Nasir ad-Din, Tiberias

Nasir ad-Din
Nasir ad-Din
Arabic	نصر الدين
Also Spelled	Nasr ad-Din, Nasir al-Din
District	Tiberias
Coordinates	32°46′42.93″N 35°31′24.30″E / 32.7785917°N 35.523417°E / 32.7785917; 35.523417Coordinates: 32°46′42.93″N 35°31′24.30″E / 32.7785917°N 35.523417°E / 32.7785917; 35.523417
Population	90 (1945)
Area	4,185 (together with al-Manara) dunums
Date of depopulation	12 and 23 April, 1948[1]
Cause(s) of depopulation	Military assault by Yishuv forces
Secondary cause	Influence of nearby town's fall
Tertiary cause	Fear of being caught up in the fighting
Current localities	Residential areas of Tiberias

Nasir ad-Dīn (Arabic: نصر الدين‎) was a small Palestinian Arab village 3 kilometers (1.9 mi) southwest of Tiberias, on the crest of a slope that overlooks the Sea of Galilee. The village had several springs to the east, south, and southeast. In a 1931 British census, 179 people lived there,^[2] decreasing to 90 in a 1945 census. Nasir ad-Din and nearby al-Manara were in the same jurisdiction with 4,185 dunams of land, most of which was allocated to cereals.

History

Nasir ad-Din is named after a shrine dedicated to Nasir ad-Din, an Ayyubid general who died while fighting the Crusaders and buried to the north of the village, according to local legend. A kilometer to the west is the shrine for another Muslim soldier who died fighting the Crusaders, named Sheikh al-Qaddumi.^[2]

At the time of the 1931 census, Zab'a had 35 occupied houses and a population of 179 Muslims.^[3]

During the British Mandate in Palestine, in the first half of the twentieth century, most of Nasir ad-Din's houses were scattered north-south, with no particular village plan. The inhabitants were Muslims, and mainly worked in agriculture and animal breeding.^[2]

1948 War

On April 12, 1948, the 12th battalion of Israel's Golani Brigade captured Nasir ad-Din to cut off Tiberias from major Arab centers to the west (Nazareth and Lubya). The skirmish lasted four hours because the Haganah encountered unexpected local resistance, but eventually most of the inhabitants fled to Tiberias or Lubya — British troops escorted villagers to Lubya. During the battle 22 Arabs were killed, six were wounded, and three were captured.^[4] The civilian deaths included seven men, at least one women, and a number of children. Two Haganah troops were also wounded. The capture and killing in Nasir ad-Din was a decisive factor for the flight of Arabs from Tiberias, and was a major demoralizing factor for Arab forces. All the houses were destroyed, and residents that remained were expelled on April 23.^[5]

See also

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

References

1. ^ Morris, 2004, p.xvii, village #97. Also gives causes of depopulation.
2. ^ ^{a b c} Khalidi, 1992, p.534.
3. ^ E. Mills, ed (1932). Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas. Jerusalem: Government of Palestine. p. 84. 
4. ^ Morris, 2004, p.183
5. ^ Morris, xv, 71. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p.534

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: 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 

External links

• Welcome to Nasir-al-Din
• Nasir al-Din, from Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre