al-Nahr

The village of al-Nahr, a twin to the village of at-Tall, was built on a low sandy hill, like many other hills across Palestine. It was established over an ancient site. Recent archaeological excavations conducted by Aharon Kempinski indicate that the ruins at the site date back to the 8th century BCE. Al-Nahr was located on an archaeological site known as Tel al-Qahwa (Tell el-Qahwe).

The Ottoman Beirut Vilayet Yearbook of 1904 mentions the location as comprising the villages of at-Tall and al-Qahwa. The village was situated along the main road connecting Tarshiha, Nahariya, and Acre. It had a rectangular layout extending from the southeast to the northwest.

The houses were built close together using a variety of materials including stone, cement, mud, and reinforced concrete. The inhabitants were entirely Muslim, and their main sources of livelihood were agriculture and livestock raising. In 1944/1945, a total of:

• 2,066 dunums were used for citrus and bananas,
• 1,094 dunums for cereals, and
• 1,937 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards,
  including 30 dunums planted with olive trees.

Occupation and Ethnic Cleansing of the Village
Al-Nahr fell—along with a group of other villages in the Western Galilee, north of Acre—on 20–21 May 1948, during the second phase of Operation Ben-Ami.

One day before the invasion, the commander of the Carmeli Brigade of the Haganah issued an order to his officers to “attack to conquer, to kill the men, and to destroy and burn the villages of Kabri, Umm al-Faraj, and al-Nahr.”

The Village Today
Only two houses remain, one of which is partially destroyed. A tall palm tree grows at the site, which is otherwise overgrown with wild grasses, cactus plants, and fig trees. The cemetery, located in the western part of the village, contains a single identifiable grave. The nearby spring of al-Fawwara has been fenced off and declared private property.

Israeli Settlements on Village Lands
According to Benny Morris, the Israeli settlement that replaced the village in 1949 is Ben Ami (grid ref. 162268), named after Ben Ami Bechter, a Haganah commander killed in a clash near Nahariya in March 1948. The military operation during which al-Nahr was captured was also named after him.

Another Israeli settlement, Kabri (grid ref. 164269), also utilizes the lands that belonged to al-Nahr.