|
Statistic/Fact |
Value
|
| Occupation date |
July 11th, 1948
|
| Elevation from the
sea |
50 meters |
| Maps |
Map
of al-Lydd city
Map of al-Ramla district and neighboring villages
|
|
Attacking Israeli force |
Haganah and IZL forces attacked the city from the East and North. The
Eastern attack attack originated from Khulda,
al-Qubab, Jimzu, and
Danyal, and the Northern attack
originated from Majdal al-Sadiq,
Qula, and al-Muzayri'a.
During the attack on the city, the Zionists used fighter bombers for the
first time to bomb the
city and the nearby airport.
|
|
City defenders |
Transjordan army, some Arab Liberation Army, and local Palestinian
militias.
The people of al-Lydd and
al-Ramla should be very proud of their city
defenders because in April and May 1948, they launched several counter
attacks on the Zionist forces, which resulted in the liberation of several surrounding villages
between al-Lydd and Jaffa, plus the liberation of
al-Lydd train station
& its airport.
The question which begs itself: -
What would have happened if these heroes were given the chance of
defending their cities?
|
|
Acts of terror |
Soon after the city's occupation, the "Jewish Army" committed
its biggest
massacre in Palestine, which resulted in the murder of 426 men, women, and children. At least, 176 of these people were slaughtered in
Dahmash mosque, which functioned as the city's main mosque.
|
|
Ethnic cleansing
|
Soon after al-Lydd's massacre, the inhabitants were
terrorized into fleeing their city, and out of the 19,000 people who used to
call al-Lydd
home, only 1,052 were allowed to stay.
Yitzhak Rabin, the Noble Prize winner, has written in his diary soon
after Lydda's and Ramla's
occupation:
"After attacking Lydda [later called Lod]
Ben-Gurion would repeat the question: What is to be done with the
population?, waving his hand in a gesture which said: Drive them
out!.
'Driving out' is a term with a harsh ring, .... Psychologically, this
was on of the most difficult actions we undertook." (Soldier
Of Peace, p. 140-141)
Later, Rabin underlined the cruelty of the operation as mirrored in the
reaction of his soldiers. He stated during an interview (which is still
censored in Israeli publications to this day) with David Shipler from the
New York Times on October 22, 1979:
"Great Suffering was inflicted upon the men taking part in the
eviction action. [They] included youth-movement graduates who had been
inculcated with values such as international brotherhood and humaneness.
The eviction action went beyond the concepts they were used to. There
were some fellows who refused to take part. . . Prolonged
propaganda activities were required after the action . . . to explain
why we were obliged to undertake such a harsh and cruel action." (Simha
Falpan, p. 101)
Just before the 1948 war, the residents of the twin cities, Lydda and
al-Ramla, almost constituted 20% of the total urban
population in central Palestine, inclusive of Tel-Aviv. Currently, the
former residents and their descendents number at least a half a million,
who mostly live in deplorable refugee camps in and around Amman (Jordan)
and Ramallah (the occupied West Bank). According to Rabin, the decision to
ethnically cleanse the twin cities was an agonizing decision, however, his
guilty conscious did not stop him from placing a similar order against
three nearby villages ('Imwas,
Yalu, and Bayt
Nuba) 19 years later. The exodus from Lydda and al- Ramla was
portrayed firsthand by Ismail
Shammout, the renowned Palestinians artist from Lydda itself, click
here to view his exodus gallery. To learn more about the ethnic
cleansing of Lydda and al-Ramla based on declassified Israeli archives, we
suggest clicking here
as well .
Click here if
you wish o
learn more about cleansing Lydda and Ramla based on declassified Israeli
documents and personal diaries.
|
|
Refugees' migration route
|
On July 14th 1948, the " Jewish Army" terrorized the inhabitants of al-Lydd and
al-Ramla into fleeing to Ramallah via
al-Qubab, Salbit,
Bayt Nabala, and Kufr Ein.
Close to 55,000 people clogged the
roads in and out of Ramallah for weeks,
where 350 Palestinians died due to exhaustion
and dehydration. As the refugees were departing the twin cities, many of them, especially
the women, were robbed,
stripped of their jewelry and money at roadblocks that were manned
"Jewish Army". In that respect, it's worth quoting Aharon Cizling,
the 1st Israel Agriculture Minister, who stated in July, 1948 :
". ..It's been said that . 'there were cases of rape in Ramla.
