Ayn Karim

'Ayn Karim
Postcard from Ayn Karim, pre-1948
'Ayn Karim
Arabic	عين كارم
District	Jerusalem
Coordinates	31°45′55″N 35°8′58″E / 31.76528°N 35.14944°E / 31.76528; 35.14944Coordinates: 31°45′55″N 35°8′58″E / 31.76528°N 35.14944°E / 31.76528; 35.14944
Population	3,689[1] (1948[2])
Area	15,029[1] dunums
Date of depopulation	10 and 21 April 1948, 16 July, 1948[3]
Cause(s) of depopulation	Influence of nearby town's fall
Secondary cause	Military assault by Yishuv forces
Current localities	Ein Kerem[4]

‘Ayn Karim (Arabic: عين كارم‎) was a Palestinian town in the British mandate District of Jerusalem

The population of 'Ayn Karim in 1931 was 2,637 and in 1944/45 it was 3,180, in each case including the smaller localities of Ayn al-Rawwas and Ayn al-Khandaq.^[5]

The 1947 UN Partition Plan placed 'Ayn Karim in the Jerusalem enclave intended for international control.^[6] Immediately after the April 1948 massacre at the nearby village of Deir Yassin (2 km to the north), most of the women and children in the village were evacuated. It was attacked by Israeli forces during the 10-day truce of July 1948. The remaining civilian inhabitants fled on July 10-11. The Arab irregular forces which had camped in the village left on July 14-16 after Jewish forces captured two dominating hilltops, Khirbet Beit Mazmil and Khirbet al Hamama, and shelled the village. During its last days, 'Ayn Karim suffered from severe food shortages.^[7]

Modern history

Main article: Ein Kerem

Israel later incorporated the village into the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem as Ein Kerem.^[7]

See also

• List of Arab towns and villages depopulated during the 1948 Palestine War
• List of villages depopulated during the Arab-Israeli conflict

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Palestine remembered
2. ^ Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics Depopulated Jerusalem Localities of the year 1948 by Selected Variables
3. ^ Morris, 2006, p. xviii, village #360. Also gives the cause for depopulation
4. ^ Morris, 2006, p. xx, settlement #107. 1949
5. ^ W. Khalidi, All that Remains (1992) p269-270.
6. ^ UN map of Jerusalem Corpus Separatum
7. ^ ^{a b} B. Morris, (2004) p 436, quoting: Entries for 10 and 11 July 1948, General Staff∖Operations Logbook, IDFA∖922∖75∖∖1176; and Mordechai Abir, ´The local Arab Factor in the War of Independence (Jerusalem Area) `18-19, IDFA 1046∖70∖185∖∖; and Yeruham, `Arab Information (from 14.7.48) ´, 15 July 1948 HA 105∖127aleph.

Bibliography

• Hadawi, Sami (1970), Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine, Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center, http://www.palestineremembered.com/Articles/General-2/Story3150.html 
• Khalidi, Walid (1992), All That Remains, Washington D.C., Institute for Palestine Studies, ISBN 0-88728-224-5
• Morris, Benny (2004). The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521009676. http://books.google.com/?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=benny+morris&q. 
• Petersen, Andrew (2002), A Gazetteer of Buildings in Muslim Palestine: Volume I (British Academy Monographs in Archaeology) p. 100-103

External links

• Welcome To 'Ayn Karim
• Ayn Karim, from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center
• Report on the Ayn Karim tour, Umar Ighbariyyeh, Saturday, 29.11.08, Zochrot