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Barfiliya برفيليةBarfilia, Barfilya, Berfilya, Berfilia
Ruins of the village, 2008
Etymology: a personal name
1870s map 1940s map modern map 1940s with modern overlay map A series of historical maps of the area around Barfiliya (click the buttons)
BarfiliyaLocation within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 31°54′39″N 34°59′18″E / 31.91083°N 34.98833°E / 31.91083; 34.98833
Palestine grid	149/146
Geopolitical entity	Mandatory Palestine
Subdistrict	Ramle
Date of depopulation	July 14, 1948
Area
• Total	7,134 dunams (7.134 km or 2.754 sq mi)
Population
• Total	730
Cause(s) of depopulation	Military assault by Yishuv forces
Current Localities	Military firing range

Barfiliya (Arabic: برفيلية) was a Palestinian village located 10.5 kilometres (6.5 mi) east of Ramla that was depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Located on a tell, excavations conducted there by Israeli archaeologists beginning in 1995 found artifacts dating back to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) period (circa 9,500-8,000 BCE).

Barfiliya lay on a road between Jerusalem and Lydda that was built in Roman times. In the early Ottoman era, it was a small village of 44 inhabitants. By 1945, before the end of the Mandatory Palestine and the outbreak of 1948 Arab–Israeli War, its population had grown to 730. Depopulated on July 14, 1948, Barifiliya was subsequently destroyed.

Etymology

Barfīlyā /Barfīlya/ is a Greek place name, derived from Πορφυρίων/Πορφυρεών, which was the name of a mythological king, based on the word for “purple-fish”. The name is recorded in its Greek form in Crusader documents: Porphilia. By 1552, it was known in its modern Arabic form.

Geography

Barfiliya was located in Wadi Jaar, along with the villages of Annabeh, Al-Burj, and Bir Main. A high road between Jerusalem and Jaffa ran through Barfiliya and Lydda, after passing the Plain of Ajalon and crossing the Beth Horon roads.

History

Roman period

During the rule of the Roman Empire in Palestine, a road was built that connected Lydda to Jerusalem and passed through Barfiliya and other villages like Beit Liqya, Biddu and Beit Iksa.

Crusader period

The Crusaders knew Barfiliya by the name Porfylia or Porphiria. Under their rule, it was one of five villages to make up the diocese of Lydda. The village came to belong to the prior and canons of the Holy Sepulchre in November 1136, granted permission to build a church there by their bishop in 1170–1, it is unknown if they ever did in fact do so. The first Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, which ruled over most of Palestine, came to an end after the victory of Saladin's forces over those of the Crusaders in the 1187 Battle of Hattin.

Ottoman period

Barfiliya, like the rest of Palestine, was ruled by the Ottoman Empire between 1517 and 1917/18. In 1596, the village formed part of the nahiya (subdistrict) of al-Ramla under the liwa' (district) of Gaza. It had a population of 8 households, an estimated 44 persons, all Muslim. Villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 25% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, sesame and fruit, as well as goats, beehives and vineyards and occasional revenues; a total of 6,000 akçe.

In 1838, it was noted as a Muslim village, Burfilia, in the Ibn Humar area in the District of Er-Ramleh. In 1863, Victor Guérin found the village to have 150 inhabitants.

An official Ottoman village list of about 1870 showed that "Berfilija" had 28 houses and a population of 175, though the population count included only men. In the late 19th century, Barfiliya is described as a small hamlet, situated on a slope, 2,000 feet (610 m) above a valley. The villagers cultivated olives.

During the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of World War I, in the lead up to the 1917 Battle of El Burj, the Australian Light Horse Brigades led by Major-General Hodgson reached Barfiliya on November 28–29 in an effort to relieve Commonwealth troops in their battles against German and Turkish troops.

British Mandate

After the war's end, the Ottoman Empire was partitioned and a Palestine mandate was accorded to Britain by the League of Nations. In a census conducted in 1922 by the British Mandate authorities, Barfilia had a population of 411 residents; all Muslims, increasing in the 1931 census to 544, still all Muslims, in a total of 132 houses.

Still under Mandatory rule in the 1945 statistics, the village comprised a total area of 7,134 dunums, and the population was entirely Muslim. A large number of inhabitants were employed in cereal farming. However, some land was allocated to irrigation and plantation as well as the growing of olives.

17 dunams were classified as built-up public areas.

