Welcome To Huj - هوج (הוג')

District of Gaza Ethnically cleansed days ago	العربية Google Earth
	Gallery (23)

Statistic & Fact

Value

Occupation Date

May 31, 1948

Distance From District

15 (km) North East of Gaza

Elevation

100 (meters)

Before & After Nakba, Click Map For Details

Pre-Nakba Map showing before and after destruction

Map Location

See location #43 on the map

View from satellite

Attacking Units

Negev Brigade

Defenders

Egyptian Army

Refugees' Migration Routes

Huj refugees were forced to Dimra, however, many refugees attempted to go back during the truce, but they were terrorized into fleeing again.

Exodus Cause

Expulsion by Zionist troops

Village Temains

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

Ethnically Cleansing

Despite the inhabitants friendly relationship with the Zionists, the village has been completely ethnically cleansed.

Pre-Nakba
Land Ownership

Ethnic Group	Land Ownership (Dunums)*
Arab	16,741
Jewish	4,236
Public	1,011
**Total	21,988

**Town Lands' Demarcation Maps

Land Usage
As of 1945

Land Usage	Arab (Dunum)*	Jewish (Dunum)*
Irrigated & Plantation	93	16
Planted W/ Cereal	16,236	4,035
Built up	34	40
Arable	16,329	4,051
Non-Arable	1,389	145

Population

Year	Population*
19th century	200
1922	426
1931	618
1945	1,040 (230 Jewish)
1948	940 (230 Jewish)
Est. Refugees 1998	5,770

*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics

Near By Towns

Najd ↖	Simsim ↑ (N)	Burayr ↗
Bayt Hanun ←	Huj	→ al-Jammama
↙ Gaza	↓ Beersheba Bedouins	↘ Kawfakha

Town's Name Through History

Huj was identified with an ancient town of Oga, from which the village may have picked up its name from!

Exculsive Jewish Colonies
Who Usurped Village Lands

Dorot

Village Before Nakba

The village was situated in a hilly area on the northern edge of the Negev desert, dominated by two hills on the east and west sides. It was at the intersection of a number of secondary roads that linked it to Gaza, Bir al-Sabi', and other urban centers. It has been identified with the ancient village of Oga, which appeared on the Madaba map (a document dating from the late sixth century). The village name ended with the Arabic consonant jim. This consonant may have been pronounced like a g rather than a j in antiquity, however, which means that the Arabic name would have been pronounced 'Hug' in earlier times and so would have been an Arabicized version of the ancient name.

Modern Huj was established in the early nineteenth century during the time of Mustafa Bey, who was governor of Gaza and Jaffa from 1818 to 1820. This governor offered land free of charge and built a police station to make the area secure and encourage people from Gaza to move to the site. The American biblical scholar Edward Robinson visited Huj in 1838. He noted that the village houses were built of mud and that its population was between 200 and 300. In the late nineteenth century, Huj had a rectangular layout and adobe brick structures.

Huj witnessed battles between Ottoman and British forces in 1917; it was close to the scene of the fighting. During the years that followed the village first expanded eastward and then expanded to the west, conserving the agricultural land which lay east and northeast of the village proper. The Arab population of Huj was Muslim. (Some 230 Jews resided within the administrative unit known as Huj, but they lived in their own settlement, not in the village.) The village was well endowed with groundwater. Water for domestic use was provided by a 200-foot-deep well inside the village, and there were other wells in the beds of the surrounding wadis. The villagers grew grain, fruit (such as grapes, figs, and apricots) and almonds. In 1944/45 a total of 16,236 dunums was allocated to cereals; 93 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards.

Village Occupation and Ethnic Cleaning

During one of its pushes northwards, the Israeli army's Negev Brigade ordered the villagers of Huj to leave their homes on 31 May 1948. Israeli historian Benny Morris states that the villagers were expelled westwards and their houses were then looted and blown up. Although many Zionist officials considered the village to be 'friendly,' the prevailing opinion was that it was 'unreliable' on the front lines with the Egyptian army, according to Morris.

In September, the exiled villagers appealed to Israel to be allowed to return, on the grounds that the truce was holding. Their case was argued by a couple of Israeli officials, who were overruled by the military authorities on grounds of security or precedent. (Minister of Minority Affairs Bechor Shitrit had recommended that they be allowed to go back, albeit not to their village but to a location deeper inside Israeli-held territory.)

Zionists Colonies on Village Lands

The settlement of Dorot, established in 1941 on what had traditionally been village lands, took over more of Huj's lands after 1948.

Village Today

Only one dilapidated building remains, a concrete structure with rectangular doors and windows and a flat roof. Its former function is not clear; it now serves as a farm storehouse. One can also identify the remnants of a watering trough. Sycamore trees and cactuses grow on the eastern and western edges of the site. An Israeli sheep farm has also been established on the site.

Source

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

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

Display Name	Clan/Hamolah	Country of Residence
أحمد شعبان	-	-
Noor Elaish	-	-
Maram Abumaree	Abumaree	Auckland, New Zealand
عادل عطاالله	-	-
محمد	النجار	غزة
محمد من رفح	-	-
Mohammed	ابو العيش	هوج
Maha Al-Najjar	Al-Najjar	South Carolina, United States of America
ابن الوطن	-	-
محمد شعبان	هوج	غزة
houji	houji	-
aarif	-	gujarat, india
alhelwan	-	alsfa, 21477
huj	huj	huj, huj

All Registered Members

Huj in www.WebGaza.net

PalestineRemembered		About Us	Oral History	العربية
Menu	Pictures	Zionist FAQs	Haavara	Maps

PalestineRemembered.com		Satellite View	Search	Donate	Contact Us	Looting 101	The Home of Palestinians		العربية
About Us	Zionist FAQs	Conflict 101	Pictures	Maps	Oral History	Haavara	Facts Not Lies	Zionism 101	Zionist Quotes