Welcome To Bayt Daras - بيت دراس (בית דראס)

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

Value

Occupation Date

May 11, 1948

Distance From District

32 (km) North East of Gaza

Elevation

50 (meters)

Before & After Nakba, Click Map For Details

Pre-Nakba Map showing before and after destruction

Pre-Nakba Aerial View

Map Location

See location #11 on the map

View from satellite

Military Operation

Operation Barak (lightening)

Attacking Units

Giv'ati Brigade

Defenders

Sudanese Army soldiers.

Acts of Terror

Massacre occured by Zionist troops against the town's inhabitants.

Exodus Cause

Military assault by Zionist troops

Village Temains

The village was completely destroyed, and only house rubble left behind.

Ethnically Cleansing

Bayt Daras inhabitants were completely ethnically cleansed.

Pre-Nakba
Land Ownership

Ethnic Group	Land Ownership (Dunums)*
Arab	15,896
Jewish	0
Public	461
**Total	16,357

**Town Lands' Demarcation Maps

Land Usage
As of 1945

Land Usage	Arab (Dunum)*
Citrus Groves	832
Irrigated & Plantation	472
Planted W/ Cereal	14,438
Built up	88
Arable	15,742
Non-Arable	527

Population

Year	Population*
1596	319
1922	1,670
1931	1,804
1945	2,750
1948	3,190
Est. Refugees 1998	19,590

*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics

Number of Houses

Year	Number of Houses
1931	401
1948	709

Near By Towns

Isdud ↖		al-Batani al-Gharbi ↗
Isdud ←	Bayt Daras
↙ Julis	↓ 'Ibdis	↘ al-Sawafir al-Shamaliyya

Schools

Bayt Daras had an elementary school which was founded in 1921, and in 1945 it had an enrollment of 234 students.

Places of Warship

Two mosques

Archeological Sites

The village contained stone foundations and vaulted rooms.

Exculsive Jewish Colonies
Who Usurped Village Lands

'Azriqam, Emunim, and Khirbat 'Awda

Village Before Nakba

The village was situated in a flat area that sloped upwards on the west and southwest to form a hill. Bayt Daras was linked by a network of dirt roads to neighboring villages, such as Isdud (on the coastal highway) and Julis, which helped to make it into a rural center. The Crusaders built a castle on the hill that overlooked the village. The Mamluks (1205–1517) made Bayt Daras one of the mail stations between Gaza and Damascus and built a khan, or caravansary, there. In 1596, Bayt Daras was a village in the nahiya of Gaza (liwa' of Gaza) with a population of 319. It paid taxes on a number of crops, including wheat and barley, as well as on other types of produce and property, such as goats, beehives, and vineyards.

In the late nineteenth century, the village of Bayt Daras was surrounded by gardens and olive groves and was bordered to the north by a pond. Its houses were built of adobe brick. In modern times the village expanded southwestward along the road to Julis. It had two mosques, as well as an elementary school (established in 1921) that had 234 students enrolled in the mid-1940s. The evenness of the land and the availability of water rendered a large part of the land arable, and the people of this community worked mostly in rainfed agriculture, growing grain, fruit (especially citrus), and vegetables. In 1944/45 a total of 832 dunums was devoted to citrus and bananas and 14,436 dunums were allocated to cereals; 472 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards. The inhabitants also raised poultry and some worked in handicrafts and commerce. Bayt Daras had an archaeological site that contained stone foundations and vaulted rooms.

Village Occupation and Ethnic Cleaning

Bayt Daras was first attacked by Zionist forces in the early weeks of the war. The commander of Arab militia forces in the area described an assault consisting of indiscriminate mortar bombardment on 27–28 March 1948. Commander Tariq al-Ifriqi said that the attack left nine villagers dead, all noncombatants, and caused a fire in the village that burned crops and livestock. Earlier in the day, a skirmish had broken out between Arab militiamen and a Jewish convoy in the area. There was another brief battle around the village after a Jewish attack two days later, on 29 March.

