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Welcome To Dayr al-Hawa - دير الهوا (דיר אל-הוא)

District of Jerusalem
Ethnically cleansed days ago
العربية

Google Earth
Picture for Dayr al-Hawa Village - Palestine: : That is how the
Gallery (82)
Statistic & Fact Value
Occupation Date October 19, 1948
Distance From District 18.5 (km) West of Jerusalem
Elevation 650 (meters)
Before & After Nakba, Click Map For Detailswhat's new
Pre-Nakba Map showing before and after destruction
Map Location See location #27 on the map

View from satellite
Military Operation Operation ha-Har
Attacking Units Fourth Battalion of the Har'el Brigade (commanded by the Ethnic Cleansing champion, Yigal Allon).
Defenders Local militia and Egyptian Army/Muslim Brotherhood Battalion
Exodus Cause Military assault by Zionist troops
Village Temains Deir al-Hawa was completely obliterated. Currently the Jewish National Fund owns your village, and you're more than welcome to sue them in U.S. courts if you wish, see 'Imwas, al-Ramla for more details.
Ethnically Cleansing Dayr al-Hawa inhabitants were completely ethnically cleansed.
Pre-Nakba
Land Ownership
Ethnic Group Land Ownership (Dunums)*
Arab 4,660
Jewish 0
Public 1,347
**Total 5,907
*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics
**Town Lands' Demarcation Maps
Land Usage
As of 1945
Land Usage Arab (Dunum)*
Irrigated & Plantation 58
Olive Groves 501
Planted W/ Cereal 1,565
Built up 4
Arable 1,623
Non-Arable 4,280
*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics
Population
Year Population*
1922 18
1931 47
1945 60
1948 70
Est. Refugees 1998 427
*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics
Number of Houses
Year Number of Houses
1931 11
1948 16
Near By Townswhat's new
'Artuf
          ↖
Bayt Mahsir
↑
(N)
Kasla
↗        
Dayr Aban  ←
Dayr al-Hawa
→   Dayr al-Shaykh
            ↙
Jarash
↓
Sufla
↘           
Bayt 'Itab
Places of Warship A mosque in the western part of the village.
Shrines / Maqams A shrine for a local sage known by al-Shaykh Sulayman.
Water Supply Dayr al-Hawa contained two wells located southeast and west of its center.
Archeological Sites Deir al-Hawa was built on an unknown archaeological site.
Exculsive Jewish Colonies
Who Usurped Village Lands		 Nes Harim is nearby village lands.

Village Before Nakba

The village stood on a high mountain top, overlooking wide expanses of land to the west, north, and south. A secondary road linked it to another secondary road that led to Bethlehem and that ran several km southeast of the village, and dirt paths linked it to nearby villages. In the late nineteenth century, Dayr al-Hawa stood on a knoll rising from a high ridge and overlooked a deep valley to the north. It consisted of a few tall houses at this time, and was listed as a hamlet in the Palestine Index Gazetteer. The village had a rectangular layout, with new construction extending in a northwest−southeast direction, in conformity with the topography of the land. Its houses were built of mud and stone and were crowded together, separated only by narrow alleys.

The villagers, all of whom were Muslim, worshipped at a mosque in the western part of the village and maintained a shrine for Shaykh Sulayman, a local teacher. Two wells, southeast and west of the village, provided potable water. Most of its agricultural lands were mountainous, except for the valley floors where grain was planted. Fruit trees, which yielded apples, olives, figs, and almonds, were planted on the slopes. All of these crops were rainfed. In 1944/45 a total of 1,565 dunums was allocated to cereals; 58 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards. Dayr al-Hawa was built on an archaeological site. Some of the building stones and columns from the site had been used to construct the village houses.

Village Occupation and Ethnic Cleaning

Dayr al-Hawa was one of the villages to be captured at the beginning of Operation Ha-Har (see 'Allar, Jerusalem sub-disctrict) toward the end of the second truce of the war. It was occupied on the night of 18−19 October 1948 (or perhaps on the following night) by the Fourth Battalion of the Har'el Brigade. After wresting Dayr Aban from Egyptian forces, the Israeli units turned their attention to Dayr al-Hawa which, although only 2 km from Dayr Aban, was 300 m higher. The History of the War of Independence notes that '… the ascent to the village was difficult enough by itself; had the enemy [Egyptian forces] the ability to hold out he could certainly have caused us many difficulties. But here too the troops withdrew as soon as the place was shelled because they lost confidence in their ability to hold out and because the fear of our army was in their hearts.' No mention is made of the fate of the civilian population, but Israeli historian Benny Morris states that the commander of the operation, Yigal Allon, probably made it clear to his officers that no civilian communities should remain in the area captured during the operation.

Zionists Colonies on Village Lands

There are no Israeli settlements on village land. The settlement of Nes Harim (155128), founded in 1950, is close by, northeast of the village site.

Village Today

The stone rubble of houses is mixed with the ruined walls of terraces. Parts of the site have been levelled and cleared and the debris has been gathered to form a large pile at one end of the site (see photo). In the north, south, and west, terraces are covered with groves of carob and olive trees. Cactuses grow on the southern edge of the site, and ruined walls lie on the western side of the village. Large slabs of reinforced concrete can still be seen near the watchtower that was erected on the cleared area (see photo). The "Two Hundred Years" park, commemorating the U.S. bicentennial, was established by the Jewish National Fund on the lands of Dayr al-Hawa and a few neighboring villages. Fir trees have been recently planted near the park. The Hubert Humphrey Parkway passes through the park on the lands of Dayr al-Hawa (see photo).

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

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

Display Name Clan/Hamolah Country of Residence
محمود عثمان عثمان amman, jordan
أبو الفداء الصالح U.A.E, دير الهوا
محمود أبوالهوى حسين -
mahmoud abu-el-hawa abu-el hawa lancs, united kingdome
Osama Ebdah Ebdah -
Marwan AbulHawa Qatar, Qatar
susan abulhawa - PA, USA
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