Al-Malkiyya

al-Malikiyya
al-Malikiyya
Arabic	المالكية
Also Spelled	Malikiya, al
District	Safad
Coordinates	33°06′19.81″N 35°30′22.67″E / 33.1055028°N 35.5062972°E / 33.1055028; 35.5062972Coordinates: 33°06′19.81″N 35°30′22.67″E / 33.1055028°N 35.5062972°E / 33.1055028; 35.5062972
Population	360[1] (1945)
Area	7,328[1] dunums
Date of depopulation	28 May 1948[2]
Cause(s) of depopulation	Military assault by Yishuv forces
Current localities	Malkiya[3][4]

al-Malikiyya (Arabic: المالكية‎) was a Lebanese village located in the Jabal Amil district of Lebanon. In a 1920s census, the village was registered as Lebanon. It was later placed under the British Mandate of Palestine. Its population was Metawali Shiite, and were originally considered to be from Lebanon. In a 1930s census, the village was registered as Palestinian and part of the Safed District.

History

According to the Arab geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi (d. 1228), the people of al-Malikiyya had a wooden platter that they believed was originally owned by the prophet Mohammed.^[4][5]

In 1596, al-Malikiyya was a village in the Ottoman nahiya (subdistrict) of Tibnin under the liwa' (district) of Safad, with a population of 369. It paid taxes on a number of crops, such as wheat, barley, as well as goats and beehives.^[6]

In the late nineteenth century, the village of Al-Malkiyya was described as being built of stone and mud, lying on a plain to the east of a valley. Well supplied with water from a nearby wadi, the village's 200-300 inhabitants cultivated olives.^[7]

In 1944/45 a total of 4,225 dunums of land was allocated to cereals.^{[4] [8]}

1948

Al-Malikiyya changed hands no fewer than five times between May and October 1948.^[4] A battle was fought in the village on 5-6 June 1948, during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Combatants were Israelis and the Lebanese army commanded by then Lebanese minister of defense, Emir Majid Arslan II. As a result of the war, the village was depopulated.

See also

• List of Arab towns and villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
• Metawali
• Operation Hiram
• Seven Lebanese Villages

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Hadawi, 1970, p.70
2. ^ Morris, 2004, p. xvi, village #25. Also gives cause of depopulation.
3. ^ Morris, 2004, p. xxii, Settlement #135, established 1949.
4. ^ ^{a b c d} Khalidi, 1992, p. 471
5. ^ Mu'jam Al-Buldan, cited in le Strange, 1890, p.77
6. ^ Hütteroth, Wolf-Dieter and Kamal Abdulfattah (1977), Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century. Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft. p. 179. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 471
7. ^ Conder and Kitchener: SWP I, 1881, p.202, p.251. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 471
8. ^ Hadawi, 1970, p.119

Bibliography

• Conder, Claude Reignier and H.H. Kitchener (1881): The Survey of Western Palestine: memoirs of the topography, orography, hydrography, and archaeology. London:Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund. vol 1
• Hadawi, Sami (1970), Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine, Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center, http://www.palestineremembered.com/Articles/General-2/Story3150.html 
• Morris, Benny (2004), The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-00967-7 
• Khalidi, Walid (1992), All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948, Washington D.C.: Institute for Palestine Studies, ISBN 0-88728-224-5 
• le Strange, Guy (1890), Palestine Under the Moslems: A Description of Syria and the Holy Land from A.D. 650 to 1500, Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund, http://www.archive.org/details/palestineundermo00lestuoft 

External links

• Welcome to al-Malikiyya
• al-Malikiyya, from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center
• al-Malikiyya, Dr. Khalil Rizk.