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Welcome To al-Tantura - الطنطورة (טנטורה)

District of Haifa
Ethnically cleansed days ago
العربية

Google Earth
Picture for al-Tantura Village - Palestine: : Aerial view looking towards the north -- منظر عام من الجو نحو الشمال
 Gallery (203)
Statistic & Fact Value
Occupation Date May 21, 1948
Distance From District 24 (km) South of Haifa
Elevation under 25 (meters)
Before & After Nakba, Click Map For Detailswhat's new
Pre-Nakba Map showing before and after destruction
Pre-Nakba Aerial Viewwhat's new
Pre-Nakba Aerial View
Map Location See location #26 on the map

View from satellite
Military Operation Coastal Clearing
Attacking Units The Haganah's Thirty Third Battalion (the Third Battalion of the Alexandroni Brigade)
Acts of Terror A newly discovered massacre of almost 250 unarmed POWs. Please details in Memories and Stories section
Refugees' Migration Routes Some of the refugees went to the Triangle, while as many as 1,200 were expelled to nearby al-Furaydis.
Exodus Cause Expulsion by Zionist troops
Village Temains The village has been mostly destroyed with the exception of few houses remain.
Ethnically Cleansing al-Tantura inhabitants were completely ethnically cleansed.
Pre-Nakba
Land Ownership
Ethnic Group Land Ownership (Dunums)*
Arab 11,758
Jewish 2,051
Public 711
**Total 14,520
*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics
**Town Lands' Demarcation Maps
Land Usage
As of 1945
Land Usage Arab (Dunum)* Jewish (Dunum)*
Citrus Groves 26 0
Irrigated & Plantation 287 573
Olive Groves 20 0
Planted W/ Cereal 6,777 662
Built up 120 3
Arable 7,090 1,235
Non-Arable 5,259 813
*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics
Population
Year Population*
19th century 1,200
1922 750
1931 953
1945 1,490
1948 1,728
Est. Refugees 1998 10,614
*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics
Number of Houses In (1855) : 30-40 house, and in (1931): 202 houses
Near By Townswhat's new
Kafr Lam
↑
(N)
'Ayn Ghazal
↗        
Mediterranean  ←
al-Tantura
→   Fureidis
↓
Qisarya
↘           
Zikhron Ya'akov
Town's Name Through History Both the Greeks and Canaanites referred to al-Tantura by Dor.
Shrines / Maqams A shrine still standing for an unknown individual.
Archeological Sites A Byzantine basilica was excavated on the northern slopes of Tall al-Burj, also the remains of the Crusader castle of Casal de Chatillon (including the ruins of a square vaulted tower).
Exculsive Jewish Colonies
Who Usurped Village Lands		 Kibbutz Nachsholim and Dor.
Featured Video

Village Before Nakba

At 24 km distance from Haifa, the village stood on a small hill that was slightly higher than the surrounding (sandy) seashore. A spur linked it to the coastal highway, giving it access to Haifa and other urban centres. It also had a train station that serviced the coastal railway line, and it was built near the ruins of the important Canaanite town of Dor. In August 1799, when Napoleon tried to seize control of Palestine, his retreating army passed through the village and burnt it. The British traveler J. Buckingham, writing in 1821, described it as a small village with a small port and a khan. He said that the relatively meager ruins of al-Tantura, although not entirely desolate, did not give an idea of its former strength. Mary Rogers, the sister of the British vice-consul in Haifa, reported that in 1855 there were thirty to forty houses in the village, built of stone, mud, or clay. Cattle and goats were the chief wealth of al-Tantura.
In the late nineteenth century, al-Tantura was said to be a village on the coast, extending from north to south. Its harbor, which was built along the margins of a square peninsula, was located immediately to the north. Its stone houses were built on sandy beach, it had a boys' elementary school (built around 1889) and another school for girls (founded in 1937/38). The village economy was based on fishing and agriculture.
Underwater surveys offshore from al-Tantura have produced ships' anchors dating from most periods in the site's history. A Byzantine basilica was excavated on the northern slopes of tall al-Burj. To the south at Khirbat al-Mazra'a are the remains of a Crusader castle, while extensive ruins have also been reported at Khirbat Dirayhima, northeast of the village.

