Kharruba

The name Kharruba, in its current form, is an Arabic one: "a carob tree".{{Cite journal |last=Marom |first=Roy |last2=Zadok |first2=Ran |date=2023 |title=Early-Ottoman Palestinian Toponymy: A Linguistic Analysis of the (Micro-)Toponyms in Haseki Sultan’s Endowment Deed (1552) |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0cs6f5k5 |journal=Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins |language=en |volume=139 |issue=2}}

It may be Kfar Hariba or Kfar Haruba mentioned in the Jerusalem Talmud as home of two brothers who fought the Romans during the Bar Kokhba revolt.Finkelstein and Lederman, 1997, p. 200

In 1552, Kharruba was a cultivated place (mazra'a). Part of the tax revenues of Kharruba were endowed to the Haseki Sultan Imaret in Jerusalem, founded by Haseki Hürrem Sultan, the favourite wife of Suleiman the Magnificent. Administratively, Kharruba belonged to the Sub-district of Ramla in the District of Gaza.{{Cite journal |last=Marom |first=R.|author-link= Roy Marom|date=2022-11-01 |title=Jindās: A History of Lydda's Rural Hinterland in the 15th to the 20th Centuries CE |url=https://www.academia.edu/90931976 |journal=Lod, Lydda, Diospolis |volume=1 |pages=8}}

Kharruba appeared in Ottoman tax registers compiled in 1596 under the name of Harnuba, in the Nahiyas of Ramla, of the Gaza Sanjak. It was indicated as empty (hali), though 25% taxes were paid on agricultural products. These included wheat, barley, summer crops, vineyards, fruit trees, sesame, goats, beehives, in an addition to occasional revenues; a total of 4,000 akçe.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 152

In 1838, it was noted as a Muslim village, Khurrubeh, in the Ibn Humar area in the District of Er-Ramleh.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/121/mode/1up 121]

In 1863, Victor Guérin described Kharruba as a hamlet of a few huts. He noticed the remains of a medieval fort and suggested it might be the Crusader castle Arnaldi.Guérin, 1868, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/descriptiongog01gu#page/317/mode/1up 317]–318. However, the modern identification of Arnaldi is Yalo.({{cite journal | author = Denys Pringle | title = Survey of Castles in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, 1989: Preliminary Report | journal = Levant | volume = XXIII | year = 1991 | pages = 87–91 | doi=10.1179/lev.1991.23.1.87}}) The following decade, the PEF's "Survey of Western Palestine" found only ruins.Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp03conduoft#page/104/mode/1up 104]

By the beginning of the 20th century, residents from Beit Iksa resettled the site, establishing it as a dependency – or satellite village – of their home village.{{Cite journal |last=Marom |first=Roy |author-link=Roy Marom |date=2022 |title=Lydda Sub-District: Lydda and its countryside during the Ottoman period |url=https://www.academia.edu/79946175/Lydda_Sub_District_Lydda_and_its_countryside_during_the_Ottoman_period_%D7%A0%D7%A4%D7%AA_%D7%9C%D7%95%D7%93_%D7%9C%D7%95%D7%93_%D7%95%D7%94%D7%9E%D7%A8%D7%97%D7%91_%D7%94%D7%A2%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%A4%D7%99_%D7%A9%D7%9C%D7%94_%D7%91%D7%AA%D7%A7%D7%95%D7%A4%D7%94_%D7%94%D7%A2%D7%AA%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%AA |journal=Diospolis – City of God: Journal of the History, Archaeology and Heritage of Lod |volume=8 |pages=124}}

During the British Mandate period, Kharruba was one of the key areas of Lime production for the developing urban centers along Palestine's coastal plain.{{Cite journal |last=Marom |first=Roy |date=2023-05-13 |title=The Arab Lime Industry around Modi'in during the British Mandate from the Craftsmen's Perspective |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/97q2h502 |journal=Diospolis |language=en |volume=9 |pages=70–83 |via=eScholership}}

At the time of the 1931 census, Kharruba had 21 occupied houses and a population of 119 inhabitants, all Muslims.Mills, 1932, p. [//ia800304.us.archive.org/18/items/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas/PalestineCensus1931.pdf 21]

In the 1945 statistics, the village had a population of 170 Muslims.Department of Statistics, 1945, p. [http://users.cecs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/yabber/census/VSpages/VS1945_p29.jpg 29] The total land area was 3,374 dunams, of this, a total of 1,620 dunums were used for cereals, 25 dunums 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/al-Ramla/Page-115.jpg 115] while 3 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:Innaba 1942.jpg|Kharruba 1942 1:20,000

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

It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War on July 12, 1948, by the Yiftach Brigade which reported that it had blown up the houses and "cleared the village".Morris, 2004, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA435 435]

In 1992 the village site was described: "The site is covered with the stone rubble of the destroyed houses, overgrown with vegetation. Many of the plants that grow on the site are the ones that Palestinians traditionally planted near their homes: cactuses, castor oil (ricinus) plants, and cypress, Christ's thorn, and olive trees. The surrounding land is used by the Israelis as grazing ground."Khalidi, 1992, p. 388

A site called Haruba is mentioned in the Copper Scroll, the only one of the Dead Sea Scrolls engraved on copper rather than written on parchment. Modern scholars do not believe it to be the site mentioned in the scroll.The document is said to provide clues to the whereabouts of the legendary treasures of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. The scroll states: "In the ruin (Hurba) that is in the valley of Achor, under/the steps, with the entrance at the East,/a distance of 40 cubits: a strongbox of silver and its vessels / with a weight of 17 talents." In consequence, many treasure hunters have flocked to Kharruba over the years, [http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/no-gold-in-them-hills-1.417506 No gold in them hills], Haaretz

In 2012, five suspected antiquities robbers were caught at Kharruba, after damaging a mikveh (ritual bath) dating to the Second Temple period and trenches used as hiding places during the Bar Kokhba revolt.

{{reflist|25em}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{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=1883|url=https://archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp03conduoft|title=The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology|location=London|publisher=Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund|volume=3}}
• {{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|last=Guérin|first=V.|author-link=Victor Guérin|title=Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine|url=https://archive.org/details/descriptiongogr04gugoog|volume=2: Samarie, pt. 2|year=1875|publisher= L'Imprimerie Nationale|location=Paris|language=fr}} (p. [https://archive.org/stream/descriptiongogr04gugoog#page/n421/mode/1up 394])
• {{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|first1=S.|last1=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}}
• {{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}}

{{refend}}

• [http://www.palestineremembered.com/al-Ramla/Kharruba/index.html Welcome To Kharruba]
• [http://www.zochrot.org/en/village/49175 Kharruba], Zochrot
• Survey of Western Palestine, Map 17: [https://web.archive.org/web/20181103051759/http://www.iaa-archives.org.il/zoom/zoom.aspx?folder_id=93&type_id=6&id=8379 IAA], [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Survey_of_Western_Palestine_1880.17.jpg Wikimedia commons]

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

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

Category:District of Ramla

Category:Archaeological sites in Israel