Bayt Daras

A grave, dating to the Hellenistic era, probably from the first half of the third century BCE, have been found and excavated at the site.Eisenberg-Degen et al., 2019, [http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=25552&mag_id=127 ‘Azriqam, Giv‘ati Pumping Station]

Bayt Daras was an archaeological site that contained stone foundations and vaulted rooms. The Crusaders built a castle on the hill that overlooked the village.545, 546 in 1177 CE, in Röhricht, 1893, p. [https://archive.org/stream/registaregnihier00rhuoft#page/145/mode/1up 145]Ellenblum, 2003, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=riHMZiH_Te4C&pg=PA202 202] Church endowments and land deeds mention it as Betheras. During the Mamluk rule in Palestine, (1205-1517), Bayt Daras formed part of a mail route from Cairo to Damascus. In this period, in 1325, a khan, or caravanserai, was built in the village.Khalidi, 1992, p. 87

Bayt Daras was one of twin villages carrying this name, inhabited in the 15th century. In 1459, Mamluk records mention Bayt Daras al-Surgha (Lesser Bayt Daras)'s endowment as a waqf.{{Cite journal |last1=Marom |first1=Roy |last2=Taxel |first2=Itamar |date=2023-10-01 |title=Ḥamāma: The historical geography of settlement continuity and change in Majdal 'Asqalan's hinterland, 1270–1750 CE |url=https://escholarship.org/content/qt1hr356xv/qt1hr356xv.pdf?t=s0zyli |journal=Journal of Historical Geography |volume=82 |pages=49–65 |doi=10.1016/j.jhg.2023.08.003 |s2cid=261984798 |issn=0305-7488|doi-access=free }}

In 1517, Bayt Daras was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire with the rest of Palestine. In first Ottoman tax register of 1526/7 the village had a population of 22 Muslim households, and it belonged to the nahiya (subdistrict) of Gaza (Gaza Sanjak).{{Cite journal |last1=Marom |first1=Roy |last2=Taxel |first2=Itamar |date=2023-10-01 |title=Ḥamāma: The historical geography of settlement continuity and change in Majdal 'Asqalan's hinterland, 1270–1750 CE |url=https://escholarship.org/content/qt1hr356xv/qt1hr356xv.pdf?t=s0zyli |journal=Journal of Historical Geography |volume=82 |pages=49–65 |doi=10.1016/j.jhg.2023.08.003 |s2cid=261984798 |issn=0305-7488|doi-access=free }} In 1596 the village also appeared as being in the nahiya of Gaza under the Liwa of Gaza, with a population of 58 Muslim households; an estimated 319 persons. It paid a fixed tax rate of 33,3% on a number of crops, including wheat and barley, as well as on goats, beehives and vineyards; a total of 7,900 akçe. 1/24 of the revenue went to a waqf.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 146. Quoted and estimated in Khalidi, 1992, p. 87

During the 17th and 18th centuries, the area of Bayt Daras experienced a significant process of settlement decline due to nomadic pressures on local communities. The residents of abandoned villages moved to surviving settlements, but the land continued to be cultivated by neighboring villages.{{Cite journal |last1=Marom |first1=Roy |last2=Taxel |first2=Itamar |date=2023-01-01 |title=Ḥamāma: The historical geography of settlement continuity and change in Majdal 'Asqalān's hinterland, 1270 - 1750 CE |url=https://www.academia.edu/106637796 |journal=Journal of Historical Geography |volume=82 |pages=49–65 |doi=10.1016/j.jhg.2023.08.003|s2cid=261984798 |doi-access=free }}

In 1838, Beit Daras was noted as a Muslim village in the Gaza district.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 2, p. [https://archive.org/details/biblicalresearc00smitgoog/page/n391/mode/1up 369]Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, 2nd appendix, p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/118/mode/1up 118]

