixty men, armed with thirty-five to fifty assorted rifles and one Bren gun. A much earlier attack had been reported in the Palestinian press in January. That attack, which was also repulsed, took place on 18–19 January and involved a force of eighty Jewish militiamen, according to the newspaper Filastin. The paper also reported that another attack, on the night of 6–7 February, had been driven back; no casualty figures were given.

Villagers interviewed in 1973 said that they were visited by representatives of the Arab Liberation Army (ALA) during the first truce and were advised not to evacuate the women and children from the village, as this would encourage the militia to fight better. On 9 July, the day the truce ended, some Arabs who were collaborating with the Zionists came to the village and asked the mukhtar to surrender, but he refused. That same night, Operation Dekel began and Kuwaykat came under heavy bombardment. One villager recalled:

We were awakened by the loudest noise we had ever heard, shells exploding and artillery fire … the whole village was in panic … women were screaming, children were crying…. Most of the villagers began to flee with their pajamas on. The wife of Qassim Ahmad Sa'id fled carrying a pillow in her arms instead of her child….

Two people were killed and two wounded by the shelling. The militia retreated to a position in a hilly area to the east of the village and stayed there for four days, waiting in vain for ALA reinforcements to recapture their village. Many villagers fled to Abu Sinan, Kafr Yasif, and other villages that later surrendered. Those who remained in Kuwaykat (mostly elderly) were soon expelled to Kafr Yasif. In the early days after occupation, the women of the village often infiltrated the village to get food and clothing.

The units that captured Kuwaykat were from the Sheva' (Seventh) and Carmeli brigades, according to Israeli historian Benny Morris. Morris quotes a company commander in the Twenty–First Battalion who participated in the attack; he confirms the villagers' account of the heavy bombardment that preceded the occupation. 'I don't know whether the artillery softening up of the village caused casualties,' the officer said, 'but the psychological effect was achieved and the village's non-combatant inhabitants fled before we began the assault.'

Zionists Colonies on Village Lands

In January 1949, Kibbutz ha-Bonim was established near the site of Kuwaykat, on village lands. It was later renamed Beyt ha-Emeq. Its settlers were Jewish immigrants from England, Hungary, and the Netherlands.

Village Today

Little remains of the village except the deserted cemetery, completely overgrown with weeds, and rubble from houses. Inscriptions on two of the graves identify one as that of Hamad Isa al-Hajj, and another as that of Shaykh Salih Iskandar, who died in 1940. The shrine of Shaykh Abu Muhammad al-Qurayshi still stands but its stone pedestal is badly cracked. A forest of pine and eucalyptus has been planted on the site.

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

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Display Name Clan/Hamolah Country of Residence
Murad Snoubar Snoubar -
MaysamAk Abu Khreibeh -
hamza munther arif albeitem albeitem manama, bahrain
kawkane nassar danmark, danmark
nawal abdul salam iskander iskander -
Firas Ghadban Ghadban Ontario, Canada
صالح - دمشق, سوريا
5eetyar - -
ايهاب رباح غضبان - Chicago / Houston, USA
Basem elkassem Elkassem lebanon
Kwikati Ibrik Arizona, USA
Karam al-ali Hassen Doha, Qatar
samer al-ali Hassen Doha, Qatar
عادل العلي دار حسن أبوظبي, الإمارات
Mohammed Malih Mustafa Nasra - Abu Dhabi, UAE
abo salha - binghazi, libya
د. صفوت - -
Abu yasser - Nivå
al-hassan al-hassan - ibreeq qatar, qatar
وائل محمد - qatar
ريم نصار - الامارات
Nabil Rameileh كويكات beirut
عماد العلي دارحسن العين, الامارات
Bassim Ibrik Ibrik Nuevo Leon, Mexico
husein ghadban ghadban Abu sinan
Mohamad Al-Khatib - Abu Dhabi, UAE
Abu Mohammed - Doha, Qatar
Ahmad Mahmoud Iskandar Iskandar Doha
FADEL ABDULMAGID AL ALI copenhagen, denmark
Amnah Said IL, USA
Ayah Said Said IL, USA
Zuhdi Iskandar - Michigan, USA
gadban gadban al-mazraa
Raed Iskandar اسكندر Abu Dhabi, UAE
Salim Ghadban Alghadban Denmark, Denmark
saleh Ghadban - Doha
غسان - الدوحة, قطر
wessam elkassem elkassem doha, qatar
Amani El-khatib - Beirut, Lebanon
nazih barakji - denmark, denmark
Emilia AlYehya Beirut, UAE
Emelia Al Habit Al Habit Lebanon, Beirut - Lebanon
racha mustafa - Doha-Qatar
Mr_Palestine Ghadban Abu Dhabi, U.A.E
Darine Maleeh Moustafa Asem Nasra - UAE, UAE
mohamad elbaytam elbaytam manila, philippines
Fadel al Said IL, USA
ZAKARIA GHADBAN EL- GHADBAN bosnia, BOSNIA&HERZIGOVINIA
Mohamad Said Al-Said AZ, U.S.A.
farasha - Qatar
abunoor Eskandar Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Khaled Iskander Iskander Malmِ, Sweden
Rami H. El-Habet - Abu DHabi, UAE
Naim - beirut, lebanon
Ahmed Omar Ibrik Ibrik or Ibreeq Barcelona , Spain
nada iskandar Isakandar MI, u.s
AYMAN GHADBAN Ghadban AZ, United States
Muhammad Atif - DXB, United Arab Emirates
Mohamad Baytam El baytam Sharjah , United Arab Emirates
Samah Iskandar Iskandar Ontario, Canada
Ryan Ghadban Al-Ghadban Sweden
Palestine4ever - -
Fadi Al Baitam Baitam Manama, Bahrain
Ryan Al-Ghadban Al-Ghadban Sweden
Dana Ghadban Ghadban Helsingborg, Sweden
Ruba Ghadban Ghadban Malmِ, Sweden
nasser badran - denamark
yasser mahmoud arour - labenon, labenon
Wessam Abdelrazek Ghadban Sweden
Mustafa Baitam Baitam Amman, Jordan
Nader Iskandar Iskandar Michigan, United States
Maher Iskandar - Michigan, United States
Fatme Abdulghani - ON, Canada
aarif albeitem al beitem manama, Bahrain
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