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Welcome To Balad al-Shaykh - بلد الشيخ (בלד א-שיח')

District of Haifa
Ethnically cleansed days ago
العربية

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Picture for Balad al-Shaykh Village - Palestine: : A Palestinian building that was looted by the
Gallery (67)
Statistic & Fact Value
Occupation Date April 25, 1948
Distance From District 7 (km) South East of Haifa
Elevation 75 (meters)
Before & After Nakba, Click Map For Detailswhat's new
Pre-Nakba Map showing before and after destruction
Map Location See location #4 on the map

View from satellite
Military Operation Either Bi'ur Chametz or Operation Bi'ur Chametz
Attacking Units Carmeli Brigade
Acts of Terror More than 60 villagers were massacred by the Haganah on the 31st of December 1947 (new years eve Massacre).
Refugees' Migration Routes Some went to Haifa harbor, and some went to Acre.
Exodus Cause Military assault by Zionist troops
Village Temains Mostly the village has survived destruction. Many of the houses and shops are still standing and are occupied by Jewish settlers. The cemetery is visible and it's in a state of neglect. Late 1999, the cemetery and the grave of 'Izz al-Din al-Qassam were desecrated.
Ethnically Cleansing Partial ethnical cleansing took place already soon after the New Year's Eve massacre and on 24.April 1948, the rest of the inhabitants were ethnically cleansed and bused out by British troops.
Pre-Nakba
Land Ownership
Ethnic Group Land Ownership (Dunums)*
Arab 5,844
Jewish 285
Public 3,720
**Total 9,849
*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics
**Town Lands' Demarcation Maps
Land Usage
As of 1945
Land Usage Arab (Dunum)* Jewish (Dunum)*
Irrigated & Plantation 368 0
Olive Groves 418 0
Planted W/ Cereal 4,563 78
Built up 241 0
Arable 4,931 78
Non-Arable 4,392 207
*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics
Population
Year Population*
19th century 350
1922 407
1931 747
1945 4,120
1948 4,779
Est. Refugees 1998 29,349
*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics
Number of Houses
Year Number of Houses
1931 144
1948 921
Near By Townswhat's new
Haifa
          ↖
Wa'arat al-Sarris
↑
(N)
al-Tira  ←
Balad al-Shaykh
→   Shafa Amr
↓
'Isfiya
↘           
Yajur
Town's Name Through History The village was named after al-Shaykh 'Abdallah al-Sahli and the village cemetery currently contains the grave of al-Shaykh 'Izz al-Din al-Qassam (the grave was desecrated in late 1999).
Schools Balad al-Shaykh had an elementary school for boys which was founded by the Ottomans in 1887.
Town's Notable People The village was named after al-Shaykh 'Abdallah al-Sahli and the village cemetary currently contains the grave of al-Shaykh 'Izz al-Din al-Qassam (the grave was desecrated in late 1999).
Shrines / Maqams A Maqam for the renowned Sufi al-Shaykh 'Abdallah al-Sahli.
Archeological Sites On the north side of the village is the tomb of Shaykh Abdallah al- Sahli and adjacent to it, it's Khan, which probably dates back to the Mameluk Period.
Exculsive Jewish Colonies
Who Usurped Village Lands		 Nesher township
Featured Video

Village Before Nakba

At 7 km distance from Haifa, the village lay on the Haifa Plain at the foot of the north-western extension of Mount Carmel. The Haifa-Jinin highway and the Haifa-Samakh railroad passed to the east of the village. Traveler Victor Guérin estimated the population of the village to be of 500 in 1875. In 1945, it was the second largest village in Haifa District in terms of population, and it was inhabited entirely by Muslims. It had a rectangular layout, the houses were clustered together and were mostly built of cement and stone. Coffee shops and two gas stations were located along the Haifa-Jinin highway, and it also had an elementary school established in the village in 1887. The village cemetery contained the tomb of Shaykh 'Izz al-Din al-Qassam, an ascetic preacher whose death in action against British security forces in 1935 triggered the 1936 revolt against the British occupation.

The village economy was based to a great extent on agriculture and livestock, with olives, grain, and fruit as the most important products. Some villagers also worked in Haifa. During the British Mandate, Zionist investors leased part of the land and established a cement factory on it, as well as other buildings which eventually became the Nisher settlement.

Village Occupation and Ethnic Cleaning

A massacre was committed in Balad al-Shaykh by the Haganah on 31 December 1947.

