al-Khisas
خربة الخِصاص Khirbat Khisâs | |
|---|---|
Village | |
| Etymology: the ruin of booths or reed huts[1] | |
.jpg) 1870s map .jpg) 1940s map.jpg) modern map .jpg) 1940s with modern overlay mapA series of historical maps of the area around Al-Khisas, Gaza (click the buttons) | |
  al-Khisas Location within Mandatory Palestine | |
| Coordinates: 31°38′53″N 34°33′40″E / 31.64806°N 34.56111°E | |
| Palestine grid | 108/117 |
| Geopolitical entity | Mandatory Palestine |
| Subdistrict | Gaza |
| Date of depopulation | November 4–5, 1948[4] |
| Area | |
| • Total | 6,269 dunams (6.269 km2 or 2.420 sq mi) |
| Population (1945) | |
| • Total | 150[2][3] |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Military assault by Yishuv forces |
| Current Localities | Ashkelon[5] |
Al-Khisas (Arabic: خربة الخِصاص, Khirbat Khisâs) was a Palestinian Arab village located 18.5 kilometers (11.5 mi) northeast of Gaza near the modern city of Ashkelon.[6]
Al-Khisas was located just west of Ni'ilya, south of Al-Jura.
Al-Khisas, called Khisas, was inhabited in the 15th century. Mamluk records show that in 1459 CE it was endowed was a waqf.[7]
In 1838, in the late Ottoman era, el Khusas was noted as a place "in ruins or deserted", located in the Gaza district.[8]
An official Ottoman village list from about 1870 showed that Chasas had 6 houses and a population of 35, though the population count included men, only.[9][10]
In 1883, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine found at Khurbet el Khesas "a few heaps of stones with a well near".[11]
The modern village was classified as a hamlet in the Palestine Index Gazetter, and was built after World War I.[5] Farmers from neighboring areas first built temporary huts at the site to shelter themselves during the harvest, gradually they settled and built adobe houses.[5] The population relied on neighboring villages Al-Jura and Ni'ilya for medical, educational and administrative services.[5]
In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Khesas had a population of 102 inhabitants, all Muslims,[12] increasing in the 1931 census to 133, still all Muslims, in 26 houses.[13]
In the 1945 statistics, Al-Khisas had a population of 150 Muslims[2] with a total of 6,269 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.[14] Of this, 191 dunums of village land were used for citrus and bananas, 419 for cereal farming, 2,671 irrigated or used for orchards,[15] while 10 dunams were built-up land.[16]
The village was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War between November 4–5, 1948, at the end of Operation Yo'av.[5] The Israeli army found about 150 people in Al-Khisas and nearby Ni'ilya; they were all expelled to Beit Hanoun on the Gaza strip.[17]
In 1992 the village site was described as being "engulfed by the Israeli town of Ashkelon".[5]
