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Welcome To Barbara - بربره (ברברה)

District of Gaza
Ethnically cleansed days ago
العربية

Google Earth
Picture for Barbara Village - Palestine: : Abu Hamed (on the left) and his 70-year-old Mohammed hold their land titles #2
 Gallery (48)
Statistic & Fact Value
Occupation Date November 4, 1948
Distance From District 17 (km) North East of Gaza
Elevation 50 (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 #30 on the map

View from satellite
Military Operation Operation Yo'av
Attacking Units Possibly a combination of Giv'ati, Negev, and Yiftach brigades.
Defenders Egyptian Army
Exodus Cause Military assault by Zionist troops
Village Temains The village was completely destroyed, and only house rubble left behind.
Ethnically Cleansing Barbara inhabitants were completely ethnically cleansed.
Clans For now, we're aware of the clans of Adwan, 'Ayesh, Ahmad, Younis, Al Ashqar, as well as branches of above, Saleh, Saad Al Din, Abu Sharik, Abu Selimeh, Al Sharif, Nashuan, Shehadeh, Hammad, Nasar, Abu Dubaa, and Eid. Please do not hesitate to contact us if your clan name is not listed.
Pre-Nakba
Land Ownership
Ethnic Group Land Ownership (Dunums)*
Arab 13,477
Jewish 0
Public 501
**Total 13,978
*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics
**Town Lands' Demarcation Maps
Land Usage
As of 1945
Land Usage Arab (Dunum)*
Citrus Groves 132
Irrigated & Plantation 2,952
Planted W/ Cereal 9,615
Built up 70
Arable 12,699
Non-Arable 1,209
*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics
Population
Year Population*
1596 402
1922 1,369
1931 1,546
1945 2,410
1948 2,796
Est. Refugees 1998 17,168
*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics
Number of Houses
Year Number of Houses
1931 318
1948 575
Near By Townswhat's new
al-Khisas
          ↖
Ni'ilya
↑
(N)
al-Jiyya
↗        
Mediterranean  ←
Barbara
→   Bayt Tima
            ↙
Hiribya
↓
Bayt Jirja
↘           
Hulayqat
Town's Name Through History The Romans referred to Barbara by Barbara.
Schools Barbara had an elementary school for boys which was founded in 1921, and in 1947 it had an enrollment of 252 students.
Places of Warship Barbara had an old mosque which was built during the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Murad III (1574-1596).
Shrines / Maqams The village had a shrine/maqam for a local Muslim scholar known by al-Shaykh Yusuf al-Barbarawi.
Exculsive Jewish Colonies
Who Usurped Village Lands		 Mavqi'im & Talmey yare
Featured Video

Village Before Nakba

The village was on the eastern periphery of the coastal sand dunes that ran parallel to the Mediterranean. The village center was situated on a relatively flat spot, but some village buildings were near dunes on uneven ground. Sand encroachment presented a serious problem until the 1940s, when the inhabitants were able to stabilize the dunes by building houses and planting trees in the appropriate places. Barbara was located immediately to the west of the coastal highway and the railway line and so had access to the urban centers both north and south; secondary roads linked it to adjacent villages. A village with the same name (Barbara) appears to have existed on this site during the Roman occupation of Palestine. The Arab geographer Mujir al-Din al-Hanbali (d. ca. 1522) said that the village was the hometown of al-Shaykh Yusuf al-Barbarawi, a local sage and a student of renowned Muslim scholar Ahmad ibn Dawud, who died in 1323. In 1596, Barbara was a village in the nahiya of Gaza (liwa' of Gaza), with a population of 402.

In the late nineteenth century, the village of Barbara was rectangular in shape and surrounded by gardens and two ponds. The sand encroaching from the coast was stopped by the cactus hedges of the gardens. Olive groves were found in the east. Barbara's adobe brick houses were separated by sandy streets. Its population was Muslim, and worshipped in an old mosque at the village center. This mosque was established during the reign of the Ottoman sultan Murad III (1574–1596); it contained the tomb of the above-mentioned al-Shaykh Yusuf al-Barbarawi. In addition to the mosque, the village center contained a number of shops and an elementary school—founded in 1921―in which 252 students were enrolled in 1947.

Agricultural land ringed the village on all sides. Grapes, the chief crop and considered some of the best in Palestine, were sold in numerous coastal towns and villages. In addition, people cultivated almonds, figs, olives, oranges, guavas, watermelons, cantaloupes, and grain. The fruit trees were concentrated on the west side of the village and grain on the east. In 1944/45 a total of 132 dunums was devoted to citrus and bananas, and 9,613 dunums were allocated to cereals; 2,952 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards. Agriculture was primarily rainfed. A few wells with depths of 35–40 m were drilled to irrigate the orange groves and vegetable fields. Barbara was also known for its long rugs, al-mazawid, which were woven by women.

