Miska

For the town in Iran, see Miska, Ardabil.

Miska
Remains of the village mosque, 2007
Miska
Arabic	مسكة
District	Tulkarm
Coordinates	32°13′03.53″N 34°55′28.92″E / 32.2176472°N 34.9247°E / 32.2176472; 34.9247Coordinates: 32°13′03.53″N 34°55′28.92″E / 32.2176472°N 34.9247°E / 32.2176472; 34.9247
Population	650[1] (1948)
Area	8,076 dunums 8.0 km²
Date of depopulation	15 April 1948[1][2]
Cause(s) of depopulation	Expulsion by Yishuv forces
Current localities	Sde Warburg, Mishmeret[3]

Miska was a Palestinian village, located fifteen kilometers southwest of Tulkarem, depopulated in 1948.

History

Miska was founded by descendants of the Arabian tribe of Miskain in the 7th century Islamic conquest of Palestine.^[4]

According to the Arab geographer Yaqut, writing in the 1220s, Miska was known for its fruit, especially the misk (musk) apple variety which was said to have been transferred to Egypt by the Fatimid vizier al-Hasan al-Yazuri (Yazur), who died in 1058.^[5]

The French commander Kleber and his troops passed by the village on their way to Napoleons siege of Acre in 1799.^[6]

In the late nineteenth century, Miska was described as a small village whose population was estimated at 300. Olive trees were planted to the north and south, and fig and palm trees were scattered throughout the village.^[7][8]

1948, and after

On 15 April 1948, Miska's Arab inhabitants were expelled on the order of the Haganah, the primary Jewish force prior to the outbreak of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.^[1] The village, with the exception of a boy's elementary school and a mosque, was destroyed on the orders of Yosef Weitz, a Jewish National Fund official.^[4]

On 16 June 1948, Ben-Gurion, almost certainly based on a progress report from Joseph Weitz, noted Miska as one of the Palestinian villages that they had destroyed.^[9]

Sde Warburg was established in 1938 on land that traditionally belonged to the village. Mishmeret was established in 1946, to the northwest of the village site, on village land. Ramat ha-Kovesh, founded 1932, is about 1 km due west of the village site, though not on village land.^[3]

The Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi described the village in 1992: "The site is covered with citrus groves; cactuses grow along the perimeter of these groves. The two-room school still stands and is used as housing for the watchmen who guard the orchards. The mosque serves as a storehouse for bales of hay and agricultural tools. The large cement fragments of a demolished enclosure built around the village well are visible. Most of the surrounding land has been planted by Israelis with citrus trees."^[10]

The school buildings were destroyed by order of the Israel Land Administration in 2006 following commemoration activities at the site organised by Palestinian Citizens of Israel and Israeli NGO Zochrot.^[11][12]

See also

• List of Arab towns and villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Pappe, 1999, pp. 204, 209
2. ^ Morris, 2004, p.xviii village #191. Also gives cause of depopulation
3. ^ ^{a b} Khalidi, 1992, p. 558
4. ^ ^{a b} "Welcome to Miska". Palestine Remembered. http://www.palestineremembered.com/Tulkarm/Miska/. Retrieved 2007-12-09. 
5. ^ Mu'jam Al-Buldan, Cited in Khalidi, 1992, p. 558
6. ^ Nelson: Napoleon in Egypt. Cited in Khalidi, 1992, p. 558
7. ^ Guérin, M. V., 1875 p.388-389
8. ^ Conder, Claude Reignier and H.H. Kitchener: The Survey of Western Palestine. London:Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund. (1881) II:135. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 558
9. ^ Entry for 16 June 1948, DBG-YH II, 523-24. Cited in Morris, 2004, p. 350, 398
10. ^ Khalidi, 1992, p. 558-9
11. ^ Destroyed Miske Schoolhouse, by Zochrot. Retrieved 13 May 2010.
12. ^ Letter from District Manager's Bureau of ILA, published by Zochrot (30 August 2006). Retrieved 13 May 2010.

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 2
• Guérin, M. V. (1875): Description Géographique, Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine. Samarie, 2 pt. ("Seconde partie -Samarie")("Tome II") (Cited in SWP)
• 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.  (Population; p.76, cultivated land; p.126 other land; p. 176)
• Khalidi, Walid (1992). All that Remains. Washington DC: Institute for Palestine Studies. ISBN 0887282245. 
• Morris, Benny (2004). The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521009677, 9780521009676. 
• Pappe, Ilan (1999). The Israel/Palestine Question. Routledge. ISBN 041516947X

External links

• Welcome to Miska
• Miska from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center
• Miska by Rami Nashashibi (1996), Center for Research and Documentation of Palestinian Society.
• Remembering Miske on Land Day, 2002, by Eitan Reich and Adi Kemmelgren
• Nakba Day in Miske, 2002
• Nakba Day in Miske, 2003, by Ido Tzvieli
• Commemorating Nakba Day, 2005 in Miske
• Evening with Sami Michael in Miske, July 20, 2005.
• Living signs in the destroyed village of Miske, by Yosefa Mekaitun,
• De-Fencing Miske
• Reply from the ILA, 2006
• Destruction of the Miske village schoolhouse, destroyed July 2006
• Miske Schoolhouse Commemoration, 2006
• Nakba Day in Miske, April 24, 2007