Al-Kafrayn
الكفرين Kafrin, al-[1] | |
|---|---|
Village | |
 Children of Al-Kafrayn, around 1937 | |
| Etymology: "The two villages"[2] | |
.jpg) 1870s map .jpg) 1940s map.jpg) modern map .jpg) 1940s with modern overlay mapA series of historical maps of the area around Al-Kafrayn (click the buttons) | |
  Al-Kafrayn Location within Mandatory Palestine | |
| Coordinates: 32°34′25″N 35°07′08″E / 32.57361°N 35.11889°E | |
| Palestine grid | 161/219 |
| Geopolitical entity | Mandatory Palestine |
| Subdistrict | Haifa |
| Date of depopulation | 12–13 April 1948[1] |
| Area | |
| • Total | 10,882 dunams (10.882 km2 or 4.202 sq mi) |
| Population (1945) | |
| • Total | 920[3][4] |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Military assault by Yishuv forces |
Al-Kafrayn (Arabic: الكفرين) was a Palestinian village in the Haifa Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on 12 April 1948 as part of the Battle of Mishmar HaEmek. It was located 29.5 km southeast of Haifa.
The Crusaders referred to al-Kafrayn as Caforana.[5]
During the 19th and first half of the 20th century, al-Kafryan was one of the settlements in the margins of the so-called "Fahmawi Commonwealth" established by Hebronite clans belonging to Umm al-Fahm. The Commonwealth consisted of a network of interspersed communities connected by ties of kinship, and socially, economically and politically affiliated with Umm al Fahm. The Commonwealth dominated vast sections of Bilad al-Ruha/Ramot Menashe, Wadi 'Ara and Marj Ibn 'Amir/Jezreel Valley during that time.[6]
In 1859, Kefrein was estimated to have a population of 200, who cultivated 30 feddans.[7]
In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described it as "a village of moderate size, on the west side of the watershed, with a spring on that side."[7] A population list from about 1887 showed that Kefrein had about 485 inhabitants, all Muslim.[8]
In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Al Kufrain had a population 571; 569 Muslims,[9] and 2 Orthodox Christians,[10] increasing in the 1931 census to 657, all Muslims, in a total of 95 houses.[11]
In the 1945 statistics, the village had a population of 920 Muslims,[3] and the total land area was 10,882 dunams.[4] Of the land, 147 dunams was for plantations and irrigable land, 9,776 dunums (2,416 acres) for cereals,[12] while 18 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[13]
Al-Kafrayn became depopulated in April 1948 after military assault by Yishuv forces.[1] 11–12 April 1948, the same day it was occupied, the Yishuv forces blew up some 30 of Kafrayns houses.[14][15]
On 19 April 1948, the Palmach held an exercise in al-Kafrayn and afterwards they blew up the rest of the village.[16][17]
Most of the villagers ended up in tent homes in the Jenin area, appealing to the AHC: "Thousands of poor women and children from the villages of Abu Zureiq and Mansi and Ghubayya and Kafrin and other places near the colony of Mishmar Ha‘emek, whose houses the Jews have destroyed and whose babies and old people [the Jews] have killed, are now in the villages around Jenin without help and dying of hunger. We ask you to repair the situation . . . and do everything to quickly send forces of vengeance against the Jews and restore us to our lands."[18]
Following the war the area was incorporated into the State of Israel. An Israeli military training camp was later built on the village's land.[5]
In 1992, the remains were described: "The site and its surrounding area are divided between a military training camp and a cow pasture. A rubble-filled has been fenced in and is covered with dirt, underbrush and thorns. Almond,olive and fig trees are scattered around the site."[5]