French explorer Victor Guérin visited the village in 1863, and found it to have 700 inhabitants.Guérin, 1869, p. [https://archive.org/stream/descriptiongog02gu#page/81/mode/1up 81] In the 1882 PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP), the village of Bayt Daras was described as being surrounded by gardens and olive groves, and it was bordered to the north by a pond.Conder and Kitchener, 1882, [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp02conduoft#page/409/mode/1up II:409]. Also quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p.87

File:Bayt Daras 1930.jpg

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Bait Daras had a population of 1,670 Muslims,Barron, 1923, Table V, Sub-district of Gaza, p. [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n10/mode/1up 8] increasing in the 1931 census of Palestine, to 1,804, still all Muslim, in 401 inhabited houses.Mills, 1932, p. [https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas 2]

File:Isdud 1945.jpg

In the 1945 statistics Beit Daras had a population of 2,750 Muslims, with 16,357 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 832 dunams were allocated to citrus and banana plants, 472 plantations and irrigable land, 14,436 used 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/Gaza/Page-086.jpg 86] while 88 dunams were built-up land.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20III/Gaza/Page-136.jpg 136] One quarter of the land was owned by a single family, one of whose survivors still has their title deeds in her keeping in a Khan Younis refugee camp.{{sfn|Ageel|2013}}{{sfn|Ageel|2016|p=7}} A school was established there in 1921 and in its first year had 234 students enrolled, taught by 5 teachers in six classes.{{sfn|Baroud|2010|p=6}}

In addition to agriculture, residents practiced animal husbandry which formed was an important source of income for the town. In 1943, they owned 653 heads of cattle, 489 sheep over a year old, 103 goats over a year old, 35 camels, 10 horses, 18 mules, 299 donkeys, 6307 fowls, 2454 pigeons, and 23 pigs.{{Cite journal |last1=Marom |first1=Roy |last2=Taxel |first2=Itamar |date=2024-10-10 |title=Hamama: The Palestinian Countryside in Bloom (1750–1948) |url=https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JIA/article/view/26586 |journal=Journal of Islamic Archaeology |language=en |volume=11 |issue=1 |page=93 |doi=10.1558/jia.26586 |issn=2051-9729|url-access=subscription }}

{{Further|1948 Palestine war|1948 Palestinian expulsion}}

{{Nakba}}

According to Palestinian accounts, Beit Daras villagers lived peacefully with residents of Tabiyya, a walled kubaniya (Jewish colony) on its borders. Jews brought their produce, spoke the dialect fluently and their local doctor, Tsemeh, would care for Beit Daras' sick people when called on for assistance. The only anomaly was the occasional sound of gunfire practice in Tabiyya which soldiers from the British army appeared to be training their neighbours in the use of arms. Occasionally British soldiers on horseback made harassing forays into Beit Daras. {{sfn|Baroud|2010|pp=3-4}}

According to Ramzy Baroud, Beit Daras began to be subjected to heavy shelling on March 27–28, 1948, during which nine villagers died and much of the crops were destroyed.{{sfn|Baroud|2013}}{{sfn|Baroud|2010}}

The village was subject to an Israeli offensive military assault four times.S.A. Jawad, 'Zionist Massacres: the creation of the Palestine Refugee Problem,' in Eyal Benvenisti, Chaim Gans, Sari Hanafi (eds.) Israel and the Palestinian Refugees, Springer 2007 pp.59-127 p.81 n.60. It was defended by the Sudanese Army and a number of local militiamen and, The objective of the Palmach's operational plan, 'Operation Lightning' (Mivtza Barak) was to compel the Arab inhabitants of the area to 'move' and by striking one or more population centres to cause an exodus, which was foreseen given the wave of panic that was sweeping Arab communities after the Deir Yassin massacre. {{sfn|Baroud|2013}} Bayt Daras was targeted to be surrounded, to have the villagers surrender and hand over their arms, and if this order was resisted, it was to be mortared, stormed and 'dealt with in the manner of scorched earth'.

