Al-Birwa

Infobox Former Arab villages in Palestine
name=Al-Birwa

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imgsize=250
caption=
arname=البروه
meaning=
altSp=Al-Birwe
district=ac
population=1,460
popyear=1945
area=13,542
areakm=13.5
date=11 June 1948(?) [Benny Morris (2004): "The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited", p. XVII. Also gives cause(s) of depopulation.]
cause=M
curlocl=Ahihud, Yas'ur

al-Birwa or al-Birwe ( _ar. البروه) is a former Palestinian village that was captured by Israel on June 11, 1948 during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. It was a part of the District of Acre, 10.5 km east of the district capital, Acre (Akka). According to a 1945 census, al-Birwa had a population of 1,460 residents, most of whom were Muslim and its total land area was 13,542 dunams. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/Acre/al-Birwa/index.html Birwa Town Statistics and Facts] ]

Al-Birwa had two elementary schools. The Ottomans founded a boys school in 1888; a girls school was opened in 1943. According to Walid Khalidi, one of the schools, two shrines for local sages and three houses remained standing after the town's capture.

History

The town was referred to as "Broet" by the Crusaders. During the 1900s, while it was under Ottoman control the town considerably grew commercially and in population. The town had one church, a mosque and a number of shrines. It was captured by Israeli forces during Operation Dekel from the control of local militiamen and the Arab Liberation Army. All of al-Birwa's inhabitants fled the town to various camps in Lebanon as well as to the nearby towns and villages of Kabul, Kafr Yasif, Majd al-Krum and Bi'ina. The town was the birthplace and childhood residence of Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish.

References

External links

* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4247127461696597647 Oral history of the fall of Birweh]
* [http://www.nakbainhebrew.org/index.php?id=117 Al-Birwa, the story of an uprooted Palestinian village]