Mansurat al-Khayt
Village in Safad, Mandatory Palestine
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Mansurat al-Khayt was a Palestinian Arab village in the Safad Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on January 18, 1948. It was located 11.5 km east of Safed, 1 km west of the Jordan River.
- See Mansura (disambiguation) for other sites with similar names.
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Mansurat al-Khayt
منصورة الخيط Mansurat al Kheit[1] | |
|---|---|
Village | |
1870s map .jpg) 1940s map.jpg) modern map .jpg) 1940s with modern overlay mapA series of historical maps of the area around Mansurat al-Khayt (click the buttons) | |
  Mansurat al-Khayt Location within Mandatory Palestine | |
| Coordinates: 32°58′15″N 35°36′58″E | |
| Palestine grid | 207/264 |
| Geopolitical entity | Mandatory Palestine |
| Subdistrict | Safad |
| Date of depopulation | January 18, 1948[1] |
| Area | |
• Total | 6,735 dunams (6.735 km2; 2.600 sq mi) |
| Population (1945) | |
• Total | 200[3][2] |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Military assault by Yishuv forces |
| Current Localities | Kfar Hanassi?[4] However, Khalidi writes that it is on the land of Tuba[5] |
History
Part of the name, al-Khayt, came from the area named as ard al-khayt, located southwest of the lake of Hula.[6]
Al-Dimashqi (d.1327) wrote about Al Khait: "A district of the Upper Ghaur of the Jordan Valley. The country resembles that of Irak in the matter of its rice, its birds, its hot springs, and excellent crops."[7]
In the mid 18th century, The Syrian Sufi teacher and traveller al-Bakri al-Siddiqi (1688-1748/9) noted that he passed by al-Khayt with a judge from Safad.[5]
British Mandate era
In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Kerad al Khait had a population of 437 Muslims,[8] decreasing in the 1931 census when Mansurat el Hula had to 367 Muslims inhabitants, in a total of 61 houses.[9]
In the 1945 statistics the village had a population of 200 Muslims,[3] with 6,735 dunams of land, all of which was publicly owned.[2] Of this, 5,052 dunams were used for cereals,[10] while 17 dunams were classified as built-up, public areas.[11]
The village was also known by Mansurat al-Hula to distinguish it from al-Mansura in Safed and had a shrine for a local sage known as al-Shaykh Mansur from which the village was named after.
1948, aftermath
The village was temporarily evacuated after a Haganah attack on 18 January 1948. The Haganah was under order to "eliminate" anyone in the village who resisted.[12] It was noted that "houses and shacks were set alight" during the attack.[13]
In July 1948, a new settlement called Habonim, later renamed Kfar Hanassi, went up on the land of Mansurat al-Khayt.[14]