Al-Manshiyya, Acre

File:Atabi1.jpg

File:Atabi2.jpg

Five graves were excavated in al-Manshiyya in 1955–56; the earliest dated from the thirteenth century BC.

The people of Al-Manshiyya believed that the village was established in the aftermath of the Crusades, and the original inhabitants were brought to the area from North Africa by the Mamluks to populate the area. However, the village must have disintegrated subsequently, as it is not mentioned in the 1596 census. The local shrine of Abu Atabi has a construction text dating it to 1140 AH (1727–28 CE).Sharon (1997), pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=j1rSzWgHMjoC&pg=PA34 34]-36 It is probably it Richard Pococke refers to when he passed by in 1738: "On the highest ground of it are the ruins of a very strong square tower, and near it, is a mosque, a tower, and other great buildings; the place is called Abouotidy, from a Sheik who was buried there."Pococke, 1745, vol 2, p. [https://archive.org/stream/gri_33125009339611#page/n85/mode/1up 54] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161009053159/http://archive.org/stream/gri_33125009339611#page/n85/mode/1up |date=9 October 2016 }}; cited in Pringle, 2009, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=tKwienZI03MC&pg=PA233 233] In 1760, :it:Giovanni Mariti called the place Bahattbe: "situated on a small eminence, which contains the ruins of an ancient temple, employed as a place of worship both by the Turks and Christians, but at different periods. Some paces further is a mosque, remarkable on account of its burying-ground, in which was interred a prodigious number of infidels, who perished under the walls of Acre."Mariti, 1792, p. [https://archive.org/stream/travelsthroughc00marigoog#page/n362/mode/1up 332] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160913213140/http://archive.org/stream/travelsthroughc00marigoog#page/n362/mode/1up |date=13 September 2016 }}; partially cited in Pringle, 2009, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=tKwienZI03MC&pg=PA233 233]

A map from 1799 showed the place as an "uninhabited ruin",Pierre Jacotin, see :File:AcreNE1799.jpg. Cited in Karmon (1960), p. [http://www.jchp.ucla.edu/Bibliography/Karmon,_Y_1960_Jacotin_Map_(IEJ_10).pdf 242] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201182028/http://jchp.ucla.edu/Bibliography/Karmon,_Y_1960_Jacotin_Map_(IEJ_10).pdf |date=1 December 2017 }}, and Petersen (2001), p. 65. while Guérin, who visited in 1875, observed that the village is "newly founded".Guérin, 1880, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/descriptiongogr00gugoog#page/n17/mode/1up 1] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160913130050/http://www.archive.org/stream/descriptiongogr00gugoog#page/n17/mode/1up |date=13 September 2016 }}-2; Cited in Petersen (2001), p. 65. In 1881, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described the village of Al-Manshiyya as being situated on a plain, surrounded by arable land, with houses built of stone and adobe. It had a population of about 150.Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp01conduoft#page/147/mode/1up p. 147] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160807063058/http://www.archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp01conduoft#page/147/mode/1up |date=7 August 2016 }}. Quoted in Khalidi (1992), p. 23

A population list from about 1887 showed that Kiryet el Menshiyeh had about 400 inhabitants, all Muslim.Schumacher, 1888, p. [https://archive.org/stream/quarterlystateme19pale#page/n196/mode/1up 171] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160403025037/http://archive.org/stream/quarterlystateme19pale#page/n196/mode/1up |date=3 April 2016 }}

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities Al Manshiyeh had a population of 371; all Muslims,Barron (1923), Table XI, Sub-district of Acre, p. [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n38/mode/1up 36] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020103207/https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n38/mode/1up |date=20 October 2017 }} increasing in the 1931 census to 460, still all Muslims, in a total of 132 houses.Mills (1932), p. [https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas 101] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020104314/https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas |date=20 October 2017 }}

In the 1945 statistics, Al-Manshiyya had 810 Muslim inhabitants and 270 Jewish inhabitants, with a total of {{Convert|14886|dunum|acre|lk=on}} of land according to an official land and population survey.

The economy of the village was based on agriculture. In 1944/45 253 dunams was used for citrus and bananas, 10,818 dunams were allotted to cereals, 619 dunams were irrigated or used for orchards,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi (1970), p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20II/Acre/Page-081.jpg 81] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180926124131/http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20II/Acre/Page-081.jpg |date=26 September 2018 }} while 27 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/Acre/Page-131.jpg 131] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180926124156/http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20III/Acre/Page-131.jpg |date=26 September 2018 }}

The villagers, who were farmers, lived peacefully and had significant interaction with their Jewish neighbors. But the fighting in Acre, and later, the Deir Yassin massacre, frightened them.Esber, 2008, p. 347 The village was first drawn into the 1948 Arab–Israeli War on 6 February 1948. On that day a number of armed Jews, using automatic weapons and Sten guns, attacked the village. They were driven back by village defenders.Information in the Palestinian daily Filastin [http://jrayed.org/olive/apa/apress_en/?href=FALASTIN%2F1948%2F02%2F07&page=1#panel=document 07.02.1948] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171013070038/http://jrayed.org/olive/apa/apress_en/?href=FALASTIN%2F1948%2F02%2F07&page=1#panel=document |date=13 October 2017 }}, cited in Khalidi (1992), p. 23

Manshiyya was captured by on 14 May 1948 during Operation Ben-Ami.Morris, 2004, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PR17 xvii] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222124146/https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PR17 |date=22 December 2019 }}, village #88 One villager recalled that the dawn attack came from the hill overlooking the village. The villagers, "with bullets whizzing over their heads", ran towards the east "because all other sides were surrounded by the Jews". When they returned to remove the dead bodies, they found the village strewn with mines. One former villager recounted that her father returned to Al-Manshiyya about 10 days after the attack and found it had been razed.Esber, 2008, p. 347, note 120; interview with Maryam Ali Wardi, in Ain al-Hilweh, 2001 On 16 June 1948, David Ben-Gurion mentioned Manshiyya as one of the villages Israel had destroyed.Morris, 2004, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA350 350]

Following the war the area was incorporated into the State of Israel. Two new villages, Shomrat and Bustan HaGalil, were established in 1948 on village land, north of the village site. The site is now part of the city of Acre.

According to the Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi, the remaining structures on the village land were in 1992: "The Baha'i {{sic}} shrine, the mosque, the Islamic school for orphans, and a few houses still stand; the rest of the village is gone. The shrine is a handsome, domed structure, the front wall and arched entrance of which are framed by prominent stone pillars. The mosque, a stone structure with a dome and vaulted ceilings, has been turned into a private home for a Jewish family. The former Islamic school for orphans is also inhabited. The cemetery is still visible but is not tended; it contains a tombstone that is inscribed in Turkish and dates to the eighteenth century. The al-Basha water canal, built with stone blocks, still exists, but is not functioning; the same is also true of an aqueduct."Khalidi (1992), pp. 23–24

Andrew Petersen, an archaeologist specializing in Islamic architecture, visited Al-Manshiyya in 1994. He found the mosque and shrine of Abu Atabi was still standing, though it has been turned into a residential complex since 1948. The prayer room functioned as a living room. An inscription in two parts was set above the doorway leading to the domed chamber containing the tomb. The date 1140 H (1727–28 C.E.) was still visible in the upper part, while the lower part, written in larger ornamental script might be earlier, possibly dating to Mamluk times. Abu Atabi is said locally to be a Muslim warrior from the time of the Crusades, killed during the siege of Acre.Petersen (2001), p. [https://www.academia.edu/21619490/Gazetteer_3._A-C 65] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190324182652/https://www.academia.edu/21619490/Gazetteer_3._A-C |date=24 March 2019 }}

{{Reflist|25em}}

{{Refbegin}}

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• {{cite book|title=Under the Cover of War, The Zionist Expulsions of the Palestinians|first1=R.M.|last1=Esber|author-link=Rosemarie Esber|year=2008|publisher=Arabicus Books & Media|isbn=9780981513171}}
• {{cite book|title=Village Statistics, April, 1945|url=http://web.nli.org.il/sites/nli/Hebrew/library/Pages/BookReader.aspx?pid=856390|author=Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics|year=1945}}
• {{cite book|last=Guérin|first=V.|author-link=Victor Guérin|title=Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine|url=https://archive.org/details/descriptiongogr00gugoog|volume=3: Galilee, pt. 2|year=1880|publisher=L'Imprimerie Nationale|location=Paris|language=fr}}
• {{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=14 November 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181208215837/http://www.palestineremembered.com/Articles/General-2/Story3150.html|archive-date=8 December 2018|url-status=dead}}
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• {{cite book|title=Travels Through Cyprus, Syria, and Palestine; with a General History of the Levant|volume=1|url=https://archive.org/details/travelsthroughc00marigoog|first=G.|last=Mariti|author-link=:it:Giovanni Mariti|year=1792|location=Dublin|publisher=P. Byrne}}
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{{Refend}}

• [http://www.palestineremembered.com/Acre/al-Manshiyya/index.html Welcome to al-Manshiyya]
• [http://www.zochrot.org/en/village/49268 al-Manshiyya (Acre)], Zochrot
• [https://borisfenus.blogspot.com/2018/10/7-maqams-galilee-and-golan-heights.html Maqam sheikh Abu ‘Atabi (‘Utba)]
• Survey of Western Palestine, Map 3: [http://www.iaa-archives.org.il/zoom/zoom.aspx?folder_id=93&type_id=6&id=8366 IAA], [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Survey_of_Western_Palestine_1880.03.jpg Wikimedia commons]
• [http://www.alnakba.org/villages/acre/almanshiyya.htm Al-Manshiyya] from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center
• {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20110713081625/http://www.jalili48.com/pub/xENShowGallery.aspx?Sub=What_Remained_of_the_destroyed&Sub2=Al-Manshiyya Al-Manshiyya]}} from Dr. Moslih Kanaaneh

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

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manshiyya, Al-}}

Category:Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War

Category:District of Acre

Category:13th-century establishments in the Mamluk Sultanate

Category:1948 disestablishments in Mandatory Palestine