The village was attacked and captured on May 11, 1948 by the Givati Brigade during Operation Barak, just prior to the outbreak of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.Morris, 2004, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA256 256]-257 The village suffered some 50 casualties, and many houses were then blown up, and wells and granaries sabotaged.Morris, 2004, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA256 256] Bayt Daras had a population of 3,190 living in 709 houses in 1948. In Baroud's account, a massacre took place as people fled the village.{{sfn|Baroud|2013}}

File:Beit Daras.jpg

According to the memoirs of Gamal Abdel Nasser, the empty village was reoccupied by Sudanese forces in June, but they left after a signaling error caused them to be shelled by their own side.{{cite journal | author = Gamal Abdul Nasser | author2 = Walid Khalidi | name-list-style = amp | title = Nasser's Memoirs of the First Palestine War | journal = Journal of Palestine Studies | volume = 2 | issue = 2 | year = 1973 | pages = 3–32 | doi=10.1525/jps.1973.2.2.00p0045r| doi-broken-date = 2024-11-12 }}

Structures in the village were made of stone foundations with vaulted rooms. There were also two elementary schools and two mosques, all of which were demolished after its capture.

Following the war the area was incorporated into the State of Israel. In 1950 the moshav of Giv'ati was built on the site of the village, with two other moshavim, Azrikam, Emunim, established on land that had belonged to Bayt Daras. Later in the 1950s a farm called Zemorot was built on Khirbat Awda, which had also belonged to Bayt Daras.Khalidi, 1992, p. 88

In 1992 the village site was described: "The only remain of village buildings are the foundations of one house and some scattered rubble. The site is overgrown with wild vegetation interspersed by cactuses and eucalyptus trees. At least one of the streets is clearly recognisable. The surrounding fields are cultivated by the settlements."

A woman's thob (loose fitting robe with sleeves) dated to about 1930 from the village of Beit Daras is part of the Museum of International Folk Art (MOIFA) collection at Santa Fe. The dress fabric is called abu hizz ahmar (black cotton ground with purple, orange and green stipes of cotton and silk), from Majdal. The only embroidery on the front is below the neck opening. The back panel has three horizontal bands of embroidery, and a local version of the khem-el-basha ("the pashas tent") motif along the hem.Stillman, 1979, p. 76

• Ramzy Baroud
• Abdallah Tayeh, a Palestinian writer and novelist, author of Moon in Beit Daras (2001).{{sfn|Baroud|2010|p=4}}

• Depopulated Palestinian locations in Israel
• Abdul Rahman Ahmed Jibril Baroud
• Mohammed Assaf