According to the History of the Haganah, a force of 170 men from the Palmach were ordered to 'encircle the village, harm the largest possible number of men, damage property, and refrain from attacking women and children.' Nevertheless, there were also women and children among the 60 people left dead. Several dozen houses were also destroyed during the attack. The massacre was meant to be in retaliation for the killing of Jewish oil refinery workers the previous day, allegedly by Palestinian coworkers from the village, an action which had itself been provoked by a bombing by the Irgun at the gates of the Haifa oil refinery in which 6 Palestinian workers were killed and another 42 wounded - according to the Palestinian newspaper Filastin. The paper reported that a bomb was thrown from a speeding car while they were standing in an employment line outside the refinery. Ironically, the Haganah had labeled the attack 'irresponsible' [Benny Morris].

After the massacre, the village was partially evacuated on 7 January 1948, and it wasn't occupied by Zionist forces until late April 1948. Plan Dalet had called for the occupation of Balad al-Shaykh by the Carmeli Brigade in the same operation that captured Haifa. After the fall of Haifa on 22 April, some women and children were moved to safety, as a new attack was expected. On 24 April at dawn, Haganah units surrounded the village and demanded that the villagers surrender their arms. According to both the New York Times and Benny Morris, the villagers handed over '22 old rifles' and asked for a truce, but the Haganah refused and threatened to attack if other weapons were not surrendered. At 5 a.m., it opened fire with mortars and machine guns. A British unit which reached the scene at 6 a.m. reported that there was 'virtually no reply' to the Haganah fire from the village. An agreement was then negotiated for the evacuation of the villagers under British escort. Some of them apparently went to Acre, and Benny Morris reports that a few days later they fled the city gripped by panic in anticipation of a new Haganah attack.

Zionists Colonies on Village Lands

Zionist immigrants settled in the village in 1949 and renamed it Tel Chanan, now part of Nesher township.

Village Today

Many of the Palestinian Arab houses and shops are still standing and are occupied by the settlement's inhabitants. The cemetery is in a state of neglect.

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
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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
mask75 المصري حيفا بلد الشيخ
سامر ابوديب - حيفا بلد الشيخ
رغد جمال علي سويطات - فلسطين, فلسطين
sas623 - UAE, UAE
علي سويطات سويطات عمان, الاردن
محمد محمود علي سويطات - عمان, الاردن
جمال فضل -
احمد كلاس كلاس الرياض, السعوديه
jawad al sahli السهلي دمشق
اسماء محمود علي سويطات - amman, jordan
Thaer - -
khaled elzaben ELZABEN -
khaled Al Sahli - -
هيثم زيدان - -
abu waseem hasonah -
ابو علي علي عمان, الاردن
Hussein KAYED Tukan -
maisan - -
Mohd Renno Renno -
RAMI EL SAHLI - LUANDA_MAINGA, AFRICA _ANGOLA AND LEBANON
mostafa al sahli - saida, lebanon
Rabih Sahli - Beiurt, lebanon
Husam Wazayfi al wazayfi Manchester, United Kingdom
Mahmoud Al-Khatib - Saida, Lebanon
Mohammad Al sahli Al sahli Swiden, Swiden
Aziz Al-Noonuh Al-Noonou Oxford, United Kingdom
wesam alsahli - Amman, jordan
Abu Seif el Wazaifi Hakim el-Wazaifi Ontario, Canada, Canada
Zohair Al Sahli Balad al-shaykh Uppsala, Sweden
Naser EL Khatib El Khatib Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
SAEED AL-SAHLI AL-SAHLI FLORIDA, USA
ahmed al sahle abu dhabi, 00971
Jamal Kayed - CANADA
Hasan AlSahli - -
Ayman Kallas - British Columbia, Canada
Safoh Abdul Hameed Al-Sahly Abdul Hammed Damascus
Nedal Amin Suleiman Haj-Ibrahim Haj-Ibrahim Jaradat CA, USA
Maged) Mohamed) Abdul Hameed Warsaw, Poland
obaida Al-sahli Sleiman Damascus, Syria
Nader Ismael damascus, Syria
Feras Sahli Sahli -
Obeida Sleiman Damascus, Syria
moutasim no andahraparadsh, india
nizar alsahli balad alshekh syria
naser alsahli dar said Balad elsheykh denmark
abed al-sahli balad alsheikh Pennsylvania, USA
ابراهيم ياسين ياسين غزه, فلسطين
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