Jimzu

Jimzu is identified with the ancient Gimzo, a city mentioned in the Bible as being in the plain of Judah whose villages were seized by the Philistines (as recorded in the {{bibleverse|2|Chronicles|28:18|HE}}).{{Cite web|title=Gimzo ... Glass|publisher=The Illustrated Bible Dictionary|access-date=2007-12-03|url=http://emeagwali.com/books/bible/ebd/ebd149.shtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612085442/http://emeagwali.com/books/bible/ebd/ebd149.shtml|archive-date=2011-06-12|url-status=dead}}

The town was home to the Tannaic sage Nahum of Gimzo.{{cite book|author=Ben-Zion Rosenfeld|title=Torah Centers and Rabbinic Activity in Palestine 70-400 C.e: History and Geographic Distribution|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dD_dGmWh73QC&pg=PA61|access-date=5 June 2011|year=2009|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-17838-0|page=60}}

Jimzu, along with the whole of Palestine, came under the rule of the Ottoman Empire after it defeated the Mamluks at the Battle of Marj Dabiq in 1516. The village was incorporated into the Ottoman nahiya (subdistrict) of Ramla (al-Khalīl) under the Liwa of Gaza ("District of Gaza"). In the 1596 tax records, it is recorded that the village of Jimzu had 28 families, all Muslim; an estimated population of 154. They paid a tax rate of 25% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley and fruits, as well as goats and beehives, in addition to "occasional revenues"; a total of 6,990 Akçe.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 152. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 386

Biblical scholar Edward Robinson passed through the village in 1838, and reported it to be "rather large", situated on an eminence, "to make quite a show at a distance". He also noted that the village had many subterranean magazines for storing grain.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol. 3, [https://archive.org/details/biblicalresearch03robiuoft p. 56]. Also cited in Khalidi, 1992, p. 386. It was noted as being situated in the Ramleh district.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol. 3, 2nd appendix, p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/121/mode/1up 121]

In 1863 Victor Guérin found the village have 400 inhabitants, and to be surrounded by olive and palm trees. The village also had a Makam for a Sidi Ahmed. Each family had its own silo.Guérin, 1868, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/descriptiongog01gu#page/335/mode/1up 335]-336

An Ottoman village list of about 1870 counted 83 houses and a population of 325 in Dschimzu, though the population count included men, only.Socin, 1879, p. [https://archive.org/stream/zeitschriftdesde01deut#page/153/mode/1up 153] Also noted it to be in the Ramle districtHartmann, 1883, p. [https://archive.org/stream/bub_gb_BZobAQAAIAAJ#page/n948/mode/1up 140], also noted 83 houses

In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Jimzu as a village built of adobe bricks and situated on the side of a low hill, surrounded by cactus hedges and olive trees.Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp02conduoft#page/297/mode/1up 297], Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 386

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Jemzu had a population of 897 inhabitants, all Muslims,Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Ramleh, p. [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n24/mode/1up 22] increasing in the 1931 census to 1,081, still all Muslims, in a total of 268 houses.Mills, 1932, p. [https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas 20].

The villagers of Jimzu maintained a mosque. An elementary school was established in the village in 1920, and by the mid-1940s it had 175 students.Khalidi, 1992, p. 386

Most villagers worked in agriculture. In the 1945 statistics, the population was 1,510, all Muslims, while the total land area was 9,681 dunams, according to an official land and population survey. Of this, a total of 77 dunums was devoted to citrus and bananas, while 5,577 dunums were allocated to cereals. 1,605 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards, of which 1,400 dunums was for olives,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20II/al-Ramla/Page-115.jpg 115] while 50 dunams were classified as built-up public areas.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20III/al-Ramla/Page-165.jpg 165]

File:Jimzu 1942.jpg|Jimzu 1942 1:20,000

File:Kharruba 1942.jpg|Jimzu 1945 1:250,000

File:Lydda and Ramla area - 9 July 1948.PNG|Palestinian villages depopulated in the area around Lydda and Ramla (coloured in green)