{{Reflist|25em}}

{{Refbegin}}

• {{Cite news| title = My Body in Shatat, My Heart in Gaza, My Soul in Beit Daras| last =Ageel| first =Ghada |publisher =The Palestine Chronicle| date = 18 May 2013| url = https://www.palestinechronicle.com/my-body-in-shatat-my-heart-in-gaza-my-soul-in-beit-daras/}}
• {{Cite book| chapter =Beit Daras: Once upon a land|last=Ageel| first = Ghada|editor-last =Ageel|editor-first =Ghada| title =Apartheid in Palestine:Hard Laws and Harder Experiences| publisher =University of Alberta Press | year=2016|pages=3–22|chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=qcSrDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT52 |isbn= 978-1-772-12103-2}}
• {{Cite book| title = My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza's Untold Story| last = Baroud | first = Ramzy | author-link =Ramzy Baroud| year = 2010 | publisher = Pluto Press | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=V-VlPgAACAAJ | isbn = 978-0-745-32882-9}}
• {{Cite news| title = A Hundred Deir Yassin And Counting: Beit Daras And The Buried History of Massacres| last = Baroud | first = Ramzy | author-link =Ramzy Baroud| publisher =Countercurrents.org| date =23 April 2013 |url= https://countercurrents.org/baroud230413.htm}}
• {{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 journal|author=Eisenberg-Degen, Davida|author2= Emil Aladjem|author3= Svetlana Talis|name-list-style= amp |date= 2019-06-06 |url=http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=25552&mag_id=127|title= 'Azriqam, Giv'ati Pumping Station |journal=Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel |number=131}}
• {{cite book | first=R.|last=Ellenblum|author-link= Ronnie Ellenblum|title=Frankish Rural Settlement in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=riHMZiH_Te4C | publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2003|isbn= 9780521521871}}
• {{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/descriptiongog02gu|volume=1: Judee, pt. 2|year=1869|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}}
• {{cite book | last1= Hütteroth |first1=W.-D.|author-link1=Wolf-Dieter Hütteroth |first2=K. | last2=Abdulfattah |author-link2=Kamal Abdulfattah| title = Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=wqULAAAAIAAJ | year = 1977 | publisher = Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft|isbn= 3-920405-41-2}}
• {{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}}
• Nasser, G.A. (1955/1973): [https://web.archive.org/web/20110928202610/http://www.palestine-studies.org/enakba/Memoirs/ "Memoirs"] in Journal of Palestine Studies
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110830233111/http://www.palestine-studies.org/enakba/Memoirs/Nasser,%20Memoirs%20of%20the%20First%20Palestine%20War.pdf “Nasser's Memoirs of the First Palestine War” in 2, no. 2 (Win. 73): 3-32], pdf-file, downloadable
• {{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 book|last1=Robinson|first1=E.|author-link1=Edward Robinson (scholar)|last2=Smith|first2=E.|author-link2=Eli Smith|year=1841|url=https://archive.org/details/biblicalresearc00smitgoog |title=Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838| location=Boston|publisher=Crocker & Brewster|volume=2}}
• {{cite book|last1=Robinson|first1=E.|author-link1=Edward Robinson (scholar)|last2=Smith|first2=E.|author-link2=Eli Smith|year=1841|url=https://archive.org/details/biblicalresearch03robiuoft |title=Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838| location=Boston|publisher=Crocker & Brewster|volume=3}}
• {{cite book|last=Röhricht|first=R.|author-link=Reinhold Röhricht|title= (RRH) Regesta regni Hierosolymitani (MXCVII-MCCXCI)|url=https://archive.org/details/regestaregnihie00rhgoog|year=1893|publisher=Libraria Academica Wageriana|location=Berlin|language=la}}
• {{cite book|title=Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum Palaestinae, B-C |volume= 2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EPFDU8POrXIC |first=M.|last=Sharon|author-link=Moshe Sharon|year=1999|publisher=BRILL|isbn=90-04-11083-6}}
• Stillman, Yedida Kalfon (1979): Palestinian costume and jewelry, Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, {{ISBN|0-8263-0490-7}} (A catalog of the Museum of International Folk Art (MOIFA) at Santa Fe's [https://web.archive.org/web/20071230160757/http://www.moifa.org/collections/coll-textile.html] collection of Palestinian clothing and jewelry.)

{{Refend}}

• [https://www.palestineremembered.com/Gaza/Bayt-Daras/ Welcome to Bayt Daras] Palestine Remembered
• [http://www.zochrot.org/village/view?id=49058 Bayt Daras], Zochrot
• Survey of Western Palestine, Map 16: [http://www.iaa-archives.org.il/zoom/zoom.aspx?folder_id=93&type_id=6&id=8378 IAA], [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Survey_of_Western_Palestine_1880.16.jpg Wikimedia commons]
• [https://borisfenus.blogspot.no/2012/12/13-not-maqams.html Dome structure in ‘Azrikam]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20081205081309/http://www.alnakba.org/villages/gaza/daras.htm Bayt Daras] from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center

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

{{Massacres against Palestinians}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Zionist political violence

Category:District of Gaza

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