Welcome To al-Batani al-Gharbi - البطاني الغربي (אל-בטאני אל-ע'רבי)

District of Gaza Ethnically cleansed days ago	العربية Google Earth
	Gallery (7)

Statistic & Fact

Value

Occupation Date

May 13, 1948

Distance From District

36 (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 #5 on the map

View from satellite

Military Operation

Operation Barak (lightening)

Attacking Units

Giv'ati Brigade

Exodus Cause

Military assault by Zionist troops

Village Temains

The village was completely obliterated.

Ethnically Cleansing

al-Batani al-Gharbi inhabitants were completely ethnically cleansed.

Pre-Nakba
Land Ownership

Ethnic Group	Land Ownership (Dunums)*
Arab	4,475
Jewish	0
Public	99
**Total	4,574

**Town Lands' Demarcation Maps

Land Usage
As of 1945

Land Usage	Arab (Dunum)*
Citrus Groves	170
Irrigated & Plantation	95
Planted W/ Cereal	4,152
Built up	34
Arable	4,417
Non-Arable	123

Population

Year	Population*
1922	556
1931	667
1945	980
1948	1,137
Est. Refugees 1998	6,981

*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics

Number of Houses

Year	Number of Houses
1931	147
1948	250

Near By Towns

'Arab Suqrir ↖	Barqa ↑ (N)	Yasur ↗
Isdud ←	al-Batani al-Gharbi	→ al-Batani al-Sharqi
↙ Bayt Daras	↓ al-Sawafir al-Shamaliyya

Schools

al-Batani al-Gharbi had an elementary school for boys founded in 1947, and it had an initial enrollment of 119 students. It should be noted that students from the nearby villages of Barqa and al-Batini al-Sharqi used to attend the same school too.

Places of Warship

One mosque

Exculsive Jewish Colonies
Who Usurped Village Lands

No settlements on village land.

Village Before Nakba

The village stood on flat terrain on the southern coastal plain. It was one of two villages named al-Batani. Its twin, al-Batani al-Sharqi, lay to the east. The names of the two villages identified one as 'eastern' (sharqi) and the other as 'western' (gharbi). A military airport was built during the Mandate on flat land about 2 km south of the village. Secondary roads linked al-Batani al-Gharbi to adjacent villages, including Yasur and Isdud on the coastal highway. The earliest available reference to al-Batani indicates that it was originally founded as a 'ranch' for the first Umayyad caliph, Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan (A.D. 661–680)

In the late nineteenth century, the village of al-Batani al-Gharbi was situated on low ground and had a rectangular shape, extending along a southeast–northwest line. Construction initially expanded along the two short sides of the rectangle, then along the roads to other villages. The village houses, made of adobe brick with wood and cane roofs, were built close together, separated by narrow alleys. Along with a pond and a few wells, scattered patches of garden could be seen on the village lands. The two al-Batanis shared an elementary school that was opened in 1947 with an initial enrollment of 119 students. The population was Muslim, and the village had its own mosque as well as a number of small shops. The villagers worked mainly in agriculture, cultivating, among other crops, grain and citrus. In 1944/45 a total of 170 dunums was devoted to citrus and bananas and 4,152 dunums were allotted to cereals; 95 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards. Agriculture was both rainfed and irrigated from wells that were scattered across the landscape. These wells also supplied water for domestic use. In addition to crop cultivation, the community engaged in animal husbandry and poultry raising

Village Occupation and Ethnic Cleaning

Al-Batani al-Gharbi was one of four villages occupied on 18 May 1948 during the second stage of Operation Barak. It was occupied a few days after the fall of al-Batani al-Sharqi. Israeli historian Benny Morris states that 'most of the inhabitants of these villages had fled either before or during the attack; a few were probably expelled.'

Zionists Colonies on Village Lands

There are no Israeli settlements on village land. The settlement of Azriqam, established in 1950, is close to the village site, to the south, on the land of Bayt Daras.

Village Today

Cactuses and fig and sycamore trees grow on the site, and some of the village streets are still clearly recognizable. The adjacent land is partially cultivated by the nearby kibbutz. A stone quarry is also located on village lands.

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

Display Name	Clan/Hamolah	Country of Residence
Sami	Hasanain	London, Canada
أحمد الدربي	الدربي	غزه
A Alnawajha	النواجحه	-
رزق أبورزق	النواجحة	-
نعيم الدويك	الدويك	-
أبو عبيدة	المدلل	غزة, فلسطين
Khaled Halabi	الحلبي	قطاع غزة, فلسطين
al-jub	al-jub	singl, jordan
Rushdi	KHALAF	ONTARIO , CANADA

All Registered Members

في موقع قرية البطاني المهجرة (قضاء الر ملة ) Duration: min 56 sec

al-Batani (al-Gharbi, al-Sharqi) in www.WebGaza.net

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