Jizmu was occupied by the Yiftach Brigade, of the newly formed Israeli army, on July 10, 1948, in the first phase of Operation Dani.{{Cite web|title=Jizmu:District of al-Ramla|publisher=Palestine Remembered|access-date=2007-12-03|url=http://www.palestineremembered.com/al-Ramla/Jimzu/index.html}}

File:Jimzu.jpg after the capture of Jimuz during Operation Dani]]

According to Benny Morris:

"The intention, from the first, was to depopulate [Jimzu and surrounding villages]. On 10 July, Yiftah Brigade HQ informed Dani HQ: Our forces are clearing the 'Innaba-Jimzu-Daniyal area and are torching everything that can be burned.'"Morris, 2004, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA435 435]

The following day (11 July) Yiftach informed Dani Headquarters, that its forces had conquered Jimzu and Daniyal and were "busy clearing the villages and blowing up the houses ['oskot betihur hakfarim u'fitzutz habatim]"Yiftah HQ\Intelligence to Dani HQ, etc., 11 July 1948, IDFA 922\75\\1237. Quoted in Morris, 2004, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA435 435] All of Jimzu's inhabitants left as a result of the assault by Israeli forces. Its 434 homes were demolished on September 13, 1948.

The settlement of Gimzo was established on village land in 1950. Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi described the remains of Jimzu in 1992: "All that remains of the houses are stones, strewn over the site, and some crumbled walls. The site is overgrown with shrubs and thorny plants. Other kind of vegetation also grow on village land, including Christ's-thorn trees, foxtail, cactuses, and some abandoned olive trees."

• Depopulated Palestinian locations in Israel
• List of villages depopulated during the Arab-Israeli conflict

{{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 |last= Dauphin |first = C.|author-link= Claudine Dauphin| title = La Palestine byzantine, Peuplement et Populations |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FC1mAAAAMAAJ |volume = III : Catalogue | series = BAR International Series 726 | year = 1998 | publisher = Archeopress | location = Oxford|language =fr|isbn= 0-860549-05-4}} p.834
• {{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|last=Guérin|first=V.|author-link=Victor Guérin|title=Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine|url=https://archive.org/details/descriptiongog01gu|volume=1: Judee, pt. 1|year=1868|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 journal | last = Hartmann | first =M.| author-link = Martin Hartmann | title = Die Ortschaftenliste des Liwa Jerusalem in dem türkischen Staatskalender für Syrien auf das Jahr 1288 der Flucht (1871) | journal = Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins | volume = 6 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_BZobAQAAIAAJ/page/n131 102]–149 | url =https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_BZobAQAAIAAJ | year = 1883}}
• {{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}}
• {{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/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 journal | last = Socin | first =A.| author-link = Albert Socin | title = Alphabetisches Verzeichniss von Ortschaften des Paschalik Jerusalem | journal = Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins | volume = 2 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/zeitschriftdesde01deut/page/135 135]–163 | url = https://archive.org/details/zeitschriftdesde01deut | year = 1879}}

{{refend}}

• [http://www.palestineremembered.com/al-Ramla/Jimzu/index.html Welcome to Jimzu]
• [http://zochrot.org/en/village/49077 Jimzu], Zochrot
• Survey of Western Palestine, Map 14: [https://web.archive.org/web/20180928072721/http://www.iaa-archives.org.il/zoom/zoom.aspx?folder_id=93&type_id=6&id=8376 IAA], [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Survey_of_Western_Palestine_1880.14.jpg Wikimedia commons]
• [http://www.thisweekinpalestine.com/details.php?id=2140&ed=140&edid=140 Carob, Fennel, and the Red Soil of Gimzo: Crafting Palestinian Identity]

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

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

Category:Philistines

Category:District of Ramla