Info
District: Haifa
Population 1948: 360
Occupation date: 01/04/1948
Jewish settlements on village/town land before 1948: None
Jewish settlements on village/town land after 1948: נווה חיים (חדרה), אזור תעשיה חדרה
Background:
'Arab al-Fuqara Before 1948
The village was located 42 km from Haifa, in a flat, sandy area of the coastal plain, south of Wadi al-Mafjar and northwest of the Zionist town of Chadera (founded in 1890). A secondary road nearby linked it to the coastal highway to the east. The population growth in area was limited until the mid-1920s by the swampy and malarial conditions of the coastal area. In addition to this, the gradual expansion of the settlement of Chadera drastically reduced the land available to 'Arab al-Fuqara', until there was nothing left but a thin strip of land between Chadera and Wadi al-Mafjar. The inhabitants of 'Arab al-Fuqara' were descendants of a section of the al-Balawina Bedouin tribe, whose primary territory was near Beersheba.
Occupation, Depopulation and Israeli Settlements
On 6 April 1948, the Haganah began implementing a new policy of clearing the coastal area of its Arab inhabitants. On 10 April, together with the villagers of 'Arab al-Nufay'at and 'Arab Zachrat al-Dumayri, the inhabitants of 'Arab al-Fuqara' were ordered to leave the area.
The northwestern sections of the settlement of Chadera now occupy the site, including the neighbourhood of Newe Chayyim.
The village today
Eucalyptus trees grow on the village site and there are no landmarks or other signs of what used to be the village of 'Arab al-Fuqara'.
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Sources: al-Khalidi, Walid (ed.). All that remains: the Palestinian villages occupied and depopulated by Israel in 1948. Washington DC: 1992.
Morris, Benny. The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge: 2004.
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