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Saris, Jerusalem

Coordinates: 31°47′53″N 35°04′26″E / 31.79806°N 35.07389°E / 31.79806; 35.07389
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Saris
ساريس
Landscape near Saris, on a 1587 print by Jean Zuallart[1]
Landscape near Saris, on a 1587 print by Jean Zuallart[1]
Etymology: Saris, personal name[2]
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Saris, Jerusalem (click the buttons)
Saris is located in Mandatory Palestine
Saris
Saris
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 31°47′53″N 35°04′26″E / 31.79806°N 35.07389°E / 31.79806; 35.07389
Palestine grid157/133
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictJerusalem
Date of depopulation16–17 April 1948[5]
Area
[4]
 • Total
10,699 dunams (10.699 km2 or 4.131 sq mi)
Population
 (1945)
 • Total
560[3][4]
Cause(s) of depopulationMilitary assault by Yishuv forces
Current LocalitiesShoresh, Sho'eva, Neve Ilan

Saris (Arabic: ساريس) was a Palestinian Arab village that was depopulated during the major offensive launched by the Haganah on 16 April 1948. Called Operation Nachshon, and launched before the British had left Palestine, its objective was to capture villages between Jerusalem and the coastal plain, in order to break to siege of the Jews of Jerusalem.[6]

History

Yaqut al-Hamawi noted about Saris in the 1220s that it was "a village of the district round Jerusalem. It lies half-way between Jerusalem and Ar Ramlah, and 4 hours from either place".[7]

Ottoman era

During Ottoman rule in Palestine, in 1596, Saris was a village in the nahiya (subdistrict) of Jerusalem under the liwa' (district) of Jerusalem and it had a population of 53 Muslim households, an estimated 292 persons. The villagers paid taxes on a number of crops, including wheat, barley, olives fruit and carob, as well as on goats, beehives and vineyards; a total of 7,098 akçe. A quarter of the revenue went to a Waqf.[8]

In 1838, Edward Robinson noted Saris as a Muslim village in the District of Beni Malik, west of Jerusalem,[9] while in 1852 he noted that the village "belonged feudally" to the Latham family, of Bayt 'Itab.[10]

In 1863, the French explorer Victor Guérin found Saris to have an apparently ancient water well, while the houses looked "dilapidated".[11] An Ottoman village list of about 1870 counted 57 houses and a population of 169, though the population count included men, only.[12][13]

In 1883, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described Saris as being located on top of a hill, with olive trees growing below the village.[14]

Baldensperger reported in 1893 that the Seal of Solomon was engraved in stone over windows and doors on several houses in Saris.[15] According to Palestinian folklore, this kept away all evil.[16] In 1896 the population of Saris was estimated to be about 360 persons.[17]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Saris had a population 373, all Muslims,[18] increasing in the 1931 census to 470, still all Muslims, in 114 houses.[19] A 1931 survey counted 114 houses in the village.[20]

In the 1945 statistics the population of Saris was 560, all Muslims,[3] and it had 10,699 dunams of land according to an official land and population survey.[4][21] 366 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 3,677 for cereals,[22] while 10 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[23]

1948 war and destruction

Further information: 1948 Palestine war and 1948 Palestinian expulsion
Saris, Palestine. 1948

On 13 April, before the village was attacked, Israel Galili wrote to Yosef Weitz of the JNF asking for a settlement to be established at Saris 'as soon as possible.'[24]

Part of a series on the
Nakba
Precipitating events
  • Background
1948 expulsion and flight
Discourse
Notable writers
Symbols and memory
Ongoing
Lists

On 16-17 April 1948 the village was attacked by the Haganah. The Scotsman reported 'Jews destroyed a mosque, village school, and 25 houses, killing three women in an attack on the Arab village of Saris early today (16th). There were about 500 attackers.' The New York Times carried the same report and gave the number of Arab dead as seven. A Haganah statement is quoted as saying that the battalion stayed in the village for about five hours, blowing up 25 buildings and burning others.[25] Historian Saleh Abdel Jawad writes that "indiscriminate killings" occurred.[26]

Following the war, the area was incorporated into the State of Israel. The village of Shoresh was established 1 km south west of the remains of Saris in 1948, while Sho'eva was set up 0.5 km north east of the site in 1950, both on land that had belonged to Saris.[21]

  • Saris 1943 1:20,000 (top right quadrant)
    Saris 1943 1:20,000 (top right quadrant)
  • Saris 1945 1:250,000 (lower right quadrant)
    Saris 1945 1:250,000 (lower right quadrant)
  • Saris 10 May 1948 (lower right)
    Saris 10 May 1948 (lower right)
  • Members of Harel Brigade demolishing houses in Saris, 1948
    Members of Harel Brigade demolishing houses in Saris, 1948
  • Harel Brigade demolishing houses in Saris, 1948
    Harel Brigade demolishing houses in Saris, 1948
  • Members of the Harel Brigade training outside Saris, 1948
    Members of the Harel Brigade training outside Saris, 1948

The Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi described the village land in 1992: "The site is covered with stone rubble; iron bars protrude from the collapsed roofs. There are many open wells and several caves with arched roofs. A large number of trees, including cypress, fig, and almond trees, grow on the site. An abandoned grove of almond trees is located on the eastern side. In the middle of the slope are the remains of an artificial pool. The village cemetery, surrounded by trees, is located southwest of the site. It contains several large tombs, one of which is surrounded by a small, roofless enclosure; an almond tree grows in the center." He also noted that two forests had been established in the area by the Jewish National Fund and the Center for European Jewry.[21]

References

  1. ^ Zuallart, 1587, p. 118
  2. ^ Palmer, 1881, p. 326
  3. ^ a b Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 25
  4. ^ a b c Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 58
  5. ^ Morris, 2004, p. xx, village #345. Also gives cause of depopulation.
  6. ^ Palestine Remembered – Saris
  7. ^ Le Strange, 1890, p. 531
  8. ^ Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 112. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 315
  9. ^ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. 123
  10. ^ Robinson and Smith, 1856, pp. 153–156
  11. ^ Guérin, 1868, pp. 62, 281−283
  12. ^ Socin, 1879, p. 160 also noted it was located in the Beni Malik District
  13. ^ Hartmann, 1883, p. 118, also noted 57 houses
  14. ^ Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. 18. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 315
  15. ^ Baldensperger, 1893, p. 217
  16. ^ Baldensperger, 1893, p. 206
  17. ^ Schick, 1896, p. 125
  18. ^ Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Jerusalem, p. 14
  19. ^ Mills, 1932, p. 43
  20. ^ Morris, 2004, pp. 234–235, 240
  21. ^ a b c Khalidi, 1992, p. 316
  22. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 104
  23. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 154
  24. ^ Khalidi, 1992, p. 316, quoting Benny Morris.
  25. ^ Khalidi, 1992, pp. 315–316.
  26. ^ Saleh Abdel Jawad, 2007, Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War.

Bibliography

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