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Welcome To Miska - مسكة (מיסכה)

District of Tulkarm
Ethnically cleansed days ago
العربية

Google Earth
Picture for Miska Village - Palestine: : Miska's school and what remains of it #2, March 2002
 Gallery (54)
Statistic & Fact Value
Occupation Date April 20, 1948
Distance From District 15 (km) Southwest of Tulkarm
Elevation 50 (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 #15 on the map

View from satellite
Military Operation Coastal Clearing
Exodus Cause Expulsion by Zionist troops
Village Temains Miska was completely destroyed with the exception of boys' elementary school and its mosque. It should be noted that Miska was destroyed based on the orders of a Jewish National Fund official, Yosef Weitz.
Ethnically Cleansing Miska inhabitants were completely ethnically cleansed.
Pre-Nakba
Land Ownership
Ethnic Group Land Ownership (Dunums)*
Arab 4,924
Jewish 2,976
Public 176
**Total 8,076
*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics
**Town Lands' Demarcation Maps
Land Usage
As of 1945
Land Usage Arab (Dunum)* Jewish (Dunum)*
Citrus Groves 1,115 1,196
Irrigated & Plantation 304 83
Planted W/ Cereal 3,245 1,683
Built up 88 14
Arable 4,664 2,962
Non-Arable 348 0
*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics
Population
Year Population*
19th century 300
1922 443
1931 635
1945 1,060 (180 Jewish)
1948 1,021 (180 Jewish)
Est. Refugees 1998 6,269
*Sourced from British Mandate's Village Statisitics
Number of Houses
Year Number of Houses
1931 123
1948 197
Near By Townswhat's new
Birket Ramadan
          ↖
Tayyiba
↑
(N)
Kafr Jammal
↗        
Zionist Colonies  ←
Miska
→   Qalqiliya
            ↙
Tabsur
↘           
Kafr Saba
Town's Name Through History Miska was founded by descendants of the Arabian tribe of Miskain in the early days of the Islamic conquest in the 7th century.
Schools Miska had an elementary school for boys which is still standing.
Places of Warship One mosque which remain standing.
Exculsive Jewish Colonies
Who Usurped Village Lands		 'En ha-Choresh, Giv'at Chayyirn, and Achituv.
Featured Video

Village Before Nakba

The village stood on a slightly elevated, sandy hill on the coastal plain, along the north bank of a wadi. It was linked by secondary roads to the highway leading to Tulkarm and to the coastal highway. The village may have been founded by descendants of the Arabian tribe of Miska whose members immigrated to the area prior to, and in the early days of, the Islamic conquest. The identification of the village with this tribe is uncertain, however. Moreover, another village with the same name but at a different location (182187) existed in 1596, in the nahiya of Jabal Shami, liwa' of Nablus. [Hut. and Abd.:127] According to the Arab chronicler al-Safadi (d. 1362), a number of Islamic scholars have attributed their origins to Miska, including the grammarian and prosodist 'Abd al-Mun'im al-Miski (al-Iskandarani), who died in Cairo in 1235. [AI-Khalidi 1968:201] According to the Arab geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi (d. 1228), Miska was also known for its fruit, especially the misk (musk) apple variety which was said to have been transferred to Egypt by the Fatimid vizier al-Hasan al-Yazuri, who died in 1058 (see Yazur, Jaffa sub-disctrict). [Mu’jam, cited in D 3/2:385-86 and al-Khalidi 1968:200-201] The French commander Kléber and his troops passed by the village on their way to Acre during the Napoleonic invasion in 1799. [Nelson, Napoleon in Egypt, cited in D 3/2:386]

In the late nineteenth century, Miska was a small village whose population was estimated at 300. Olive trees were planted to the north and south, and fig and palm trees were scattered throughout the village. [SWP (1881) II:135] The plan of the village was roughly square and was divided into four unequal sections by two streets that intersected at the village center. New houses, built in the last years of the British Mandate, were located to the north, away from the wadi. The population was Muslim, and maintained a mosque and an elementary school. Some parts of the surrounding lands had been forests but had been cleared and planted with fruit trees. Water resources, especially wells, were relatively abundant around the village. The water supported citrus cultivation over large portions of the village lands. In 1944 a total of 1,115 dunums was devoted to citrus and bananas and 3,245 dunums were allotted to cereals; 304 additional dunums were also irrigated or used for the growing of other fruit trees. Grain, greens, cucumbers, and watermelons were also grown. To the southwest lay a tell, Dhahrat al-Sawwana (142178), which produced evidence of a prehistoric settlement.

Village Occupation and Ethnic Cleaning

Haganah officers reportedly ordered the villagers to leave on 15 April 1948, but the order was not heeded. A few days later, on 20-21 April, units of the Alexandroni Brigade attacked Miska and forcibly expelled its inhabitants. This was done within the framework of an earlier decision by the Haganah command to ensure the evacuation of all Arab communities from the coastal area between Tel Aviv and Zikhron Ya'aqov south of Haifa in the weeks before 15 May. [M:118-19]

In early June, the Jewish National Fund (JNF) set about destroying this village, along with a number of others. This was done despite some opposition from the left-wing Israeli party Mapam. By 16 June, Israeli Prime Minister Ben-Gurion was able to write in his diary that the destruction of Miska was proceeding. However, Ben-Gurion carefully avoided giving the JNF written permission for the destruction of Miska and other villages, presumably to avoid implication in the action. [M:137, 162]

Zionists Colonies on Village Lands

Sde Warburg (141179) was established in 1938 on lands that had traditionally belonged to the village. Mishmeret (142181), established in 1946, is also close to the site, to the northwest, on village lands. Ramat ha-Kovesh (144180), founded in 1932, is about 1 km due west of the site, though not on village lands.

Village Today

The site is covered with citrus groves; cactuses grow along the perimeter of these groves. The two-room school still stands and is used as housing for the watchmen who guard the orchards. The mosque serves as a storehouse for bales of hay and agricultural tools. The large cement fragments of a demolished enclosure built around the village well are visible. Most of the surrounding land has been planted by Israelis with citrus trees.

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

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يعقوب يوسف رفيق احمد جاموس ابو جاموس -
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منتصر مسكاوي حرب قلقيلية
مأمون نواس نواس السعودية, السعودية
Miskawy - Copenhagen, Denmark
BASEL AL-BALLAS DANMARK, DANMARK
ثائر الفول الاردن, الاردن
نهى ابراهيم عبدالعزيز ابوطاحون ابوطاحون عمان, الاردن
Mohammad Yousef AL-Yousef -
نور المسكاوي سعيد dubai, united arab emirates
ابو يوسف جبر صلالة, عمان
Eng.Hisham Tahir Hussien Hassan Mohammad Al Faqeeh Al Zuhd Al Zuhd Amman, Jordan
عمر - -
زكريا ابوطاحون -
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Mohammed Alsaleh الصالح Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
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mazen_ballas meskh Riyadh, Riyadh
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Tayeb Alzuhd Alzuhd michigan, USA
wafi shbeita - tira
mohammad nadim mohammad mustfa shbeita dehmes shbieta tira, Istrael
haytham hamad hamad palestine , palestine
Serhan Shbieta - -
meskawi hamad nablus / balata camp, palestian
Nasser Hamad hamad Japan
shbetaK shbeta Poland, Poland
abu jamil shbeta germany, germany
shbeta-akfa حموله شبيطه austria, austria
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