Qula | |
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![]() The remains of the Crusader tower at Qula. The village mosque was located about 10m to the east of it.
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Arabic | قولة |
Name meaning | from a personal name[1] |
Also spelled | Kouleh[2] Cola, Chola |
Subdistrict | Ramle |
Coordinates | 32°02′14.57″N 34°57′11.83″E / 32.0373806°N 34.9532861°ECoordinates: 32°02′14.57″N 34°57′11.83″E / 32.0373806°N 34.9532861°E |
Palestine grid | 146/160 |
Population | 1,010[3] (1945) |
Area | 4,347 dunams |
Date of depopulation | 10 July 1948[4] |
Cause(s) of depopulation | Military assault by Yishuv forces |
Qula (Arabic: قولة, Hebrew: קולה) was a Palestinian village in the Ramle Subdistrict of Mandatory Palestine. It was located 15 km northeast of Ramla and was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.[5]
Hasan Salama and his son Ali Hassan Salameh (1940-1979) were from Qula.
Contents
History
During the twelfth century the Hospitallers established an administrative and collection centre in the village, comprising a tower and a vaulted structure.[6]
Ottoman era
In 1596, Qula was part of the Ottoman Empire, nahiya (subdistrict) of al-Ramla under the Liwa of Gaza, with a population of 380. It paid taxes on goats and beehives, and a press that was used for processing either olives or grapes.[7]
In 1870, the French explorer Victor Guérin visited.[2]
In 1882, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) the village of Qula was described as being situated on a slope at the edge of a plain; its historical relics dating back to medieval times.[8] The SWP also noted ancient remains.[9]
The village mosque stood approximately 10m east of the Crusader tower. It comprised a large vaulted iwan and a smaller room with an inscription above the entrance.[10]
British Mandate era
During the British mandate period, the village expanded along the Ramle-Tulkarm highway. In the village center was the mosque, several small shops, and a school which had been founded in 1919. By the mid-1940s the school had 134 students.[11]
In the 1922 census of Palestine, Quleh had a population of 480, all Muslims,[12] increasing in the 1931 census to 697, still all Muslims, in a total of 172 houses.[13]
In 1945 the population was 1,010, all Arabs, while the total land area was 4,347 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[3] Of this, a total of 2,842 dunums of land was used for cereals, 105 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards,[14] while 26 dunams were classified as built-up areas.[15]
1948 war and aftermath
![](https://web.archive.org/web/20161114210450im_/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/55/Givat-Koach-memorial-0.jpg/220px-Givat-Koach-memorial-0.jpg)
Most of the villagers fled in 1948, leaving only a few, primarily elderly behind. The villagers from Qula report that those left behind (six women and one man) were all shot or burned to death in their homes.[17]
The Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi described the village site in 1992: "A forest covers much of the village site. The rubble of crumbled houses and terraces lies among the trees, and cactuses and fig, mulberry, and eucalyptus trees grow there as well. The only remaining landmark is the school, on the west side of the site. The hilly parts of the surrounding land are used for grazing animals; the rest of the land is cultivated.[18]
See also
- List of Arab towns and villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
- List of villages depopulated during the Arab-Israeli conflict
References
- ^ Palmer, 1881, p. 237
- ^ a b Guérin, 1875, p. 390
- ^ a b Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p.68
- ^ Morris, 2004 p. xviii, village 211. Also gives cause of depopulation.
- ^ "Welcome to Qula". Palestine Remembered. Retrieved 2007-12-09.
- ^ Pringle 1986, pp. 21-22; Pringle 1997, p. 87. Cited in Petersen, 2001, p. 254
- ^ Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 151. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 408
- ^ Conder and Kitchener, 1882, p. 297. Also quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p.408.
- ^ “This village includes some well-built structures. There is a large building of small well-cut masonry of mediaeval appearance; the door on the south has a pointed arch and a tunnel vaulting. South of this is a square building, with walls 10 feet to 12 feet thick, and a staircase on one side leading to the roof ; the corner stones are large, drafted, and with a rustic boss; there are remains of a lofty doorway. This is called Burj Kuleh. There is a birkeh, about 20 feet square, and 6 feet or 8 feet deep, lined with good cement ; it is called Birket er Ribba. These remains have the appearance of Crusading work, and the name, Neby Yahyah, close by, points also to former Christian occupation of the place." In Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 358
- ^ Petersen, 2001, p. 254
- ^ Khalidi, 1992, p.408
- ^ Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Ramleh, p. 22
- ^ Mills, 1932, p. 22[permanent dead link].
- ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 116. Also cited in Khalidi, 1992, p409
- ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 166
- ^ Susan Slyomovics: The Rape of Qula.p.43 in Sa'di, Abu-Lughod, 2007.
- ^ Susan Slyomovics: The Rape of Qula.p.34 in Sa'di, Abu-Lughod, 2007.
- ^ Khalidi, 1992, p. 409
Bibliography
- Barron, J. B., ed. (1923). Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922. Government of Palestine.
- Conder, Claude Reignier; Kitchener, H. H. (1882). The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology. 2. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
- Eshed, Vered (2011-06-12). "Qula Final Report" (123). Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel.
- Guérin, Victor (1875). Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine (in French). 2: Samarie, pt. 2. Paris: L'Imprimerie Nationale.
- Hadawi, Sami (1970). Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine. Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center.
- Hütteroth, Wolf-Dieter; Abdulfattah, Kamal (1977). Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century. Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft. ISBN 3-920405-41-2.
- Khalidi, Walid (1992). All That Remains. Washington D.C.: Institute for Palestine Studies. ISBN 0-88728-224-5.
- le Strange, Guy (1890). Palestine Under the Moslems: A Description of Syria and the Holy Land from A.D. 650 to 1500. Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
- Mills, E., ed. (1932). Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas. Jerusalem: Government of Palestine.
- Morris, Benny (2004). The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-00967-7.
- Palmer, E. H. (1881). The Survey of Western Palestine: Arabic and English Name Lists Collected During the Survey by Lieutenants Conder and Kitchener, R. E. Transliterated and Explained by E.H. Palmer. Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
- Petersen, Andrew (2001). A Gazetteer of Buildings in Muslim Palestine (British Academy Monographs in Archaeology). I. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-727011-0.
- Pringle, R. D. (1986), The Red Tower (al-Burj al-Ahmar): Settlement in the Plain of Sharon at the Time of the Crusaders and Mamluks, A.D. 1099-1516, British School of Archeology in Jerusalem Monograph Series, No. 1, London. (Cited in Petersen, 2001)
- Pringle, Denys (1997). Secular buildings in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: an archaeological Gazetter. Cambridge University Press. (Cited in Petersen, 2001) (p.87, cites SWP, 1882, II, p.297 and p.358)
- Röhricht, Reinhold (1893). (RRH) Regesta regni Hierosolymitani (MXCVII-MCCXCI) (in Latin). Berlin: Libraria Academica Wageriana. (p. 162, no. 611)
- Sa'di, Ahmad H., Abu-Lughod, Lila (2007), Nakba, Columbia University Press, ISBN 978-0-231-13579-5
- Spivak, Polina; Kanias, Tzach (2010-12-30). "Qula, Survey Final Report" (122). Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel.
External links
- Welcome to Qula
- Survey of Western Palestine, Map 14: IAA, Wikimedia commons
- Qula, at Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center
- Qala (webarchive), Qala Dr. Moslih Kanaaneh
- Being in Place, of Place, in Qula…. by Rula Awwad-Rafferty, August 2008, Zochrot
- Visit in Qula village, Report by Eitan Bronstein, 2008, Zochrot