Ra'na

Ra'na (Arabic: رعنة‎) was a village located approximately 26 km northwest of Hebron. It was occupied by the Israeli army during Operation Yo'av in October 1948. It was one of 16 villages in the Hebron district that were depopulated.

For the language, see Ra'na language.
Ra'na

رعنة
Etymology: The spur of a Hill[1]
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Ra'na (click the buttons)
Ra'na
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 31°39′57″N 34°52′43″E
Palestine grid138/119
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictHebron
Date of depopulation22–23 October 1948[2]
Area
 • Total6.925 dunams (0.6925 ha or 1.711 acres)
Population
 (1945)
 • Total190[4][3]
Cause(s) of depopulationMilitary assault by Yishuv forces
Current LocalitiesGal On

History

In 1838, during the Ottoman empire, Edward Robinson noted it as Muslim village, located in the Gaza district.[5] He further reported that the fields of Ra'na were planted with tobacco and cotton.[6]

In 1863 Victor Guérin described it as a "village now reduced to a few huts, but that once had been much more considerable, judging by two beautiful wells dug in the rock and by a number of great stones scattered here and there".[7] An Ottoman village list of about 1870 showed that Ra'na had 8 houses and a population of 30, though the population count included men, only.[8][9]

In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described Ra'na as a village built of stone and adobe, and it had a pool and gardens.[10]

In 1896 the population of Ra'na was estimated to be about 99 persons.[11]

British Mandate era

Ra'na was classified as hamlet by the Palestine Index Gazetteer.[12] In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Ra'ana had a population of 126 inhabitants, all Muslims,[13] increasing in the 1931 census to 150, still all Muslim, in a total of 36 inhabited houses.[14]

In 1945 statistics the population of Ra'na was 190, all Muslims.[4][3] In 1944/45 a total of 5,882 dunums of land was planted with cereals, while 112 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards. Grain was the dominant crop, but during the final year of the British Mandate of Palestine, the villagers also grew grapes, carob and olives.[12][15] 14 dunams were classified as built-up (urban) areas.[16]

The kibbutz of Gal On was established in 1946 on what had traditionally been village land.[12]

Ra'na 1948 1:250,000 (top left quadrant)
Ra'na 1948 1:20,000

1948, and after

The village was attacked by the Giv'ati Brigade on 22–23 October 1948. Those villagers who had not already fled were expelled and the village destroyed.[12]

Following the war, the area was incorporated into the State of Israel. Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi described that the site of the village in 1992: "The site is fenced in with barbed wire and is overgrown in part by cactuses, especially where there is limestone soil, and by carob trees. No houses or rubble remains."[12]

People from Ra'na

See also

References
  1. Palmer, 1881, p. 273
  2. Morris, 2004, p. xix, village #296. Also gives cause of depopulation
  3. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 50
  4. Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 23
  5. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. 119
  6. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol. 2, p. 354. Also cited in Khalidi, 1992, p. 221.
  7. Guérin, 1869, p. 197
  8. Socin, 1879, p. 158
  9. Hartmann, 1883, p. 143 also noted 8 houses
  10. Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p.415. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p.221
  11. Schick, 1896, p. 123
  12. Khalidi, 1992, p. 221
  13. Barron, 1923, Table V, Sub-district of Hebron, p. 10
  14. Mills, 1932, p. 33
  15. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 93
  16. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 143

Bibliography
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