Village Occupation and Ethnic Cleaning

Barbara had been the scene of skirmishes since the early weeks of the war. In the first half of January 1948, a Jewish bus passing through the village opened fire on villagers, without causing any casualties. On 12 January at 7:00 a.m., according to a report in the Palestinian newspaper Filastin, the village was sprayed with gunfire and several windows were broken in the (empty) village school. Another attack, which took place in April 1948, was recorded by Tariq al-Ifriqi, the Sudanese commander of the irregular Arab forces in the Gaza area. As villagers ploughed their fields on 10 April, they were fired at by members of a nearby Jewish settlement; one villager was wounded. The village militia returned the fire, and a two-hour-long battle ensued. No casualties were reported among the villagers, who said that Jewish forces were seen carrying their dead and wounded as they withdrew.

Barbara was captured toward the end of the Operation Yoav, on 4–5 November, soon after al-Majdal. The villagers were either expelled or fled under fire.

Zionists Colonies on Village Lands

Two settlements were built on village lands. Mavqi'im was established on 12 January 1949, just south of the village, for the purpose of preventing the villagers' return. Talmey Yafe, established in 1950, is southeast of the site. Ge'a, built in the same year, is northeast of the site and is close to, but not on, village lands; it was built on the lands of the neighboring al-Jiyya.

Village Today

The crumbled walls and debris of houses are all that remains of the village buildings. The debris is overgrown with thorns and brush. Old eucalyptus and sycamore trees and cactuses also grow on the site. Some of the old streets are clearly identifiable. One area of the site serves as a garbage dump and a junkyard for old cars. The surrounding lands are planted by Israeli farmers in corn.

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
محمد سعد (صالحة) - Chui, قرغيزستان
احمد يونس يونس قطاع غزة, فلسطين
هيثم عايش حمدان حمدان -
ديانا - غزة, فلسطين
Feda.Adwan ADWAN sana'a, Yemen
أحمد عدوان عدوان -
Dr .yasser ayesh Ayesh Ayesh Riyadh
عاطف صالح عمان, الاردن
DR.Ahmed nassar nassar بربرة
Renad Adwan Jordan, Jordan
Abu Saleh Ayesh -
سامر أحمد أحمد غزة
أيمن عبد الحليم نصار البيضاء, ليبيا
حسن نصار غزة, بربرة
Abu Elzein زين الدين ramallah
جمال نصار نصار الدوحة
Wafa Halawa Gaza Strip, Palestine
Ayman Saleem Ahmad West Bank, Palestine
إسماعيل أحمد غزة, فلسطين
Barber Jones - -
bessan salam shehada amman
UM IBRAHEEM elashkar qatar, qatar
Rania Adwan Adwan -
jihad younis younis Palestine, Rafah-Gaza
randa adwan adwan riffa, bahrain
wael nassar nassar azyzya, saudi aribia
Mohammad Ali Adwan Adwan jeddah, saudi arabia
DR ABDALLA NASSAR nassar gaza
almaza abu-nahel abu-nahel marbella, spain
dr. ismail el-ashkar el-ashkar marbella, spain
Munir Hassan Adwan - Amman Jordan
Hassan Adwan Adwan Amman
Mahmoud Hammad Hammad Amman, Jordan
Ali Hag Abed Tayebah, Israel
zead m ABOU SHAWISH abou shawish syria, syria damascus
Mohamed Edwan - Istanbul, TURKEY
kamal adwan ., s.arabia
Rami Adwan Adwan -
Maysarah 3idwan Adwan ISTANBUL, Turkey
Afaf Adwan Adwan London, UK
Linda Hammad Hammad -
Aminah Hammad Hammad Texas, USA
محمود محسن احمد احمد Gaza, Palestine
abusami ahmed palestine , gaza strip
abd el jawad mousa hassan adwan adwan yemen, yemen
Mohammed - -
Abdel Gabbar Adwan Adwan -
MONTASER - 00966, saudi arabia
Mohammed Hammad Hammad Niedersachsen, Germany
aref ramadan AHMAD md, USA
abu suhail edwan malaga, spain
Sousan Hammad Hammad -
Buthayna Hammad Hammad Texas, usa
Nadia Hammad Hammad CO, USA
Muhammad Hammad Hammad -
Iman Hammad Hammad TX, USA
Ramsey Hammad Hammad Texas, USA
Edwan Edwan "E is Ain in arabic" -
All Registered Members
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