Info
District: Baysan
Population 1948: 868
Occupation date: 21/05/1948
Jewish settlements on village/town land before 1948: None
Jewish settlements on village/town land after 1948: Neve Ur
Background:
Khirbat Umm Sabuna Before 1948
The village was located below the neighbouring village of Kawkab al-Hawa, at the foot of the cliff on which Kawkab al-Hawa was perched. It stood on the western edge of the Jordan Valley and faced east; the Jordan river was 3.3 km due east. Both the wadi which flowed northest from the village site and the nearby spring took their names to the village. Khirbat Umm Sabuna was classified as a hamlet in the Palestine Index Gazetteer. Quantities of fragmented pottery on the surface of the village site as well as the buried foundation of building which protruded from the soil indicated that the site had been inhabited in earlier times.
Occupation and Depopulation
The location of the village suggests that it was captured in the course of Operation Gideon (see al-Ashrafiyya, Baysan District). The nearest village for which there is adequate information is Kawkab al-Hawa, only 2 km away. Several sources indicate that that village was occupied some time between 16 and 12 May. Iraqi troops, which entered the country along this front after 15 May, made little progress in recapturing villages in the area. The population of Khirbat Umm Sabuna was probably driven out around the time of occupation, during May 1948.
Israel Settlements on Village Lands
There are no Israeli settlements on village lands, which have been combined with those of Kawkab al-Hawa. The settlement of Newe Ur, establ’shed in 1949, is about one km east of the village site.
The Village Today
Only stone rubble remains on the village site. An orchard owned by the Newe Ur settlement is on village lands. The hilly areas around the site are used by Israeli farmers for grazing.
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Source: al-Khalidi, Walid (ed.). All that remains: the Palestinian villages occupied and depopulated by Israel in 1948. Washington DC: 1992.
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