Burayka Explained

Burayka
Native Name:بريكة
Native Name Lang:ar
Other Name:Bureika,[1] Ibraikeh
Settlement Type:Village
Etymology:The little pool[2]
Pushpin Map:Mandatory Palestine
Pushpin Mapsize:200
Coordinates:32.5581°N 34.9756°W
Grid Name:Palestine grid
Grid Position:148/213
Subdivision Type:Geopolitical entity
Subdivision Name:Mandatory Palestine
Subdivision Type1:Subdistrict
Subdivision Name1:Haifa
Established Title1:Date of depopulation
Established Date1:May 5, 1948
Established Title2:Repopulated dates
Unit Pref:dunam
Area Total Dunam:11,434
Population As Of:1945
Population Total:290[3] [4]
Blank Name Sec1:Cause(s) of depopulation
Blank Info Sec1:Influence of nearby town's fall

Burayka was a Palestinian Arab village in the Haifa Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on May 5, 1948. It was located 29 km south of Haifa.

History

The Crusaders called the place for Broiquet.[5] In 1265, Burayka was among the villages and estates sultan Baibars allocated to his amirs after he had expelled the Crusaders. Half of the income from Burayka went to his emir Jamal al-Din Musa b. Yaghmur, the other half to emir Alam al-Din Sanjar al-Hilli al-Ghazzawi.[6]

Ottoman era

In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described it as "a small village on a hill-top, with a well to the north, and wooded country round."[7] A population list from about 1887 showed that Bureikeh had about 115 inhabitants, all Muslim.[8] A school, founded in 1889 during the Ottoman period, was located in the village, but was closed during the British Mandate period.[5]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Ibraikeh had a population of 249, all Muslims,[9] increasing in the 1931 census to 237, still all Muslims, in 45 houses.[10]

In the 1945 statistics the village had a population of 290 Muslims,[3] and Arabs had a total of 1,864 dunams of land according to an official land and population survey.[4] Of this, 78 dunams were for plantations and irrigable land, 1,538 for cereals,[5] [11] while 15 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[12]

1948, aftermath

Initially, the villagers did not want to take part in the war, and they opposed garrisoning ALA militiamen in their village.[13]

According to Yishuv sources, the AHC had in early March, 1948, ordered the villagers to evacuate, so that it could serve as a base for Arab irregular forces, However, most of the villagers seems to have stayed in the village at this stage.[14] The village was finally depopulated in early May, in the aftermath of the Battle of Mishmar HaEmek, when IZL attacked the remaining villages in the area with mortar fire.[15]

Today, a civilian explosives factory is located on the site.[16]

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. Morris, 2004, p. xviii, village #161. Also gives cause of depopulation.
  2. Palmer, 1881, p. 146
  3. Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 13
  4. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 47
  5. Khalidi, 1992, p. 155
  6. [Ibn al-Furat]
  7. Conder and Kitchener, 1882, p. 41
  8. Schumacher, 1888, p. 180
  9. Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Haifa, p. 34
  10. Mills, 1932, p. 89
  11. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 89
  12. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 139
  13. Morris, 2004, p. 97
  14. Morris, 2004, p. 130
  15. Morris, 2004, p. 243
  16. Web site: תעשיות חרושת חומרי נפץ - היסטוריה. Explosives industries - History. 30 November 2010. bot: unknown. https://web.archive.org/web/20110721135048/http://www.explosives.co.il/history.html. 21 July 2011.

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