El Sheikh Muwannis

32.113888888889 34.804166666667Coordinates: 32 ° 6 ′ 50 ″ N , 34 ° 48 ′ 15 ″ E

Ash Sheikh Muwannis

The place al-Sheikh Muwannis ( Arabic الشـَّيْخُ مُوَنِّس, DMG aš-Šaiḫu Muwannis , also al-Sheikh Muannes ; Hebrew שייח 'מוניס) was an Arab village northeast of the Jarkon estuary in the British Mandate of Palestine , the inhabitants of which fled the Jewish immigrants in March 1948, i.e. before the Palestine War of 1948 . Most of the village was destroyed before the Israeli state was founded. The village area was added to the urban area of Tel Aviv and today forms the south of the Ramat Aviv district and the site of Tel Aviv University .

history

The village was founded either in the late 18th century or in the early 19th century. In the 1830s, when Palestine was conquered by Muhammad Ali Pascha , the governor of the Ottoman province of Egypt , some farmers also settled there. Under the British mandate , the village expanded and became wealthier. The population of the village and the surrounding area was around 2000 in 1948. These in turn were surrounded by the large Jewish settlements of Tel Aviv, Hertzlija and others. Therefore, in the UN partition plan for Palestine, the village was assigned to Jewish territory.

Even before the Palestine War of 1948 , the village council had contact with a Zionist military organization, the Hagana, and agreed, in secrecy from the Arab troops, not to take part in the hostilities. In addition, the Hagana demanded that any entry by Arab troops into the strategically important village be reported immediately to the Israeli military leadership. When Arab associations finally made their way to al-Sheikh Muwannis in March 1948, the village was surrounded and besieged by the Hagana to prevent their intrusion. During the siege, villagers were kidnapped by non-Hagana Jewish groups. This circumstance, as well as the suffering of the population under the siege, led the villagers to flee to the east through the only opening of the siege ring.

According to their own reports, the Hagana was able to conquer the village without a fight. Leaving and then conquering the village is part of what the Palestinians call Nakba . Many of the refugees moved to Qalqiliya and Tulkarem .

After the conquest, most of the houses were destroyed by the Israelis, while the rest of them were occupied by Jewish settlers. As a result, the Ramat Aviv district was founded on the grounds of the village and its surroundings. In the 1990s the remains of the village were demolished with the expansion of Tel Aviv University. The only remaining house (the green house ), which previously belonged to one of the richest families in the area, now serves as the university's clubhouse and canteen . The Israeli group Zochrot organized a protest march on Nakba Day in 2004 and called on the Tel Aviv city administration to name six streets in memory of destroyed Palestinian villages, including one after Ash Sheikh Muwannis .

Web links

nakba-online.tripod.com Historical listing of the conflict with Jewish / Zionist forces (Hebrew)

www.palestineremembered.com Statistical information on the village (English)

www.zochrot.org Pictures of a memorial event of the Zochrot Organization (English)

Individual evidence

^ Benny Morris: The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-521-00967-7 , pp. 127-128.
^ The Threat of Disengagement: Can Israel Separate from the Palestinians? Archived from the original on November 8, 2007. In: Badil (Ed.): Al-Majdal . June 22, 2004.

[1] Benny Morris: The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-521-00967-7 , pp. 127-128.

[Badil-2] The Threat of Disengagement: Can Israel Separate from the Palestinians? Archived from the original on November 8, 2007. In: Badil (Ed.): Al-Majdal . June 22, 2004.