I can forgive rape, but I will not forgive other acts which seem to me much
worse. When they enter a town and forcibly remove rings from the fingers and
jewelry from someone's neck, that's a very grave matter. ... Many are guilty
of it." (1949,
The First Israelis, p. 71-72)
It's very sad that for the first time in the twentieth century,
terrorizing civilians out of their homes was used
to achieve military and political objectives. In that regard, Yigal
Allon explained how this expulsion had a "positive" impact on
the war, at least from the hit point of view. He stated in mid-July 1948:
"clogged the routes of the advance of the [Transjordan Arab] Legion and
had foisted upon the Arab economy the problem of "maintaining another
45,000 souls . . . Moreover, the phenomenon of the flight of tens of thousands
will no doubt cause demoralization in every Arab area [the refugees] reach
. . . This victory will yet have great effect on other sectors." (Benny
Morris, p. 211 & Israel:
A History, p. 218)
Often, the Israeli commanders on the scene were encouraged to
use refugees to burden the enemy's war machine, clog their roads, divert
food and other supplies away from their enemy, and to demoralization the
population and the Arab armies.
|
| City's name through
history |
The city may have picked its name from a Greek tribe
known by Lydda, who were the first to settle the area. During the Roman
period, the city was known by Diospolis, but soon after the Muslim Arabs conquest,
al-Lydd regained its original name until the Zionists changed its name to Lod
in 1948.
|
|
City area size |
In 1945, al-Lydd city covered an area of 3,855 dunums, which included 645 dunums for roads, wadies, and railroads, ... etc.
|
|
Municipality area size |
In 1945, al-Lydd municipality covered an area of 19,868 dunums, which included
663 dunums for roads, wadies, and railroads, ... etc. It should be noted
that al-Lydd was a Zionist Free Zone (ZFZ)
until its occupation.
|
|
Nearby wadies & rivers |
To the west of the city, al-Lydd border Wadi al-Sarar just before it
terminates
into al-'Awja river.
|
| Weather |
| Category |
Note
|
| Temperature |
The average temperature in
al-Lydd ranged from 13 Celsius in January to 26 Celsius in August. |
| Humidity |
65% |
| Rainfall |
On average al-Lydd received
500 millimeters of rainfall every year. |
|
|
Major plantations |
In the years between 1942-1945, al-Lydda's had 3,217 dunums planted with citrus
trees, and 5,900 dunums planted
with olive trees.
Since Israeli still maintains and enforces the "Law Of
Absentees", most of Lydda's industries, farms, buses, cars,
railroads, cattle, real states, ... etc. have been looted and became the
property of the "Jewish state". When similar injustices were
perpetrated against Europe's Jewish citizens by the Germans and the Swiss
during WWII, the Jews of the world demanded justice for their looted art
works and properties. The question which begs to be asked is :-
Are the Palestinian people entitled for compensation
for their looted properties?
|
| Distance from other towns |
| Town |
Distance From Jaffa
|
| Jerusalem |
47 (km) south east |
| 'Aqir |
9.5 (km) south west |
| Bab al-Wad |
21 (km) south west |
| al-Lydd station |
3 (km) north |
|
Pitach Tikva (Mlabiss)
|
18 (km) north west
|
|
Kafer 'Ana
|
8 (km) north west
|
|
al-Ramla
|
5 (km) north west
|
|
Jaffa
|
16 (km) north west
|
|
| Population |
| Year |
Total |
Muslim
Arabs |
Christian
Arabs |
Jews |
| 1922 |
7,000 |
5,000 |
2,000 |
0 |
| 1922 |
8,103 |
7,166 |
926 |
11 |
| 1931 |
11,250 |
10,012 |
1,210 |
28 |
| 1947 |
18,250 |
18,250* |
N/A |
0 |
| 1950 |
10,450 |
1,050* |
N/A |
9,400 |
| 1966 |
25,000 |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
| 1973 |
36,000 |
4,800* |
N/A |
31,200 |
* The statistic includes Muslim & Christian Arabs. |
| Number of houses |
In 1931, al-Lydd had 2,475 houses, which either were all looted or
destroyed by the "Jewish state". |
| City's income &
expenses |
| Year |
Income* |
Expenses*
|
| 1927 |
4,687 |
5,591 |
|
1932
|
6,790
|
5,705
|
|
1935
|
6,141
|
5,985
|
|
1939
|
3,485
|
3,059
|
|
1940
|
6,031
|
4,774
|
|
1943
|
19,128
|
15,796
|
|
1944
|
12,451
|
25,332
|
* In Palestinian Pound
|
|
Schools
|
|
School
|
Notes
|
al-Lydd Boys
High School
|
A government high school that educated its students up to the 11th
grade. In 1948, it had an enrollment of 1,046 students, 19
classes, a staff of 24 instructors, a library with 818 books, and owned 14 dunums
of land of which 9 dunums were allocated for agriculture classes.
|
al-Lydd
Girls School
|
A government elementary school, which in 1948 had an enrollment of 378
girls, a staff of 9 instructors, and library with 767 books.
|
|
Note that al-Lydd also had 2 other schools
for girls with a total enrollment of 238 girls, and seven other
schools for boys with a total enrollment of 713 boys. The names of
these schools are not available, and if you know the names of these
schools please do not hesitate to share this data with us
Click
here, for general school statistics.
|
|
| Israeli settlements
within city borders |
The city of Lod occupies the city plus Zeitan in the north, Yagel nearby the
airport, Ahi'Eser between the last two, Ginnaton to the east close to Ben Shemen. |