Amka

Amka
Hebrew	עַמְקָה
Founded	1949
Founded by	Yemenite Jewish immigrants
Council	Matte Asher
Region	Western Galilee
District	North
Coordinates	32°58′45.61″N 35°9′50.58″E / 32.9793361°N 35.16405°E / 32.9793361; 35.16405Coordinates: 32°58′45.61″N 35°9′50.58″E / 32.9793361°N 35.16405°E / 32.9793361; 35.16405
Amka

Amka or Amqa (Hebrew: עַמְקָה‎‎ Arabic: عمقا‎) is a moshav in the Matte Asher Regional Council of Israel's North District, near Acre. The name Amka is thought to preserve that of Beth Ha-Emek, a city mentioned in Joshua 19:27. The location of the Jewish village roughly corresponds the former Palestinian Arab village, depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Yemenite Jews, who fled from the southern Arab country of Yemen, founded the village's successor Amka in 1949.

History

Ancient history

The name Amka is thought to preserve that of Beth Ha-Emek, a city mentioned in Joshua 19:27 as part of the allotment of the Tribe of Asher.^[1] During the Roman period, the village located at the same site was called Kefar Amqa.^[2] In the Byzantine period the location was probably identified with the village of "Amico".^{[citation needed]}

During the Crusades

During the Crusader period, it was referred to as Amca.^[2] In 1283, it was mentioned as part of the domain of the Crusaders during the hudna between the Crusaders based in Acre and the Mamluk sultan al-Mansur (Qalawun).^[3]

Ottoman period

In 1596, ´Amqa was a village in the Ottoman nahiya (subdistrict) of Akka under the liwa' (district) of Safad, with a population of 215.^[4] It paid taxes on a number of crops, such as wheat, barley, olives, cotton and fruit, and on other types of produce, such as goats and beehives.^[4]

In the early 18th century the village was under control of Shaykh Najm. He had an agreement to sell the cotton from this and other villages under his control exclusively to the Dutch trader Paul Maashook. In return, Maashook would pay the "miri" tax normally payable by the village shaykhs.^[5] The Arab traveller al-Bakri al-Siddiqi, who toured the area in the mid-18th century, said that he prayed in the village after visiting the citadel of Atlit.^[2] In 1776 the village was used as a base by Ahmad Jazzar Pasha to crush a revolt led by Ali, one of the sons of Zahir al-Umar.^[6]

In the late 19th century, the village was described as being built of stone, situated on a slight rise in a valley, surrounded by olive and fig trees, and arable land. There were an estimated 300 Druzes living there.^[7] Later, the residents were described as Muslims who maintained a village mosque. In 1887, the Ottoman authorities built a school in ´Amqa.^[2]

During the British Mandate

Amqa
Amqa
Arabic	عمقا
Also Spelled	'Amqa
District	Acre
Coordinates	32°58′41.20″N 35°10′01.11″E / 32.978111°N 35.166975°E / 32.978111; 35.166975Coordinates: 32°58′41.20″N 35°10′01.11″E / 32.978111°N 35.166975°E / 32.978111; 35.166975
Population	1,240[2][8] (1945)
Area	6,060[2][8] dunums 6.1 km²
Date of depopulation	10–11 July 1948[9]
Cause(s) of depopulation	Military assault by Yishuv forces
Current localities	Amka[10]

Further information: 1948 Palestinian exodus

At the time of the 1931 census, Amqa had 212 occupied houses and a population of 895 Muslims.^[11] The population of Amka in 1945 was 1,240 people and the total land area of the village was over 6,000 dunums (1,500 acres).

Depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war,^[12][13] all that remains of the Arab village structures are an elementary school for boys, founded under Ottoman rule in 1887 and one mosque.

The majority of the surviving Arab buildings of Amka were completely destroyed by the Israeli army in the late 1950s on the orders of the Israeli government.^[2][14][15] The mosque and a schoolroom now used as a warehouse, are the only surviving buildings.^[2][16]

Within Israel

Further information: Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim lands

The village was captured by Israel's 7th Brigade on July 16, 1948 during Operation Dekel. It was largely destroyed, with the exception of its school and its mosque, and most of its inhabitants were expelled, with the exception of its former Druze inhabitants who still live nearby. Some of the inhabitants remained in Israel as present absentees.^[17] In February 1950, the village was declared a closed area.^[18]

