Sabbarin

Infobox Former Arab villages in Palestine
name=Sabbarin


imgsize=
caption=
arname=صبارين
meaning=
altSp=Sabarin Sabbarim
district=hf
population=1,108
popyear=1931
area=25,307
areakm=25.3
date=May 12, 1948
cause=M
curlocl=Ramot Menashe

Sabbarin was a former Palestinian Arab village located 28 kilometers south of Haifa. According to the 1931 census of Palestine, the village had a population of 1,108 inhabitants and the village's lands spanned 25,307 dunams.cite web|title=Welcome to Sabbarin: Town Statistics and Facts|publisher=Palestine Remembered|accessdate=2007-12-04|url=http://www.palestineremembered.com/Haifa/Sabbarin/index.html]

Sabbarin was captured by Israeli forces on May 12, 1948 during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War in Operation Coastal Clearing. It was defended by a local militia and possibly the Arab Liberation Army. According to Benny Morris, the IZL (Irgun) encountered resistance there and the majority of the villagers fled after 20 of them were killed in a firefight, with an IZL armoured car firing on the villagers as they fled. More than one hundred people, including the eldery, women, and children, who had not fled were held behind barbed wire for a few days before being expelled to nearby Umm al-Fahm.Morris, 2004, p. 244.] Others who had fled earlier ended up in refugee camps in the Jenin area.

An IZL officer recounted how during a search of the column of refugees, a pistol and a rifle were found. Seven men were detained and were asked who the weapons belonged to. After they refused to answer, the IZL men threatened them with death. After still refusing to answer, the IZL men carried out a "field court martial," sentenced the seven to death, and thereafter executed them on the spot.

References

Bibliography

*Morris, Benny (2004). " [http://books.google.ca/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=RA1-PA244&dq=sabbarin&sig=ub4MkXUHv341Ba1zWsPRQCZtVUw The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited] ." Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521009677