Kharruba

Kharruba was a Palestinian Arab village in the Ramle Subdistrict of Mandatory Palestine, near Modi'in. It was located 8 km east of Ramla. It was depopulated on July 12, 1948 during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.

Kharruba

خروبة
Kharruba, 2008
Etymology: The carob, or locust tree[1]
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Kharruba (click the buttons)
Kharruba
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 31°54′44″N 34°57′38″E
Palestine grid146/146
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictRamle
Date of depopulationJuly 12–15, 1948[2]
Population
 (1945)
 • Total170[3]
Cause(s) of depopulationMilitary assault by Yishuv forces

History

Kharruba appeared in Ottoman tax registers compiled in 1596 under the name of Harnuba, in the Nahiyas of Ramla, of the Gaza Sanjak. It was indicated as empty (hali), though 25% taxes were paid on agricultural products. These included wheat, barley, summer crops, vineyards, fruit trees, sesame, goats, beehives, in an addition to occasional revenues; a total of 4,000 akçe.[4]

In 1838, it was noted as a Muslim village, Khurrubeh, in the Ibn Humar area in the District of Er-Ramleh.[5]

In 1863, Victor Guérin described Kharruba as a hamlet of a few huts. He noticed the remains of a medieval fort and suggested it might be the Crusader castle Arnaldi.[6] The following decade, the PEF's "Survey of Western Palestine" found only ruins.[7]

British Mandate era

At the time of the 1931 census, Kharruba had 21 occupied houses and a population of 119 inhabitants, all Muslims.[8]

In the 1945 statistics, the village had a population of 170 Muslims.[9] The total land area was 3,374 dunams,[3] of this, a total of 1,620 dunums were used for cereals, 25 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards,[10] while 3 dunams were classified as built-up public areas.[11]

  • Kharruba 1942 1:20,000
  • Kharruba 1945 1:250,000

1948, aftermath

It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War on July 12, 1948 by the Yiftach Brigade which reported that it had blown up the houses and "cleared the village".[12]

In 1992 the village site was described: "The site is covered with the stone rubble of the destroyed houses, overgrown with vegetation. Many of the plants that grow on the site are the ones that Palestinians traditionally planted near their homes: cactuses, castor oil (ricinus) plants, and cypress, Christ's thorn, and olive trees. The surrounding land is used by the Israelis as grazing ground."[13]

Archaeology

A site called Haruba is mentioned in the Copper Scroll, the only one of the Dead Sea Scrolls engraved on copper rather than written on parchment. Modern scholars do not believe it to be the site mentioned in the scroll.[14]

In 2012, five suspected antiquities robbers were caught at Kharruba, after damaging a mikveh (ritual bath) dating to the Second Temple period and trenches used as hiding places during the Bar Kokhba revolt.[14]

References
  1. Palmer, 1881, p. 299
  2. Morris, 2004, p. xix, village #242. Also gives cause of depopulation
  3. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 67
  4. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 152
  5. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. 121
  6. Guérin, 1868, pp. 317–318. However, the modern identification of Arnaldi is Yalo.(Denys Pringle (1991). "Survey of Castles in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, 1989: Preliminary Report". Levant. XXIII: 87–91. doi:10.1179/lev.1991.23.1.87.)
  7. Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. 104
  8. Mills, 1932, p. 21
  9. Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 29
  10. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 115
  11. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 165
  12. Morris, 2004, p. 435
  13. Khalidi, 1992, p. 388
  14. The document is said to provide clues to the whereabouts of the legendary treasures of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. The scroll states: "In the ruin (Hurba) that is in the valley of Achor, under/the steps, with the entrance at the East,/a distance of 40 cubits: a strongbox of silver and its vessels / with a weight of 17 talents." In consequence, many treasure hunters have flocked to Kharruba over the years, No gold in them hills, Haaretz

Bibliography
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