Al-Nabi Rubin (Arabic: النبي روبين, literally "Prophet Rubin" or "Prophet Reuben"), was a Palestinian village located 28 kilometers northeast of Acre. Al-Nabi Rubin students used to attend school in the nearby village of Tarbikha.

al-Nabi Rubin
النبي روبين
an-Nabi Rubin, Neby Rubin
Etymology: The prophet Rubin[1]
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Al-Nabi Rubin, Acre (click the buttons)
al-Nabi Rubin is located in Mandatory Palestine
al-Nabi Rubin
al-Nabi Rubin
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 33°04′49″N 35°17′29″E / 33.08028°N 35.29139°E / 33.08028; 35.29139
Palestine grid177/276
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictAcre
Date of depopulationearly November 1948[4]
Area
 • Total18,563 dunams (18.6 km2 or 7.2 sq mi)
Population
 (1945)
 • Total1,000 with Tarbikha and Suruh[2][3]
Cause(s) of depopulationExpulsion by Yishuv forces
Current LocalitiesShomera, Even Menachem, Zar'it, Shtula

History

Ottoman era

In 1881, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Al-Nabi Rubin: This is a small village round the tomb of the Neby, containing about ninety Moslems, it is situated on a prominent top, and surrounded by many olives, a few figs and arable land; there are two cisterns and a birket near.[5]

British rule

In the 1945 statistics the population Tarbikha, Suruh and Al-Nabi Rubin together was 1000 Muslims according to an official land and population survey,[2][3] all were Muslims,[6] and they had a total of 18,563 dunams of land.[3] 619 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 3,204 used for cereals,[7] while 112 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[8]

Israeli period

 
IDF soldiers during Operation Hiram, as photographed in Sa'sa' on 30 October 1948

The village was captured by Israel as a result of the Haganah's offensive, Operation Hiram during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and was mostly destroyed with the exception of its shrine. Al-Nabi Rubin inhabitants were expelled to Lebanon in two waves, the aged and infirm were the last to depart when the IDF trucked them to the Lebanese border.[9]

A shrine thought to be dedicated to the prophet Rubin is the only original structure that remains on former village's lands.[10]

See also

References

  1. ^ Palmer, 1881, p. 53
  2. ^ a b Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 5
  3. ^ a b c Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 41
  4. ^ Morris, 2004, p. xvii, village #68. Also gives cause of depopulation.
  5. ^ Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 149.
  6. ^ Village Statistics The Palestine Government, April 1945 Archived 2012-06-09 at the Wayback Machine, p. 3
  7. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 81
  8. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 131
  9. ^ Morris, 2004, pp. 506-507
  10. ^ Khalidi, 1992, p. 27

Bibliography

External links