The modern Amka was re-established in 1949 by a group of Yemenite Jewish immigrants, who kept the name as Amka.^[19]

Archeological sites

Three khirbats ("archaeological ruins") lay within Amka's vicinity and contain the foundations of buildings, well-chiseled building stones, presses, and a cistern. During archaeological searches of the area remnants of a Byzantine church were discovered but due to the destruction of the village no foundations could be established.^[20][21][22]

The Amka mosque was inspected by Petersen in 1991. The date of the mosque construction is not known, but it bears a general similarity to the nearby mosque of Al-Ghabisiyya, and is probably of a similar age, i.e. early 19th century.^[16]

See also

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

References

1. ^ Ringgren, 2000, p. 204.
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} Khalidi, 1992, p.4
3. ^ Dan Barag (1979), "A new source concerning the ultimate borders of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem", Israel Exploration Journal 29: 197–217. 
4. ^ ^{a b} 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. 192. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 4
5. ^ Cohen, 1973, p.12. Cited in Petersen, 2001, p. 93.
6. ^ Petersen, 2001, p. 93. Cohen, 1973, p. 94.
7. ^ C. R. Conder and H. H. Kitchener (1881). The Survey of Western Palestine. I. London: The Committe of the Palestine Exploration Fund. p. 145. 
8. ^ ^{a b} Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in S. Hadawi, Village Statistics, 1945. PLO Research Center, 1970, p. 40
9. ^ Morris, 2004, p. xvii, village #85. Also gives cause of depopulation.
10. ^ Morris, 2004, p. xxii, Settlement #150.
11. ^ E. Mills, ed. (1932), Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas, Jerusalem: Government of Palestine, p. 99 
12. ^ Nur-eldeen Masalha, ed (2005). Catastrophe remembered: Palestine, Israel and the internal refugees. Zed Books. p. 73. ISBN 978-1842776230. 
13. ^ Khalidi (1992), p 5
14. ^ Ellenblum, 2003 p.177
15. ^ Torstrick Rebecca L. (2000) The Limits of Coexistence: Identity Politics in Israel University of Michigan Press, ISBN 0472111248 p 180
16. ^ ^{a b} Petersen, 2001, p. 93
17. ^ Charles S. Kamen (1987). "After the Catastrophe I: The Arabs in Israel, 1948-51". Middle Eastern Studies 23: 453–495. ; Sabri Jiryis (1973). "The Legal Structure for the Expropriation and Absorption of Arab Lands in Israel". Journal of Palestine Studies 2: 82–104. 
18. ^ S. Jiryis (1976). The land question in Israel. New York and London: Monthly Review Press. p. 90. ISBN 0-85345-377-2. 
19. ^ Morris, Benny, (second edition 2004 third printing 2006) The Birth Of The Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-00967-7 p 416-418
20. ^ Ellenblum, 2003 p.178
21. ^ The War for Palestine (second Edition 2007) Rogan and Shlaim Cambridge University Press ISBN 978-0-521-87598-1 p 66
22. ^ Khoury, Elias (2007) Gate of the Sun: Bab Al-Shams Translated by Humphrey Davies Macmillan, ISBN 0312426704 p 308

Bibliography

• Cohen, A. (1973), Palestine in the Eighteenth Century: Patters of Government and Administration. Hebrew University, Jerusalem. Cited in Petersen, (2001)
• Ellenblum, Ronnie (2003), Frankish Rural Settlement in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521521874, 9780521521871, http://books.google.com/books?id=9kgdbzbUMMwC 
• 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 1
• Guérin, M. V.: (1880): Description Géographique, Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine. Galilee, "Tome II" Paris: Imprimerie Nationale (p.23)
  • alternative: Description Géographique, Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine. Galilee, "Tome II" Paris: Imprimerie Nationale (p.23)
• 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 0887282245
• 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. 
• Nazzal, Nafez (1978): The Palestinian Exodus from Galilee 1948, The Institute for Palestine Studies,
• Petersen, Andrew (2001), A Gazetteer of Buildings in Muslim Palestine: Volume I (British Academy Monographs in Archaeology) p. 93-94
• Khalidi, Walid (1992), All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948, Washington D.C.: Institute for Palestine Studies, ISBN 0-88728-224-5 
• Rogan, Eugene (2001), The War for Palestine: Rewriting the History of 1948, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521794765 

External links and references

• 3amqa, Dr. Moslih Kanaaneh