Awlam

Awlam
Arabic	عولم
Also Spelled	'Ulam
District	Tiberias
Population	720 (1945)
Area	18,546 dunums 18.5 km²
Date of depopulation	April 6, 1948[1]
Cause(s) of depopulation	Abandonment on Arab orders

Awlam (Arabic: عولم‎) was a Palestinian village located 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) south of Tiberias situated on the slopes of the westward Wadi Awlam.^[2]

History

Awlam is identified as Oulamma, an important town that existed during the Roman era of rule in Palestine. The Crusaders referred to it as Heulem, and it conceded its tithes to the church of Mount Tabor.^[2][3]

Awlam was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517, and by 1596, it was a village of 83 inhabitants under the administration of the nahiya ("subdistrict") of Tiberias, part of the sanjak of Safad. It paid taxes on wheat, barley, goats, and beehives.^[4] In the late 19th century, it was described as an agricultural village of 120, built of adobe bricks.^[5] An elementary school was built by the Ottomans in this time period.^[2]

The 'Arab al-Muwaylhat Bedouin tribe settled in the village by the time Awlam was a part of the British Mandate of Palestine. The village had a mosque, but its school was closed down. The residents who numbered 555 in 1931 and 720 in 1945, grew and cultivated grain, figs, grapes, and pomegranates. They drew their drinking and domestic water from six springs.^[2]

During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the villagers of Awlam were ordered to leave on April 6, 1948, by the Arab Higher Committee who feared they might aid "Zionist forces". However, the Haganah states that its Golani Brigade entered the village on May 12, and the inhabitants fled upon their arrival. Awlam became the final village in the eastern Lower Galilee emptied of its Arab inhabitants. According to Walid Khalidi, "nothing remains of the village buildings except stone rubble; only a spring that was used by the villagers has been left unchanged".^[2]

See also

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

References

1. ^ Morris, 2004, p.xvii village #107. Also gives cause of depopulation
2. ^ ^{a b c d e} Khalidi, 1992, p.514.
3. ^ Pringle, 1998, p.372
4. ^ Hütteroth, Wolf-Dieter and Kamal Abdulfattah (1977), Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century. Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft. p. 189. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p.514
5. ^ Conder and Kitchener: SWP II, 1881, p.82. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 514

Bibliography

• Conder, Claude Reignier and H.H. Kitchener (1881): The Survey of Western Palestine: memoirs of the topography, orography, hydrography, and archaeology. London:Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund. vol 2
• Guérin, M. V.: (1880): Description Géographique, Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine. Galilee 1 part. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale (p.136-137)
• 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: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948, Washington D.C.: Institute for Palestine Studies, ISBN 0887282245 
• Morris, Benny (2004), The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521009677, 9780521009676 
• Pringle, Denys (1998), The Churches of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: L-Z (exluding Tyre), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521390370, http://books.google.ca/books?id=2Y0tA0xLzwEC 

External links

• Welcome To 'Awlam