Welcome To al-Samra - السمرا (א-סמרא)

District of Tiberias Ethnically cleansed days ago	العربية Google Earth
	Gallery (14)

Statistic & Fact

Value

Occupation Date

April 21, 1948

Distance From District

10 (km) Southeast of Tiberias

Elevation

less than -200 (meters)

Before & After Nakba, Click Map For Details

Pre-Nakba Map showing before and after destruction

Map Location

See location #17 on the map

View from satellite

Exodus Cause

Influence of fall of, or exoduce from, neighboring town

Village Temains

al-Samra was completely obliterated. Not even house rubble left behind.

Ethnically Cleansing

On April 21st, 1948, al-Samra inhabitants were mostly ethnically cleansed, and between 1949-1956 it was completely cleansed.

Pre-Nakba
Land Ownership

Ethnic Group	Land Ownership (Dunums)*
Arab	6,912
Jewish	1,708
Public	3,943
**Total	12,563

*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics
**Town Lands' Demarcation Maps

Land Usage
As of 1945

Land Usage	Arab (Dunum)*	Jewish (Dunum)*
Citrus Groves	30	0
Irrigated & Plantation	21	0
Planted W/ Cereal	6,828	1,708
Built up	23	0
Arable	6,879	1,708
Non-Arable	3,953	0

*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics

Population

Year	Population*
1922	157
1931	237
1945	290
1948	336
Est. Refugees 1998	2,066

*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics

Number of Houses

Year	Number of Houses
1931	50
1948	70

Near By Towns

	al-Nuqayb ↑ (N)
Tiberias Lake ←	al-Samra	→ Golan Heights
↙ Samakh

Places of Warship

One mosque

Archeological Sites

al-Samra contains serveral khirbs including Khirbat al-Tawafiq and Khirbat Duwayraban.

Exculsive Jewish Colonies
Who Usurped Village Lands

ha-'On

Village Before Nakba

The village stood on flat terrain on the southeastern shore of Lake Tiberias, 3 km west of the Syrian-Palestinian border. It was dominated on the east by the Golan Heights and was linked to the closest village (Samakh) by a secondary road. The village plan was rectangular, extending along the lake in a north-south direction. In the early nineteenth century, the Swiss traveler Burckhardt noted its ancient buildings and mentioned that it was the only inhabited village on the east side of Lake Tiberias. [[Burckhardt 1822:278-79]] The American biblical scholar Edward Robinson was told that al-Samra lay on the eastern shore of Lake Tiberias. [[Robinson (1856) III:264, fn. 1]] The people of al-Samra were predominantly Muslim and worshipped in a mosque that stood in the village center. Their houses were built of adobe and stone.

Agriculture was the main occupation of the residents. Some 6,825 dunums were allocated to cereals in 1944/45; 21 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards. The village contained ancient ruins, including the foundations of buildings and Roman burial grounds. Archaeological evidence of the site's antiquity, found on the edge of the village, included a Roman burial ground. Sites in the vicinity included Khirbat al-Tawafiq (209234) and Khirbat Duwayraban (210239). Some 1.5 km east of the village was an Ottoman memorial for two Ottoman pilots who were killed in a plane crash in that area in 1913 while on a trip from Istanbul to Cairo.

Village Occupation and Ethnic Cleaning

As a result of the fall of Tiberias, al-Samra was evacuated on 21 April 1948, according to Israeli historian Benny Morris. However, some of the villagers must have remained; Morris notes that the residents of al-Samra and other villages were subjected to a concerted campaign between 1949 and 1956 to encourage their departure. Located in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), the village was protected by the provisions of the armistice agreement. However, by using a combination of 'economic and police pressure,' the Israeli authorities succeeded in forcing all of the villagers in the DMZ to leave by 1956. Most became refugees in Syria, but some eventually made their way to the village of Sha'b near Acre. [[M:xv, 242-43]]

As early as 3 May 1948, Jewish settlers from the area had urged the Jewish National Fund to establish a settlement at al-Samra. Morris quotes them as saying that the opportunity created by the depopulation of Arabs in the area was not to be missed. [[M:xx, 182]]

Zionists Colonies on Village Lands

The settlement of ha-'On (208237) was established north of the village site in 1949.

Village Today

Nothing remains of the village houses. A tourist resort, which consists of a few cabins and small houses, has been established on part of the village site. Other parts of the site are covered with trees. The surrounding land is cultivated by Israelis.

Source

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

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

${DIRECTORY_SERVICE}

Display Name

Clan/Hamolah

Country of Residence

To contact any of the below members, simply click on the names. All Registered Members

No links have been shared yet, be free to the first to share the first link.

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