al-Muharraqa

The village of Al-Muharraqa was located at a bend in a valley on undulating land in the southern coastal plain. A secondary road connected it to nearby villages and to the Gaza–Beersheba highway. During the Mamluk period (1250–1517), the village lands, along with the surplus of its agricultural produce, were endowed (waqf) to the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem and to another mosque in Gaza.

In 1569, Al-Muharraqa was recorded as a village in the Gaza subdistrict (Liwa Gaza), with a population of 457. It paid taxes on various agricultural products, including wheat and barley, as well as on other items such as goats and beehives. The village appears to have been abandoned sometime between the 17th and 18th centuries, as it is not mentioned by travelers from those centuries. It was likely repopulated in the late 1870s.

The village had an overall rectangular layout and continued to expand in modern times in a rectangular shape parallel to the roads leading to the main highway and to the nearby village of Kawfakha. The village included a mosque and a school, which opened in 1945. By the 1940s, the school had an enrollment of 60 students. The mosque, school, and a number of small shops constituted the village center. Domestic water was drawn from a 90-meter-deep well, which was slightly saline, supplemented by rainwater collected in shallow household cisterns.

Rain-fed agriculture was the main source of livelihood. The principal crop was grains, particularly barley. In the final years of the British Mandate, the villagers also cultivated a total of 12 dunums of irrigated or orchard land and 4,622 dunums of rain-fed crops. Archaeological remains in Al-Muharraqa include a mosaic floor, cisterns, and fragments of marble and pottery. Although Byzantine sources do not mention the village, there is evidence that it was inhabited during that period.

Occupation and Ethnic Cleansing of the Village

On May 27–28, 1948, the Palmach’s Negev Brigade launched an attack on the village, around the same time it assaulted the nearby village of Kawfakha. According to The New York Times, the village fell on May 29. Israeli historian Benny Morris states that the villagers were expelled at that time. However, it appears that the village was not fully destroyed and depopulated until August 16, at which point Israeli forces were officially bound by the terms of the second truce. Nonetheless, Morris reports that the forces mined and demolished the village for what were described as “military reasons.”

The Village Today

The site is now overgrown with thorns and short grasses and is surrounded by eucalyptus trees. Visible remains include piles of rubble from the destroyed homes, including the village diwan (guest house), as well as the remnants of a mill and a well. The village cemetery, covered in wild vegetation, is still visible, with part of an exposed tombstone lying on the ground. The surrounding lands are currently cultivated by Israelis.

Zionist Settlements on Village Lands

In 1950, the settlement of Yakhini was established on the lands of Al-Muharraqa, north of the original village site. According to Benny Morris, the Israeli settlement of T’kuma (referred to by Morris as T’komah) was established on village lands in 1949. However, upon closer examination, it appears these settlements were built on lands that historically belonged to the city of Gaza, although they are located only about two kilometers west of the village site.