al-Sawafir al-Sharqiyya

Remains from the late Roman (third–fourth centuries CE), Byzantine (fifth–beginning of seventh centuries CE), and Abbasid eras have been found here.Varga, 2009, [http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=1183&mag_id=115 Es-Sawafir esh-Sharqiya] Columns and fragments were noted near the well.Dauphin, 1998, p. 869

12 century Crusader church endowments and land deeds mention Latin settlement in Zeophir/al-Sawāfīr. However, it is not clear which village of three Sawafirs these records pertain to.{{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 |journal=Journal of Historical Geography |volume=82 |pages=49–65 |doi=10.1016/j.jhg.2023.08.003 |issn=0305-7488|doi-access=free }}

Al-Sawafir al-Sharqiyya was like the rest of Palestine, incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517, and in the census of 1596, the village appeared as Sawafir as-Sarqi under the administration of the nahiya of Gaza, part of the Liwa of Gaza. The place was noted as hali, that is empty, but taxes were paid on wheat, barley, summer crops, vineyards, fruit trees and cotton; a total of 9,000 akçe.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 142

In 1838 the three Sawafir villages were noted located in the Gaza district. The western village (=Al-Sawafir al-Gharbiyya) was noted as "in ruins or deserted", while the two others were noted as being Muslim.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/118/mode/1up 118]Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 2, p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearc00smitgoog#page/n392/mode/1up 370]

In 1863 Victor Guérin found it to be the largest of the three Sawafir villages.Guérin, 1869, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/descriptiongog02gu#page/82/mode/1up 82] -84

In 1882 the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described it as one of three Suafir adobe villages. Each had small gardens and wells.Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp02conduoft#page/413/mode/1up 413]

According to the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Al-Sawafir al-Sharqiyya had a population of 588 inhabitants, all 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 to an all-Muslim population of 787 in 148 houses.Mills, 1932, p. [https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas 6]

In the 1945 statistics, it had a population of 970 Muslims, with a total of 13,831 dunams of land. Of this, 585 dunams were for citrus and bananas, 386 for plantations or irrigable land, 11,821 dunums 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/Gaza/Page-088.jpg 88] while 40 dunams were classified as 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/Gaza/Page-138.jpg 138]

The village shared a school with the other two Sawafir villages, and it had an enrollment of about 280 in 1945. The village had its own mosque.

File:Al-Sawafir.jpg

File:Sawafir 1945.jpg

In early May 1948, the inhabitants of the three Al-Sawafir villages were ordered not to flee by the Al-Majdal National Committee.Morris, 2004, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA179 179] As of 23 May 1948, Israeli reports say that at all three Al-Sawafir villages the inhabitants slept in the fields at night, but returned to work in the villages by day.Morris, 2004, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA257 257]-258 The village was destroyed as part of the Nakba, specifically as a result of Operation Barak.{{Cite web |title=Memories and Scenes from the Nakba Repeated — UNRWA USA: Showing Palestine refugees that Americans care |url=https://www.unrwausa.org/voices-of-unrwa/memories-and-scenes-from-the-nakba-relived |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=UNRWA USA |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=al-Sawafir al-Sharqiyya — السَوافِير الشرقية |url=https://www.palquest.org/en/place/16886/al-sawafir-al-sharqiyya |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=Interactive Encyclopedia of the Palestine Question – palquest |language=en}}

In 1992 the village site was described like so: "No houses remain on the site. New buildings stand on the spot where the Mosque used to be. Some traces of the former village are still present on the surrounding lands, however. There is a building for a water-pump in Isma'il al-Sawafiri's orchard, an old sycamore tree in the al-Buhaysi family's orchard, and an old cypress tree in an otherwise vacant field."

{{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}}
• {{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|year=1869|url=https://archive.org/details/descriptiongog02gu|title= Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine. |volume= 1: Judee, pt. 2|publisher=Paris, L'Imprimerie Imp.}}
• {{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 Centre|access-date=2009-08-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181208215837/http://www.palestineremembered.com/Articles/General-2/Story3150.html|archive-date=2018-12-08|url-status=dead}}
• {{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/20110928201645/http://www.palestine-studies.org/enakba/Memoirs/Nasser,%20Memoirs%20of%20the%20First%20Palestine%20War.pdf " “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 journal|last=Varga|first=Daniel|date=2009-08-05|url=http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=1183&mag_id=115|title=Es-Sawafir esh-Sharqiya (Shapira Center) Final Report|publisher=Israel Antiquities Authority|number=121|access-date=2011-09-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120826191614/http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=1183&mag_id=115|archive-date=2012-08-26|url-status=dead|journal=Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel|doi=10.69704/jhaesi.116.2004.1183 }}

{{refend}}

• [https://www.palestineremembered.com/Gaza/al-Sawafir-al-Sharqiyya/index.html Welcome To al-Sawafir al-Sharqiyya]
• [http://www.zochrot.org/village/view?id=49334 al-Sawafir al-Sharqiyya], 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]
• [http://alnakba.org/villages/gaza/ssharqiyya.htm al-Sawafir al-Sharqiyya], from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center
• [http://electronicintifada.net/content/my-village-was-attacked-and-burned-down-nakba-survivor-speaks/13427 "My village was attacked and burned down": a Nakba survivor speaks], Electronic Intifada {{bsn|date=January 2025}}

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

{{DEFAULTSORT:Al-Sawafir Al-Sharqiyya}}

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

Category:District of Gaza