Bombarding the village with mortar fire before launching a ground assault, the Giv'ati Brigade occupied Bayt Daras on 10 May 1948, according to Israeli historian Benny Morris. The assault took place at the beginning of Operation Barak. Morris states that the inhabitants fled during the attack and that their houses were blown up in the context of 'clearing' the Giv'ati's southern front before 15 May, in accordance with Plan Dalet. Egyptian accounts state that the village was not occupied by Israeli forces until shortly after the first truce began on 11 June.

Staff officer of the Sixth Battalion Gamal Abdel Naser (later president of Egypt) recalled that Israeli forces used the truce as 'an opportunity for consolidation' in this area, occupying Bayt Daras. Arab forces had intended to recapture Bayt Daras after the truce ended on 9 July, but failed due to 'a comic stroke of bad luck,' according to Abd al-Nasir. According to the plan, a Sudanese force was to occupy the village in a night attack, firing a green success signal to alert the Egyptian Seventh Battalion, which would move in to consolidate the victory. In case of failure, a red signal was to be fired and the Sudanese force was to withdraw to allow the artillery to go into action. Bayt Daras was indeed occupied by the Sudanese forces, but the soldier charged with the task made a mistake, firing the red instead of the green signal. Accordingly, the Egyptian artillery began bombarding the area, forcing the Sudanese from the positions they had taken in the village.

Zionists Colonies on Village Lands

Three settlements were established in 1950 on village lands: Azriqam, Emunim, and Giv'ati. Later in the 1950s a farm called Zemorot was built on Khirbat Awda, which was also on village land.

Village Today

The only remains of village buildings are the foundation of one house and some scattered rubble. The site is overgrown with wild vegetation interspersed by cactuses and eucalyptus trees. At least one of the old streets is clearly recognizable. The surrounding lands are cultivated by the settlements.

Source

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

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Duh	-	Rafah
ريم أبوشمالة	أبوشمالة	-
د-محمد نصار	نصار	الرياض
ابو محمود	بارود	NRW, بيت داراس المانيا
Ahmad Salem Al yazouri	اليازوري	AbuDhabi
محمد عبد القادر إسماعيل عمار	عائلة عمار	-
ماجد	أبو شمّالة	دمشق مخيم اليرموك , سوريا
محمود تايه	تايه	غزة
محمد أبو شمالة	أبو شمالة	غزة
DESERT F O X	ابو شمالة	-, GAZA
نبيل موسى	موسى	غزة
حسن أبو شمالة	أبو شمالة	غزة
لينا بارود	بارود	عمان, الاردن
أبو صهيب	العسكري	غزة - معسكر جباليا
حسين الحاج خليل	أبوشمالة	الزرقاء, الأردن
مجد أبو شمالة	أبو شمالة	غزة
أبو أحمد	الخطيب	-
مفيد أحمد	أبوشمالة	-
مصعب تايه	تايه	qatar
ابومحمود	المقادمة	عمان, الاردن
الحوت	ابو شمالة	قطاع غزة, فلسطين
ابوعبدالله	-	جدة, السعودية
أبو المعتصم	عابد	غزة, فلسطيني
عمار	أبو شمالة	بيت دراس, النمسا
Yahya	المقادمة	-
ESSAM ABU SHAMMALAH	ABU SHAMMALAH	RIYADH, KSA
sakooob	-	-
محمد المقادمة	المقادمة	-
zombe	-	-
Mohamed Mutawe Hassan abu-shamala	-	Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
مفتول	-	gaza
ساره	-	amman
احمد ابوشماله	-	-
شاهين	أبو شمالة	-
مصعب	-	-
إسماعيل احمد فضل شاهين	ابو شماله	دبي, الامارات
kamham mohammad abushamaleh	-	-
FEW 2008	SHAMMALA	GAZA, PALESTINE
مجاهد البدرساوي	أبو شمالة	غزة, فلسطين
عقيل	أبو شمالة	-
أبو عبادة المقدسي	-	-
أبوأحمد	الخطيب	خانيونس
ابو عمار	عائلة عمار	-
أبوصخر	المقادمة	al remal, فلسطين
faried aboushamalah	motawe aboushamalah	ontario, canada
khaled abu shamaleh	-	saudi arabia, 009662
Hisham Ammar	-	Copenhagen, Denmark
عادل رشيد أبو انس	الأسعد	-
khalid younis	al mqadmeh	-

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