Beit Nabala

Infobox Former Arab villages in Palestine
name=Beit Nabala


imgsize=
caption=
arname=بيت نبالا
meaning=
altSp=Bayt Nabala
district=rl
population=2,310
popyear=1945
area=15,051
areakm=
date=May 13, 1948
cause=A
*=
**=
curlocl=Kfar Truman, and Beit Nehemia

Beit Nabala was a Muslim Arab village in the district of Ramla in Mandatory Palestine that was destroyed during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. The village was in the territory allotted to the Arab state under the 1947 UN Partition Plan. Its population in 1945, before the war, was 2,310. Abandoned on Arab orders, it was occupied on May 13 1948 during the second stage of the Israeli Operation Dani and the village was completely destroyed on 13 September 1948. Village refugees were scattered around Dayr Ammar, Ramallah City, Bayt Tillow, Rantiss, and al-Jalazoun refugee camps north of Ramallah. Some of the clans that lived in Bayt Nabala include the Nakhleh, Safi, Sharakah, al-Khateeb, and Zeid families. Today the area is part of the Israeli town of Beit Nehemia.

Culture

According to [http://www.palestineheritage.org/TC-Lydda.htm Palestinian Heritage Foundation] Beit Nabala dresses (together with those of the village of Deir Tarif), "were usually done on cotton, velvet or kermezot silk fabric. Taffeta inserts embroidered in Bethlehem style couching-stitch in gold and silk cord were attached to the yoke, chest panel, sleeves and skirt. In the 1930s black velvet material became popular, and dresses were embroidered in couching straight on the fabric with brown or orange couching embroidery which later became famous for this area."

Beit Nabala massacre

A massacre by the Arab Legion of a civilian Jewish bus convoy took place near the village on December 14, 1947, following the Arab rejection of the 1947 UN Partition Plan. Fourteen Jews were killed and ten injured (nine seriously) on the road from Petah Tikva to Ben Shemen. One British soldier was seriously injured and one slightly wounded. The Arab Legion claimed that a member of the convoy had carried out a grenade attack the previous night on the Arab Legion camp. This was one of the first confirmed involvements of the Arab Legion in attacks on Jews in Palestine.

Today all that remains of the village is (according to Palestinian historian Khalid Walid): "On its fringes are the remains of quarries and crumbled houses. Sections of walls from the houses still stand. The surrounding land is cultivated by the Israeli settlements."

See also

*Palestinian costumes
*List of massacres committed prior to the 1948 Arab-Israeli war
*List of massacres committed during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war
*List of villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war

References

* Sam Brewer, 'Arab Legion Force In Palestine Kills 14 Jews in Convoy,' "New York Times". December 15, 1947. p.1.
* 'Many Dead In Palestine: Jewish Convoy Attacked, Fight With Arabs', "The Times", Monday, December 15, 1947; pg. 4; Issue 50944; col C.
*Walid Khalidi (1992): "All that Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948." ISBN 0-88728-224-5.

External links

* [http://www.palestineremembered.com/al-Ramla/Bayt-Nabala/index.html Palestine Remembered - Bayt Nabala]
* [http://www.alnakba.org/villages/ramla/nabala.htm Bayt Nabala] from [http://www.sakakini.org Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre]