Zakariyya

Location and Historical Background
The village of Zakariyya was located on the western slopes of the Hebron mountains, built on undulating land underlain by soft white limestone from the Eocene geological era. It lay adjacent to the road connecting Bayt Jibrin to the Jerusalem–Jaffa highway, and was linked by secondary roads to Bethlehem and several neighboring villages, including Deir al-Dubban, ‘Amur, and Tall al-Safi.

The village’s name reflects the cultural continuity of the region’s inhabitants from the Roman and Byzantine periods. The site was known during those eras as Caper Zacharia, and it was administratively part of the Bayt Jibrin subdistrict. In 1596, Zakariyya was listed as a village in the Jerusalem subdistrict with 259 inhabitants. The village paid taxes on various agricultural products such as wheat, barley, olives, as well as on livestock including goats and beehives.

By the late 19th century, Zakariyya was situated on a slope overlooking a wide, flat valley surrounded by expansive olive groves. Its houses were built of stone and mud. The inhabitants, all Muslims, lived in the central and northern parts of the village. The village center included a mosque, a shrine dedicated to a local saint named Shaykh Hassan, a bustling market, and a primary school. In modern times, the village expanded, particularly northward and southward. Residents drew drinking water from two main wells—Bir al-Saqlani near Wadi ‘Ajjur and Bir al-Sarara to the north—as well as from domestic rainwater collection cisterns.

Rain-fed agriculture was the backbone of the local economy, with the main crops being grains, beans, fruits, and olives. In 1944/1945, a total of 6,523 dunums were allocated to grain cultivation, and 61 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards, including 140 dunums planted with olive trees. Poultry and livestock farming were also important, with herds of sheep and goats grazing on the hills and valley slopes.

Several ancient archaeological sites were located near the village. About one kilometer to the southwest stood Tall Zakariyya, rising 117 meters above the plain. To the east was Wadi al-Nazim, identified as the site of the biblical battle between David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17). Excavations at Tall Zakariyya in 1898 revealed it to be the site of the ancient city of Azekah, possibly mentioned in an inscription found on a pottery shard at Tell al-Duweir, where Joshua is said to have defeated the Canaanites.

Occupation and Ethnic Cleansing

Zakariyya was first attacked during the early days of the 1948 war, in the battles surrounding the Jewish settlement bloc known as Kfar Etzion, south of Bethlehem. According to The New York Times, citing Arab sources, a Haganah unit of around 100 men besieged Zakariyya along with two other villages—Deir Aban and Bayt Nattif. The operation, said to be in retaliation for a Palmach unit ambush in the area, lasted about 24 hours. The Times also reported that Israeli forces opened fire on the three villages on 17–18 January 1948, though no casualty figures were mentioned.

Zakariyya was eventually occupied over nine months later, during the final stages of Operations Ha-Har and Yoav, after Israeli forces had linked up their operational areas in the last week of October 1948. Israeli units, likely the Fourth Battalion of the Givati Brigade, entered the village on 23 October 1948, thereby securing Israeli-held parts of the Hebron hills with the Jerusalem corridor.

Unlike many other villages occupied during these operations, the residents of Zakariyya were not expelled at the time of occupation. However, Israeli historian Benny Morris notes that more than a year later, toward the end of 1949, the Israeli military formulated a plan to expel the inhabitants of Zakariyya, along with residents of seven other villages—mostly in the Galilee. Political objections, possibly from the Foreign Ministry and others, halted the execution of the plan at that time.

Efforts to evacuate Zakariyya, as well as other similarly situated villages, continued into the following year. Zakariyya remained one of the last villages to be depopulated, despite what Morris describes as “deteriorating health and food conditions” in the village. In March 1949, a senior official in the Ministry of Interior noted that many homes in Zakariyya were in good condition and could accommodate hundreds of new immigrants.

In January 1950, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion met with Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett and Yosef Weitz of the Jewish National Fund. They agreed to evacuate Zakariyya “without coercion.” The villagers were ultimately expelled on 9 June 1950. The exact method of evacuation is unclear. Most were transferred to the city of Ramla, while others may have fled to Jordan.

The Village Today

The mosque remains standing on site, along with a group of houses—some abandoned and others currently inhabited by Jewish residents. Wild vegetation covers much of the area. The mosque is in a severe state of neglect, overgrown with wild plants along its walls, roof, and surrounding grounds. An Israeli flag is hoisted atop its minaret.

One of the houses now occupied by Israeli residents is a two-story stone building with barred windows. Israeli farmers cultivate parts of the surrounding lands.

Zionist Settlements on Village Lands

In 1950, the settlement of Zekharia (Zekharya) was established on the lands of the depopulated village, near its original location.