Farwana

Infobox Former Arab villages in Palestine
name=Farwana


imgsize=
caption=
arname=فرونه
meaning=
altSp=Khirbet Farwana, Rohob, Rehob, Tel Rehov
district=by
population=330
popyear=1945
area=1,054
areakm=
date=11 May 1948
cause=M
curlocl=Rechov

Farwana ( _ar. فرونه) was a Palestinian village, located 4.5 kilometers south of Bisan. Identified with the ancient city of Rehob, extant during Egyptian rule over Palestine in the second millennium BCE, archaeological sites located on the former village's lands include Tell es-Sarem (i.e. Tel Rehov)cite journal|title=The 1997-1998 Excavations at Tel Rehov: Preliminary Report|author=Amihai Mazar|journal=Israel Exploration Journal|volume=49|date=1999|url=http://www.rehov.org/Rehov/publications/index1.htm|pages=1–42] and the remains of a synagogue from the third century ACE.cite web|title=Welcome to Farwana|publisher=Palestine Remembered|accessdate=2007-12-06|url=http://www.palestineremembered.com/Baysan/Farwana/index.html]

Identification of Tel Rehov with the Rehob of the Egyptian texts was based on the preservation of the name at the nearby Islamic holy tomb of esh-Sheikh er-Rihab (1 kilometer to the south of the tel) and the existence of the ruins of a Byzantine era Jewish town of the same name (Rohob), 1 kilometer northwest of Tel Rehov, mentioned by Eusebius as being in the fourth mile from Bisan. Khirbet Farwana ("Khirbet" meaning "site of ruins" in Arabic) is also associated with Rohob.

1948 war and its aftermath

Farwana had a population of over 300 people when it was depopulated in the lead up to the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Its Arab inhabitants, along with those of the neighbouring village of al-Ashrafiyya fled to Jordan after the village was occupied by the pre-state Israeli forces of the Golani Brigade during Operation Gideon on 11 May 1948. The following day, the more than 72 houses that made up the village were completely destroyed. Farwana's inhabitants never returned to the village, and they and their descendants make up one small part of the current population of more than 4 million Palestinian refugees worldwide.

The Jewish localities of Rechov, Chawwat Eden, and Ein HaNatziv were established on the former lands of Farwana.

References