Jaba', Haifa

Emil Schürer, writing in 1891, identifies this site with a village featuring prominently in the writings of the Jewish historian, Josephus.Josephus, Wars of the Jews (ii.xviii.§1); Life of Josephus, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=e3jnUBqapi0C&pg=PA77 77]. In the late 1st century BCE, Herod the Great had built a village for his veteran cavalry, and, according to E. Schürer, called this town the city of horsemen.Schürer (1891), §23 (The Hellenistic Towns), pp. [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.ah63dw;view=1up;seq=141 127]–128.Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews (xv.viii.§5); Wars of the Jews (iii.iii.§1); called Geba by Pliny, Natural History'' (v.19.75). see: {{cite journal|author=Josephus|access-date=10 August 2016|title=The Jewish War|year=1927|url= http://www.loebclassics.com/view/josephus-jewish_war/1927/pb_LCL487.13.xml?mainRsKey=BmVlJ6&result=1&rskey=SqQjY8|doi=10.4159/DLCL.josephus-jewish_war.1927|url-access=subscription}} {{Subscription required|via=digital Loeb Classical Library}}.

Archaeologist Benjamin Mazar, disputing Schürer in 1957, thought that Gaba of the Horsemen (Geba), mentioned by Josephus in The Jewish War [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0148%3Abook%3D3%3Awhiston+chapter%3D3%3Awhiston+section%3D1 3.3.1], ought to be identified with the ruin Ḫirbet el-Ḥârithîye (now Sha'ar HaAmakim), since in relation to Simonias, it better fits Josephus' description of Gaba / Gibea ({{langx|el| Γάβα}}) in Vita § [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0150%3Awhiston+section%3D24 24] being distant from Simonias 60 stadia (about 11 km.), in addition to the fact that in relation to Besara (Beit She'arin), Gaba / Gibea (Ḫirbet el-Ḥârithîye) stood at a distance of only 20 stadia (about 4 km.) from Besara, also in agreement with Josephus.Mazar (1957), p. 19; HUCA xxiv (1952/3), pp. 75–81; Avi-Yonah (1940), p. 38Cf. Josephus, Vita § [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0150%3Awhiston+section%3D24 24]Dvorjetski (2009)

Jaba' was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517, like all of Palestine. During the 16th and 17th centuries, Jaba' belonged to the Turabay Emirate (1517-1683), which encompassed also the Jezreel Valley, Haifa, Jenin, Beit She'an Valley, northern Jabal Nablus, Bilad al-Ruha/Ramot Menashe, and the northern part of the Sharon plain.{{Cite web |last1=al-Bakhīt |first1=Muḥammad ʻAdnān |last2=al-Ḥamūd |first2=Nūfān Rajā |title=Daftar mufaṣṣal nāḥiyat Marj Banī ʻĀmir wa-tawābiʻihā wa-lawāḥiqihā allatī kānat fī taṣarruf al-Amīr Ṭarah Bāy sanat 945 ah |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/28579982 |access-date=2023-05-15 |website=www.worldcat.org |publisher=Jordanian University |pages=1–35 |language=en |publication-place=Amman |publication-date=1989}}{{Cite journal |last1=Marom |first1=Roy |last2=Marom |first2=Tepper |last3=Adams |first3=Matthew, J |title=Lajjun: Forgotten Provincial Capital in Ottoman Palestine |url=https://www.academia.edu/101515579 |journal=Levant |year=2023 |volume=55 |issue=2 |pages=218–241 |doi=10.1080/00758914.2023.2202484|s2cid=258602184 }}

In the 1596 tax registers, it was part of the nahiya ("subdistrict") of Jabal Atlit, part of the larger Sanjak of Lajjun. It had a population of 18 households, all Muslims. The inhabitants paid a fixed tax rate of 25% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, goats and beehives, in addition to occasional revenues; a total of 7,800 akçe.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 158According to the estimate of Khalidi, there were 99 persons in the village. Khalidi, 1992, p. 165

In 1859, the English Consul Rogers found the population to be 150 souls, with 18 feddans of cultivation.

In 1873, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) visited and found: “There are two closed rock tombs in the ledge south of the village, and a third with a courtyard 14 feet square, sunk 2 feet ; two doors lead into chambers. One has three loculi, one on each wall ; the other has two loculi and a recess 5 feet 6 inches, with two parallel graves under one arcosolium placed like kokim with the feet to the chamber. This is therefore a transitional example. (Compare Sheikh Bureik)

There are several caves north of the village, and another tomb at the head of the valley forming the recess in which the village stands."Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp02conduoft#page/54/mode/1up 54]

In 1882, the SWP described it: "A small village in a recess on the hill-slope close to the plain ; the houses principally of stone. It has a good olive-yard on the west below the village, in which yard the Survey Camp was placed. The water-supply is from a well on the north-west, which has a wheel and troughs. The place seems ancient, having rock-cut tombs and caves.

Jaba' had an elementary school for boys, which was founded by the Ottomans in 1885.Khalidi, 1992, p. 166

File:Lead Weight found at Tel Shush.svg, with Greek inscription of the city "Gabe", identified as "Geva' Parashim.]]

