Info

District: Jaffa

Population 1948: 3250

Occupation date: 01/05/1948

Occupying unit: Hagana units

Jewish settlements on village/town land before 1948: Kfar Ono (Today a part of Kiryat Ono)

Jewish settlements on village/town land after 1948: Neve Efraim Monson, Yagel, Ahi'ezer, Ganei Yehuda, Kiryat Ono expansion

Background:

The village was situated on flat terrain on the central coastal plain, 11 km east of Jaffa. Two roads connected the village to a network of highways that led to Jaffa, Lydda, and al-Ramla. A secondary railway line connected Kafr 'Ana with the main line running south of the village between Lydda and Tulkkarm.

Kafr 'Ana was one of a cluster villages east of Jaffa that was occupied during the Haganah's Operation Chametz. This offensive was designed to isolate Jaffa and make it possible for the Haganah to conquer the city. It was carried out by units from three Haganah brigades, who began the assault four days after the Irgun Zvai Leumi (IZL) had launched a frontal attack against Jaffa itself. Kafr 'Ana was probably seized at the same time as the neighboring village of Saqiya, which was occupied by the Alxandroni Brigade on 29 April.
Some four months later, on 13 September, Kafr 'Ana was one of fourteen villages slated for destruction by Israeli prime minister David Ben-Gurion, who asked the cabinet for formal permission. Morris does not make clear wether permission was granted, but notes that the villages were evelled soon afterwards. Later that month, Kafr 'Ana was mentionned as a site for the settlement of new Jewish immigrants.

Yagel was established on village lands in 1950, south of the village site; Newe Ephrayim was established in 1953, on or very near the village site.

Part of the site is a vacant lot. On other parts, olive trees grow, along with cypress and eucalyptus trees that have been planted by the residents of the Israeli settlements. No traces of the old houses can be discerned. Apartment buildings and a small park have been built on the surrounding land.

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