Bnei Ayish colony

Bnei Ayish is a settlement established on the lands of the depopulated Palestinian village of Basur, located approximately 10 kilometers from Ashdod. As of 2017, the settlement had a population of approximately 6,998 settlers.

Basur was a Palestinian village in the northern Gaza district, which was occupied and destroyed on June 11, 1948, during Operation Barak. In 1945, the village had a population of approximately 1,070 residents, and by 1998, the number of refugees from the village was estimated at around 7,700.

The village site became a closed and fenced military zone. A single surviving house, about 10 meters from the entrance, still stands. Nearby, there is a destroyed house, some cactus plants, and along the southern fence runs an unpaved road lined with cactus, olive, and almond trees. Both inside and outside the fence, eucalyptus trees have been planted.

In addition to Bnei Ayish, the Telmei Yig’al settlement was also established on Basur’s lands. In 2017, its population was approximately 986 settlers, increasing to 1,022 by 2021. These two settlements were established in 1949 and 1958, respectively.

Sources:
Due to the scarcity of Arabic-language sources, Hebrew sources were used, including:

• The official Hebrew website of the settlement
• The “Israeli” Central Bureau of Statistics
• Information on the village of Basur from Palestine Remembered