In the British Mandate of Palestine period, in the 1922 census of Palestine Jaba had a population of 523; all Muslims,Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Haifa, p. [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n35/mode/1up 33] increasing in the 1931 census to 762; 2 Christians and the rest Muslim, in a total of 158 houses.Mills, 1932, p. [https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas 92]

In the 1945 statistics this had increased to 1,140, all Muslims with a total of 7,012 dunams of land. Of this, 450 dunums were plantations or irrigable land, 4,255 were 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 60 dunams were classified 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]

The site has several ancient ruins, including mosaics and tombs.

File:Jaba 1938.jpg

File:Jaba 1945.jpg

Jaba was in the territory allotted to the Jewish state under the 1947 UN Partition Plan.{{Cite web|url=http://domino.un.org/maps/m0103_1b.gif|title=Map of UN Partition Plan|publisher=United Nations|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090124212115/http://domino.un.org/maps/m0103_1b.gif|archive-date=January 24, 2009|url-status=dead|access-date=2009-02-09}} During the war the militia from the village fired on Jewish vehicles along the essential coast road.Morris, 2004, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA438 438] In early June 1948, an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) report shows that Ja'ba, together with Ijzim and Ayn Ghazal, were asking the IDF, "to open negotiation for surrender." Nothing resulted from the request.Morris, 2004, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA96 96], note #172, logbook entry, IDF, for 9. June.p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA146 146] On 14 July, before the Second truce of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the Israeli cabinet discussed the three villages in "The Little Triangle". Ben-Gurion said that there was no need to hurry:

"these villages are in our pocket [...] We can act against them also after the [reinstitution of the] truce. This will be a police action... They are not regarded as enemy forces as their area is ours [i.e., in Israel] and they are inhabitants of the state...[and] these villages do not represent a military danger."Morris, 2004, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA438 438]- 439, note #146, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA457 457]

The second truce, beginning on the 18 July, was not violated by the villagers.Morris, 2004, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA441 441], note #169, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA458 458]- 459 citing the investigating "Central Truce Supervision Board", chaired by US Brigadier General W.E. Riley. This board also found that the IDF assault on the villages had been a violation of the truce.

According to Meron Benvenisti, IDF actions over course of the Second Truce were concentrated on "cleansing" small clusters of Arab villages located in "strategic" areas. Ja'ba was depopulated along with two other villages (Ijzim and 'Ayn Ghazal) located on the western slopes of the Carmel mountains between July 24 and 26. A week after the start of the truce, Israel undertook Operation Shoter ("Operation Policeman"), with the aim of conquering the "Little Triangle" villages.Morris, 2004, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA439 439] The operation was executed by a combination of brigades from the Israel Defense Forces and the military police.Benvenisti, 2000, p. [https://archive.org/details/sacredlandscapeb00benvrich/page/152 152]. On July 25, street fighting was reported from Ayn Ghazal and Ja'ba. On the morning of the next day, the villages were found deserted.

In September, 1948, when the UN demanded the right of the villagers to return, the Israelis said that the village had fired upon Jewish vehicles along a coast road, and therefore denied their return.Morris, 2004, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA441 441] notes #170, 171, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA459 459]

Following the war the area was incorporated into the State of Israel. The moshav of Geva Carmel was established around one kilometer northwest of the old village site, on village land.

In 1992 the village site was described: "Piles of stone rubble can be seen on the site. A shrine still standing on an elevated part of it. Pine forests grow on the land in the vicinity, which is fenced in by barbed wire. Around the village are the remains of tombs. Parts of the site is used by Israelis as grazing land."

{{reflist|25em}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book|title=Map of Roman Palestine |first=M.|last=Avi-Yonah|author-link=Michael Avi-Yonah|location=London|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1940|language=en |oclc=977670060 }}
• {{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}}
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• Buhl, Frants, (1896): [https://archive.org/details/geographiedesal00buhlgoog Geographie des alten Palästina]. p. [https://archive.org/stream/geographiedesal00buhlgoog#page/n226/mode/2up 210] ff
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• {{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|title=Beth She'arim - Report on the Excavations during 1936–40 |first1=B.|last1=Mazar (Maisler)|author-link=Benjamin Mazar|location=Jerusalem|volume=1 (The Catacombs I–IV)|publisher=Israel Exploration Society|year=1957|page=19 |language=he }}
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• {{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 |last=Schürer |first=E. |author-link=Emil Schürer |title=Geschichte des jüdischen Volkes im Zeitalter Jesu Christi [A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ] |series=Geschichte de jüdischen Volkes im Zeitalter Jesu Christi.English |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |translator=Miss Taylor |volume=1 |date=1891 |location=New York |language = en |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.ah63dw;view=1up;seq=7 }}

{{refend}}

• [http://www.palestineremembered.com/Haifa/Jaba'/index.html Welcome To Jaba']
• [http://www.zochrot.org/en/village/49081 Jaba'], Zochrot
• Survey of Western Palestine, Map 8: [https://web.archive.org/web/20141015091439/http://www.iaa-archives.org.il/zoom/zoom.aspx?folder_id=93&type_id=6&id=8389 IAA], [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Survey_of_Western_Palestine_1880.08.jpg Wikimedia commons]
• [http://www.alnakba.org/villages/haifa/jaba.htm Jaba'] at Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center

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

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

Category:District of Haifa