Welcome To Hiribya - هربيا (הירביא)

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

Value

Occupation Date

November 1, 1948

Distance From District

14 (km) North East of Gaza

Elevation

25 (meters)

Before & After Nakba, Click Map For Details

Pre-Nakba Map showing before and after destruction

Pre-Nakba Aerial View

Map Location

See location #35 on the map

View from satellite

Military Operation

Operation Yo'av

Attacking Units

Possibly Giva'ti brigade

Defenders

Egyptian Army

Exodus Cause

Military assault by Zionist troops

Village Temains

The village was mostly destroyed with the exception of the village mosque.

Ethnically Cleansing

Hiribya inhabitants were completely ethnically cleansed.

Pre-Nakba
Land Ownership

Ethnic Group	Land Ownership (Dunums)*
Arab	12,987
Jewish	1,226
Public	8,099
**Total	22,312

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

Land Usage
As of 1945

Land Usage	Arab (Dunum)*	Jewish (Dunum)*
Citrus Groves	2,765	0
Irrigated & Plantation	5,706	400
Planted W/ Cereal	6,403	776
Built up	42	50
Arable	14,874	1,176
Non-Arable	6,170	0

*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics

Population

Year	Population*
1596	963
1922	1,037
1931	1,520
1945	2,300 (60 Jewish)
1948	2,598 (60 Jewish)
Est. Refugees 1998	15,957

*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics

Number of Houses

Year	Number of Houses
1931	234
1948	399

Near By Towns

al-Khisas ↖	Ni'ilya ↑ (N)	Barbara ↗
Mediterranean ←	Hiribya	→ Bayt Jirja
	↓ Dayr Sunayd	↘ Simsim

Town's Name Through History

The Crusades referred to the Hiribya by Forbie.

Schools

Hiribya had an elementary school for boys which was founded in 1922, and in 1945 it had an enrollment of 124 students.

Places of Warship

One mosque still standing

Archeological Sites

The village contained the remains of a tower, architectural fragments, and water reservoirs located in the Southwest. Hiribya also had another couple of khirbat: the 1st is Khirbat al-Sharf and the 2nd is Khirbat al-Yasmina.

Exculsive Jewish Colonies
Who Usurped Village Lands

Ziqim and Karmiyya

Village Before Nakba

The village stood on the southern coastal plain, in a flat area that was covered by sand dunes. A secondary road linked it to the coastal highway that passed about 2 km to the east, thus giving it access to Gaza and the city of al-Majdal. The site dated back to the Canaanite period. It was also known to the Crusaders, who called it Forbie. The Arab geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi (d. 1228) called the village Firbiya and noted that it was within the administrative jurisdiction of Ascalon. Ascalon was an important city in ancient times and flourished in the early Islamic period until the Mamluk sultan al-Zahir Baybars destroyed it in 1270 to prevent the Crusaders from using it as springboard to threaten Palestine and Egypt. Hiribya was the site of a crucial battle in 1244 between Muslim forces and a joint force of Crusaders and some Muslim recruits from Syria. Historians consider it second in strategic significance to the battle of Hittin in 1187. In 1596, Hiribya was a village in the nahiya of Gaza (liwa' of Gaza) with a population of 963. It paid taxes on a number of crops, including wheat, barley, grapes, fruit, and cotton.

In the late nineteenth century, the village of Hiribya had a rectangular layout, although some of its adobe brick houses were scattered in surrounding orchards. The village was surrounded by a pond, a well, and several gardens. To the south were the remains of a Crusader fortress. Hiribya's population at that time was Muslim. Expansion took place along the road linking it to the coastal highway. Hiribya had a mosque and an elementary school, both located at the village center. The school was opened in 1922 and had an enrollment of 124 students in the mid-1940s.

Placed amid sand dunes, Hiribya resembled an oasis. Rainfall was sufficient for agriculture and groundwater was generally close to the surface. The villagers grew citrus, grapes, bananas, and sugar cane. In 1944/45 a total of 2,765 dunums was devoted to citrus and bananas and 4,366 dunums were allocated to cereals; 5,706 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards; Numerous ruins in the village indicated that the site was inhabited in antiquity. These included the remains of a tower, architectural fragments, and, in the southwest, reservoirs. Khirbat al-Sharf was identified with Roman Diocletianupolis (which was also known as Sarafia―hence the Arabic toponym). A bit further east was a Byzantine site, Khirbat al-Yasmina.