Village Occupation and Ethnic Cleaning

By the beginning of May 1948, al-Tantura was one of the last remaining Arab communities on the stretch of the coastal plain from the Zikhron Ya'aqov area (south of Haifa) to Tel Aviv. On 9 May, a meeting was called of local Haganah intelligence officers and Arab affairs experts to decide on the fate of al-Tantura and a handful of other villages. Historian Benny Morris writes that the decision taken was to 'expel or subdue' them. The History of the War of Independence confirms that the decision was implemented in al-Tantura two weeks later, on the night of 22-23 May. The Haganah's Thirty-Third Battalion (the Third Battalion of the Alexandroni Brigade) attacked the village, which fell after a brief battle. An Israeli military communiqué, issued on 23 May and quoted by the New York Times, stated: 'Hundreds of Arabs and a large quantity of booty fell into our hands.'
Nevertheless, the villagers' troubles did not end with the expulsion. Some of them went to the Triangle, while as many as 1,200 were expelled to nearby al-Furaydid, which had been captured earlier. At the end of May, Israeli cabinet minister Bechor Shitrit asked Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion whether the al-Tantura refugees should be expelled from al-Furaydis as well. By summer, Morris states that most had been expelled from Israeli-held territory.


It should be note that recently a documentary was released about the massacre in al-Tantura, and much of it was researched by Israelis. Here mare more details from NYTimes.

Zionists Colonies on Village Lands

In June of 1948, Zionist immigrants from the united States and Poland established the kibbutz of Nachsholim, northeast of the site, on village lands. The settlement of Dor, east of the site, was established by Zionist immigrants from Greece in 1949.

Village Today

Only a shrine, a fortress, an ancient wall, and a few of the houses remain. According to an inscription, one of the houses was built in 1882. Many date palm trees and some cactus plants are spread about the site, which has been turned into an Israeli recreational area with swimming facilities.

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
View from satellite
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Bibliography and References

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Display Name Clan/Hamolah Country of Residence
Basel Taha Haifa Isparta, Türkiye
RayaAbdelaal - US, US
محمد سمير محمد ابراهيم الصباغ الصباغ عمان -Amman, Jordan - الأردن
Osama Shoora Tulkarm, Palestine
Hiba Sabbagh - -
Ahmad Farhat Farhat Motala, Sweden
Mohhamed Khlile منصور -
Essam Al shoura UAE
zaher - damascus, saudi arabia
محمود الصباغ - -
mohammedsabbagh - syria, syria
غسان السمرة -
mouhamad alkhateeb - syria, syria
maissma - فريديس
MAHMOUD MOHAMMAD LOTFI CHOURA CHOURA BEIRUT/DUBAI, U.A.E./LEBANON
محمد صلاح الدين الرديف - Damascas, Syria
Abdul Menhem Elkhatib Elkhatib NY, NY
محمدأبوهنا - damascus
Katia Sallam - -
علاء الدين الفلو - -
mohammed isa idris edrees دمشق , مخيم اليرموك
iyad dassouki - سورية, سورية
Fadi Ahmad Mahmoud Almasri Al-Masri, Ashmawi, Alatrash Riyadh
Mohammad Elbjeirmi Elbjeirmi Texas, Texas
Mustafa Abdelrahman Abdelkareem Abdelrahman Abdelkareem Amman, Jordan
بلال مصاروه مصاروه كفر قرع, كفر قرع
muhammad dsouki - damascus
Aamar Yousef Aamar-Ayoub Samegrello, Georgia
Rana Abdel Razaq Al Yahya Al Yahya Amman, Jordan
muhammad shora shora florence, italy
Vive Palestine Farhat/AL-Tantoura Lorraine, France
mahmoud abdul karim uppsala, sweden
MOHAMAD-TARAZAN EIK AL IK SOFIA, BULGARIA
KATIA SALLAM - -
raafat abo madi abo madi vienna, austria
Khaled Eltanji sweden, sweden
yehia sallam sallam sofia, bulgaria
asad ashmawi ashmawi abu dhabi uae, abu dhabi uae
Rami Dasouqi - Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Majida Dassouki DASSOUKI UK, UK
Yemany AlZubaidy - -
Nancy Taha TAHA SALAM Munich, Germany
Jamal Abdallah - Michigan, USA
Alaa Abu madi - -
abed-el-rhman hossein - farades, palestine
mosa sabbagh sabbagh damas, syria
ARAFAT ASHMAWI TANTOURA -
AZIZ MOHAMMED PALESTINE, PALESTINE
shokri mhameed heifa, palestine
amola al shora palstine, palstine
Khaled AL-abdallah Al-abdalla Ottawa, Canada
muhammad al shora farades, palestine
Majida Dassouki Dassouki -
haled abboud abboud sofia, Bulgaria
rehab abou hana - qatar, qatar
brian boan - ca, usa
Said Yassin al-qalaq -
abed_abouhana abouhana lebanon, lebanon
Ibrahim Sabbagh - Damascus-Syria, syria
omar ABU MADI GA, U.S.A
ahmed Al-felo alfelo syria
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