Al-Kafrayn

Archaeological discoveries spanning from the Iron Age to the post-Islamic period have been unearthed at the site.{{Citation |title=CLIII. Kefrein no. 7536 |date=2023-03-20 |work=Volume 5/Part 2 Galilaea and Northern Regions: 6925-7818 |pages=1656–1656 |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110715743-039/html |access-date=2024-02-19 |publisher=De Gruyter |language=en |doi=10.1515/9783110715743-039 |isbn=978-3-11-071574-3|url-access=subscription }} That includes an ancient stone bowl with an inscription in Hebrew, using the Jewish script, was found. The inscription bears the placename "Geva", possibly referring to the ancient city of Gaba/Geva, located 5 kilometers away. This name was also discovered on two objects at the site of the ancient city.

The Crusaders referred to al-Kafrayn as Caforana.Khalidi, 1992, p. 169

During the 19th and first half of the 20th century, al-Kafryan was one of the settlements in the margins of the so-called "Fahmawi Commonwealth" established by Hebronite clans belonging to Umm al-Fahm. The Commonwealth consisted of a network of interspersed communities connected by ties of kinship, and socially, economically and politically affiliated with Umm al Fahm. The Commonwealth dominated vast sections of Bilad al-Ruha/Ramot Menashe, Wadi 'Ara and Marj Ibn 'Amir/Jezreel Valley during that time.{{Cite journal |last=Marom |first=Roy |last2=Tepper |first2=Yotam |last3=Adams |first3=Matthew J. |date=2024-01-03 |title=Al-Lajjun: a Social and geographic account of a Palestinian Village during the British Mandate Period |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13530194.2023.2279340 |journal=British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies |language=en |pages=8–11 |doi=10.1080/13530194.2023.2279340 |issn=1353-0194}}

In 1859, Kefrein was estimated to have a population of 200, who cultivated 30 feddans.Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp02conduoft#page/42/mode/1up 42]

In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described it as "a village of moderate size, on the west side of the watershed, with a spring on that side." A population list from about 1887 showed that Kefrein had about 485 inhabitants, all Muslim.Schumacher, 1888, p. [https://archive.org/stream/quarterlystateme19pale#page/n205/mode/1up 180]

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Al Kufrain had a population 571; 569 Muslims,Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Haifa, p. [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n36/mode/1up 34]

and 2 Orthodox Christians,Barron, 1923, Table XVI, p. [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n51/mode/1up 49] increasing in the 1931 census to 657, all Muslims, in a total of 95 houses.Mills, 1932, p. [https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas 92]

In the 1945 statistics, the village had a population of 920 Muslims,

and the total land area was 10,882 dunams. Of the land, 147 dunams was for plantations and irrigable land, {{Convert|9,776|dunum|acre|lk=on}} for cereals,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20II/Haifa/Page-090.jpg 90] while 18 dunams were built-up (urban) land.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20III/Haifa/Page-140.jpg 140]

Al-Kafrayn became depopulated in April 1948 after military assault by Yishuv forces.

11–12 April 1948, the same day it was occupied, the Yishuv forces blew up some 30 of Kafrayns houses.Morris, 2004, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA242 242], note #600, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA296 296]Morris, 2004, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA346 346], note #30, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA397 397]

On 19 April 1948, the Palmach held an exercise in al-Kafrayn and afterwards they blew up the rest of the village.Morris, 2004, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA242 242], note #609, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA297 297]Morris, 2004, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA346 346], note #34, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA397 397]

Most of the villagers ended up in tent homes in the Jenin area, appealing to the Arab Higher Committee (AHC): "Thousands of poor women and children from the villages of Abu Zureiq and Mansi and Ghubayya and Kafrin and other places near the colony of Mishmar Ha‘emek, whose houses the Jews have destroyed and whose babies and old people [the Jews] have killed, are now in the villages around Jenin without help and dying of hunger. We ask you to repair the situation ... and do everything to quickly send forces of vengeance against the Jews and restore us to our lands."Morris, 2004, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA242 242], note #607, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA297 297]

Following the war the area was incorporated into the State of Israel. An Israeli military training camp was later built on the village's land.

In 1992, the remains were described: "The site and its surrounding area are divided between a military training camp and a cow pasture. A rubble-filled has been fenced in and is covered with dirt, underbrush and thorns. Almond, olive and fig trees are scattered around the site."

{{Reflist|25em}}

{{Refbegin}}

• {{cite book | editor =Barron, J. B. | title = Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922|url=https://archive.org/details/PalestineCensus1922 | publisher = Government of Palestine | year = 1923}}
• {{cite book|last1=Conder|first1=C.R.|author-link1=Claude Reignier Conder|last2=Kitchener|first2=H.H.|author-link2=Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener|year=1882|url=https://archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp02conduoft|title=The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology|location=London|publisher=Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund|volume=2}}
• {{cite book|title=Village Statistics, April, 1945 |url=http://web.nli.org.il/sites/nli/Hebrew/library/Pages/BookReader.aspx?pid=856390|author=Department of Statistics|year=1945|publisher=Government of Palestine}}
• {{cite book|title=Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine|url=http://www.palestineremembered.com/Articles/General-2/Story3150.html|first=S.|last=Hadawi|author-link=Sami Hadawi|year=1970|publisher=Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center|access-date=2009-08-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181208215837/http://www.palestineremembered.com/Articles/General-2/Story3150.html|archive-date=2018-12-08|url-status=dead}}
• {{cite book|title=All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_By7AAAAIAAJ |first=W.|last=Khalidi|author-link=Walid Khalidi|year=1992|location=Washington D.C.|publisher=Institute for Palestine Studies|isbn=0-88728-224-5}}
• {{cite book | editor = Mills, E. | title = Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas |url=https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas | publisher = Government of Palestine | location = Jerusalem | year = 1932}}
• {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C |first=B. |last=Morris |author-link=Benny Morris |year=2004 |title=The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited|isbn=978-0-521-00967-6 |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}
• {{cite book|last=Palmer|first=E.H.|author-link=Edward Henry Palmer|year=1881|url=https://archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp00conduoft|title=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|publisher=Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund}}
• {{cite journal | last = Schumacher | first =G.| author-link = Gottlieb Schumacher | title = Population list of the Liwa of Akka | journal = Quarterly Statement - Palestine Exploration Fund | volume = 20 | pages = 169–191 | url = https://archive.org/details/quarterlystateme19pale | year = 1888}}

{{Refend}}

• [http://www.palestineremembered.com/Haifa/al-Kafrayn/index.html Welcome To al-Kafrayn]
• [http://www.zochrot.org/en/village/49223 al-Kafrayn], Zochrot
• Survey of Western Palestine, Map 8: [http://www.iaa-archives.org.il/zoom/zoom.aspx?folder_id=93&type_id=6&id=8389 IAA], Wikimedia commons
• [http://www.alnakba.org/villages/haifa/kafrayn.htm al-Kafrayn], from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070226233111/http://zochrot.org/images/Image/Hakkibutz_article_small.jpg "Chronicles of a Piece of Jewelry"]
• [http://zochrot.org/en/press/51039 Response to "Chronicles of a Piece of Jewelry"] by Eitan Bronstein, Hakkibutz, Feb. 8, 2007, Zochrot
• [http://zochrot.org/en/tour/52018 Tour of Kafrayn], 10.2.07, Zochrot
• [http://www.zochrot.org/en/booklet/49862 Booklet about Kafrayn], downloadable, from Zochrot

{{Palestinian Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Palestine War}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Arab villages depopulated prior to the 1948 Arab–Israeli War

Category:District of Haifa