Village Occupation and Ethnic Cleaning

It is difficult to determine precisely when Hiribya was occupied, although it was definitely targeted for attack in October 1948 during Operation Yoav. It came under aerial bombardment on 15–16 October, along with a number of towns and villages in the area. Later during the same operation, an attack on Hiribya was planned. But the History of the War of Independence states that the attack was called off when it was learned that a large Egyptian force was quartered in the village. It probably fell to Israeli forces in early November, shortly after the occupation of al-Majdal, a city a few km to the north, at the end of Operation Yoav.

Zionists Colonies on Village Lands

The settlements of Ziqim and Karmiyya were established in 1949 and 1950, respectively, on village lands. The previously existing settlement of Yad Mordekhay, founded in 1943, has expanded onto village lands.

Village Today

The mosque (which has been converted into a warehouse) and the house of Muhammad Atiyya are the only buildings that survive. The site is overgrown with cactuses, camomile, shrubs, and sycamore trees. The surrounding land is planted in wheat, avocados, and other crops.

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

Nakba Oral History Interview with Said Qadourah al-Khatib

Display Name	Clan/Hamolah	Country of Residence
احمد الكومي	-	-
Abomaher	سالم	-
dawoud m s	Salem	Gaza
kamal al arabid mohamed	-	abo dhabi emaretes
العرابيد	-	-
محمود امين ابو عميرة	عميرة	معسكر جباليا
عبد الرؤوف عليان	عليان	غزة مخيم الشاطئ
ياسمين	الغول	أبوظبي, الإمارات
ام خالد ابوشقفه	ابوشقفه	الزرقاء, الاردن
وسيم ابوشقفه	ابوشقفه	عمان, الاردن
Miss Rose-Dawas	-	أبوظبي, أبوظبي
سهيل سالم	-	فلسطين, +972
ابو كمال	العرابيد	-
ابو عدي	حسونه	-
iyad jaber	جابر	-
ابو احمد	-	هربيا
aburahma	altaramsi	lapaz, bolivia
قرية هربيا	نعيم سالم	-
Maher Muin Abu Kloub	ابو كلوب	AMMAN
احمد سيد الغول	الغول	رام الله, فلسطين
محمد	أبو هاشم	هربيا
ابو الامير	الداعور	جباليا
abunedal	ابو غبن	غزة
NIDAL KRAIYM	-	-
kalloupov	kaloub	annaba, algeria
نسيم فلسطين	الطناني	غزة
عبدالله أبو كلوب	أبو كلوب	-
محمد كلوب	-	-
mohammed reziq elyan	elyan	khanyounes, palstine
saidkaloub	-	Guelma, Algeria
شادي الغول	الغول	رام الله, فلسطين
shadi	abu daher	niederِsterreich, austria
الغول	الغول	غزة, غزة
عائلة الطناني	الطناني	السعودية
isa amin hasona	hasona	-
feras	Feras el-ghoul	PA, PA
Husam	Abedrabou	Gaza strip, Palestine
Ahmed Elkomey	-	-
Kamal Kalloub	kalloub	Palestine, Palestine
Faress Abd Rabouh	Abd Rabouh	kuwait, kuwait
Ribhi Salem	Salem	Illinois, USA
khaled alshrafi	shrafi	jabalia, jabalia
rana alghoul	alghoul	-
Muath Kraizim	-	-
said kaloub	kaloub	Guelma, ALGERIA
mohammed el-ghoul	el-ghoul	-
Rezeq R.Abdrabbou	Abdrabbou	Dubai, U.A.E
Jehad Abu Kaloub	Abu Kalloub	AMMAN, Jordan
Anwar	Abu Kalloub	Amman, Jordan

All Registered Members

مدرسة هربيا الابتدائيه التي تحولت الى مكاتب كيبوتس كرميا (בית הבנים) ما زالت تشهد على ذلك التاريخ Duration: min 2 sec

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