{"id":5800,"date":"2024-03-03T11:34:24","date_gmt":"2024-03-03T11:34:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nakbamemorymuseum.com\/?p=5800"},"modified":"2026-02-14T17:33:40","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T17:33:40","slug":"ayn-ghazal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nakbamemorymuseum.org\/en\/2024\/03\/03\/ayn-ghazal\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Ayn Ghazal"},"content":{"rendered":"

The village of\u00a0Ayn Ghazal\u00a0was built at the edge of a valley on the upper slopes of\u00a0Mount Carmel, near a main road connecting\u00a0Haifa\u00a0to\u00a0Tel Aviv. This strategic location gave the village particular significance during the 1948 war.<\/p>\r\n

By the late 19th century, Ayn Ghazal was a small village built from\u00a0stone and mud, with a population of about\u00a0150 residents, all of whom were\u00a0Muslim. They cultivated approximately\u00a035 faddans\u00a0(1 faddan = 100\u2013250 dunams). The village had a\u00a0boys\u2019 primary school, established around\u00a01886\u00a0during the\u00a0Ottoman era, as well as a\u00a0girls’ primary school\u00a0and a\u00a0cultural-sports club. Water was piped to the village from nearby wells that were dug during the\u00a01940s.<\/p>\r\n

The village economy was based on\u00a0livestock rearing and agriculture. In\u00a01944\u20131945, approximately\u00a01,400 dunams\u00a0were planted with\u00a0olive trees, and\u00a08,472 dunams\u00a0were allocated for\u00a0grain cultivation. Proximity to\u00a0Haifa\u00a0also allowed some residents to work in the\u00a0port\u00a0and\u00a0commercial sectors\u00a0of the city.<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

Occupation and Ethnic Cleansing<\/h3>\r\n

The\u00a0New York Times<\/em>, citing a Jewish newspaper, reported that on\u00a014 March 1948, the village was attacked and\u00a0four houses were completely destroyed. According to the\u00a0British police, one Palestinian woman was killed and five men were wounded in the assault. The newspaper\u00a0Falastin<\/em>\u00a0had reported an earlier attack on\u00a010 March, but without details.<\/p>\r\n

Roughly two months later, on\u00a020 May 1948, another attack took place. An\u00a0Associated Press\u00a0correspondent reported that\u00a0Haganah\u00a0forces stormed Ayn Ghazal after\u00a0snipers had blocked movement\u00a0on the\u00a0Haifa\u2013Tel Aviv road. No casualties were reported from that incident.<\/p>\r\n

Ayn Ghazal, along with the nearby villages of\u00a0Ijjzim\u00a0and\u00a0Jaba\u2018, formed what came to be known as the\u00a0\u201cLittle Triangle\u201d\u00a0south of Haifa. These villages\u00a0resisted several Israeli attacks\u00a0and remained\u00a0uncaptured\u00a0until the end of\u00a0July 1948.<\/p>\r\n

Three major attempts were made to seize the villages. The\u00a0first two, on\u00a018 June\u00a0and\u00a08 July, were repelled by the defenders. During the\u00a0third attempt, the\u00a0Israeli army exploited the Second Truce\u00a0to launch a major assault involving\u00a0special forces from the Golani, Carmeli, and Alexandroni brigades. The operation began on\u00a024 July\u00a0with\u00a0intense artillery shelling and aerial bombardment\u00a0that lasted a full day.<\/p>\r\n

Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett later falsely claimed\u00a0to the\u00a0UN mediator\u00a0that \u201cno aircraft were used.\u201d However, on\u00a026 July, the\u00a0Associated Press\u00a0confirmed that\u00a0Israeli planes and infantry\u00a0had violated the truce by attacking the three villages.<\/p>\r\n

Despite the intensity of the offensive, the villages were not occupied until\u00a0two days later, and\u00a0Israeli soldiers continued shooting at fleeing villagers\u00a0during their retreat.<\/p>\r\n

According to Israeli historian\u00a0Benny Morris,\u00a0villagers who were captured\u00a0were forced to\u00a0bury between 10 and 25 charred bodies\u00a0in Ayn Ghazal. Some reports alleged that a\u00a0massacre\u00a0had occurred. Israeli officials denied the claims, stating that the bodies had been burned because they were already\u00a0deceased and decomposing.<\/p>\r\n

At the time,\u00a0The New York Times<\/em>\u00a0reported that Israeli liaison officers had\u00a0acknowledged to UN truce observers\u00a0that\u00a0nine villagers had been killed\u00a0in Ayn Ghazal. The\u00a0UN found no conclusive evidence\u00a0of a massacre, but its investigators later\u00a0estimated\u00a0the number of\u00a0dead and missing\u00a0from the three villages at approximately\u00a0130, as reported in mid-September.<\/p>\r\n

UN mediator Count Folke Bernadotte\u00a0condemned the\u00a0systematic destruction\u00a0of Ayn Ghazal, Ijjzim, and Jaba\u2018 by Israeli forces and\u00a0demanded that Israel rebuild the homes at its own expense\u00a0and allow the\u00a08,000 displaced residents\u00a0to\u00a0return.\u00a0Israel refused.<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

The Village Today<\/h3>\r\n

Only the\u00a0dilapidated shrine of Shaykh Shahada\u00a0remains standing at the site.\u00a0Ruins of houses\u00a0and\u00a0heaps of stones\u00a0are scattered throughout the area, which is now covered with\u00a0pine, fig, and pomegranate trees,\u00a0prickly pear cacti, and\u00a0wild vegetation. The site is currently used as\u00a0grazing land, while the adjacent flat lands are cultivated with\u00a0vegetables, bananas, and other fruits.\u00a0Almond trees\u00a0have been planted on some of the surrounding slopes.<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

Israeli Settlements on Village Lands<\/h3>\r\n

The settlement of\u00a0Ein Ayala (1145226)\u00a0was established in\u00a01949,\u00a03 kilometers southeast\u00a0of the village site. Contrary to Benny Morris\u2019s claim, it\u00a0is not located on village land. However, the settlement of\u00a0Ofer (1148225)\u00a0was built in\u00a01950\u00a0on Ayn Ghazal\u2019s lands,\u00a02 kilometers southeast\u00a0of the village.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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The village of\u00a0Ayn Ghazal\u00a0was built at the edge of a valley on the upper slopes of\u00a0Mount Carmel, near a main road connecting\u00a0Haifa\u00a0to\u00a0Tel Aviv. This strategic location [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5803,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-haifa"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/nakbamemorymuseum.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/7-66.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakbamemorymuseum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakbamemorymuseum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakbamemorymuseum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakbamemorymuseum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakbamemorymuseum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5800"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/nakbamemorymuseum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5800\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10689,"href":"https:\/\/nakbamemorymuseum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5800\/revisions\/10689"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakbamemorymuseum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakbamemorymuseum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakbamemorymuseum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakbamemorymuseum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}