Kuwaykat

Historical Overview
The village was spread over slightly elevated hills in the eastern part of the Plain of Acre. It was connected by secondary roads to the Acre–Safad main road and to neighboring villages. During the Crusader period, it was referred to as “Coket.” In the 19th century, it was described as a stone-built village situated on the slope of a hill, with a population of around 100, mostly engaged in agriculture.

Most village houses were made of mud brick and built close to one another, separated only by narrow alleys laid out at right angles. The entire population was Muslim. The village had a primary school, built by the Ottomans in 1887, a mosque, and a shrine dedicated to the Druze sheikh Abu Muhammad al-Qurashi.

Due to its proximity to Acre, residents were able to benefit from the educational, medical, and commercial services of the city. Water for irrigation and household use came from wells in the vicinity.

Kuwikat’s lands were considered among the most fertile in the region, known particularly for grains, olives, and melons. In 1944–1945, a total of 306 dunums was devoted to cereals, and 1,246 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards, including 500 dunums planted with olive trees. In addition to agriculture, villagers raised poultry and produced dairy products.

Nearby archaeological sites, especially Tell Simas (164363), contained ancient water reservoirs, oil presses, rock-cut tombs, and architectural remains.

Occupation and Ethnic Cleansing
The first major assault on the village occurred on 11 June 1948, just before the first truce of the war. Eyewitnesses interviewed in later years reported that Arab Liberation Army forces, about 70 men armed with 35–50 rifles and one Bren machine gun, managed to repel the initial attack.

The Palestinian press had earlier reported on an attack in January 1948 by Zionist militias, based on accounts in Falastin newspaper. Another assault was recorded in February 1948, but no casualty figures were provided.

According to interviews with villagers conducted in 1973, Arab Liberation Army representatives visited the village during the first truce and advised them not to evacuate the women and children, as their presence was thought to improve local morale.

After the truce ended in early July, some Arabs collaborating with Zionist forces came to the village and asked the mukhtar to surrender, which he refused. That same night, Operation Dekel was launched, and Kuwikat was heavily bombarded.

A survivor recalls:

“I awoke to a scene I had never experienced before. Bombs exploding, artillery roaring, dogs barking, children crying, and women screaming. Most villagers fled in their nightclothes. Ruha Qasim Ahmad Saad fled while clutching a pillow instead of her baby.”

Two residents were killed, and two wounded during the shelling. Resistance fighters retreated to a mountainous area east of the village and remained there for four days, awaiting reinforcements from the Arab Liberation Army that never came.

Many villagers fled to Abu Snan, Kafr Yasif, and other villages that later surrendered. Those who remained in Kuwikat, mostly Muslim civilians, were soon expelled to Kafr Yasif. In the days following the occupation, women frequently snuck back into the village in search of food and clothing.

According to Israeli historian Benny Morris, the units that captured the village were from the Sheva (7th) Brigade and Carmeli Brigade. Morris quotes a company commander involved in the attack, who corroborated the villagers’ account of intense shelling before the ground assault:

“I don’t know if the shelling caused any casualties, but it definitely achieved the psychological goal—non-combatant villagers fled before we began the assault.”

The Village Today
Only the abandoned cemetery remains, overgrown with wild vegetation. Rubble from destroyed homes is scattered across the site. Two gravestones remain legible: one bearing the name Hakam ‘Ali al-Hajj, and the other for Sheikh Salih Iskandar, who died in 1940. The shrine of Sheikh Abu Muhammad al-Qurashi still stands, though its stone base is damaged and deteriorating. Pine trees have been planted across the site.

Israeli Settlements on Village Lands
In January 1949, a Zionist settlement was established near the village site, initially called HaOgen Kibbutz. It was later renamed Beit HaEmek (064). The settlers were Zionist immigrants from England, Hungary, and the Netherlands.