• Barfiliya 1942 1:20,000
• Barfiliya 1945 1:250,000
• Palestinian villages depopulated in the area around Lydda and Ramla (coloured in green)

1948 war and aftermath

During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Barfiliya briefly became a destination for Palestinian refugees from Lydda. One survivor of the 1948 Palestinian expulsion from Lydda and Ramle, Haj As'ad Hassouneh, reports that when Jews came to Lydda in July 1948, they called the people together and told them to, "Go to Barfiliya," where the Arab Legion was still stationed. Only one or two knew where Barfiliya was, and though the distance could usually be travelled in about 4 hours, it took the group made up of men, women, children, the elderly, the sick, among others, three days to make the journey. In the hot, dry summer, without adequate provisions, many died of thirst along the way.

Barfiliya itself was depopulated as a result of a military assault by Israeli forces on July 14, 1948. It was captured by the 8th Armoured Brigade and by elements of the Kiryati Brigade along with other villages in the area north of the Latrun enclave. On September 13, David Ben-Gurion requested the destruction of Barfiliya, among other Palestinian villages whose inhabitants fled or were expelled. All 58 Palestinian villages in the al-Ramla district that came under Israeli control were depopulated in 1948, and those mentioned in Ben-Gurion's memorandum were either partially or totally destroyed.

Archaeology

The village of Barfiliya stood on a large tell, considered one potential site for ancient Be'eroth (the other possibilities being the tells of Daniyal or Simzu). Since 1995, Shimon Gibson and Egon Lass have conducted salvage excavations in the hills of Modi'in in units of land belonging to "one of the main ancient settlements in the region," identified by Gibson as having been in "Khirbet el-Burj (Titura), Bir Ma'in (Re'ut) and Berfilya." Archaeological remains of ancient human activities are designated 'features' and numbered accordingly. The landscape archaeology survey and excavations to date have idenitifed the following features: "farm buildings, towers, cisterns, sherd scatters, PPNA flint scatters, roads, terraces, stone boundaries, stone clearance heaps, threshing floors, caves, tombs, wine presses, cupmarks, stone quarries, lime kilns, and charcoal burners."

References

1. Palestine Exploration Fund, 1838, p. 84
2. Palmer 1881, p. 287
3. ^ Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 29
4. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 66
5. ^ Morris, 2004, p. xix, village #241. Also gives the cause for depopulation.
6. "Barfiliya". Palestine Remembered. Retrieved 2009-08-19.
7. Marom, Roy; Zadok, Ran (2023). "Early-Ottoman Palestinian Toponymy: A Linguistic Analysis of the (Micro-)Toponyms in Haseki Sultan's Endowment Deed (1552)". Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins. 139 (2).
8. Saunders et al., 1881, p. 44.
9. Saunders et al., 1881, p. 235.
10. Pringle, 1998, p. 167
11. Pringle, 1993, p. 110
12. Röhricht, 1893, p. 41, no 165; cited in Pringle, 1993, p. 110
13. Röhricht, 1893, p. 129, no 490; cited in Pringle, 1993, p. 110
14. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 152. Quoted in Khalidi, p. 360.
15. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. 121
16. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, p. 57
17. Guérin, 1868, p. 336
18. Socin, 1879, p. 145
19. Hartmann, 1883, p. 140 also noted 28 houses
20. Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. 15 Quoted in Khalidi, p.361
21. "El Burj, Palestine, 1 December 1917: Gullett's Account". Australian Light Horse Studies Centre. Archived from the original on 3 October 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-22.
22. Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Ramleh, p. 22
23. Mills, 1932, p. 18
24. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 114
25. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 164
26. ^ Benvenisti et al., 2007, pp. 70-71.
27. Shapira and Abel, 2008, p. 229.
28. Herzog and Gazit, 2004, p. 83.
29. Sa'di and Abu-Lughod, 2007, p. 37. Ben-Gurion wrote: "because of a lack of manpower to occupt the area in depth ... there was a need to partially destroy the following villages: 1. As Safiriya 2. Al-Haditha 3. Innaba 4. Daniyal 5. Jimzu 6. Kafr 'Ana 7. Al Yahudiya 8. Barfiliya 9. Al Barriya 10. Al-Qubab 11. Beit Nabala 12. Dayr Tarif 13. At Tira 13. Qula." Also quoted in Morris, 2004, p. 354.
30. Sa'di and Abu-Lughod, 2007, p. 37
31. Proceedings of the Twenty-Second Congress of Orientalists, p. 595.
32. ^ Gibson, Spring 1999, pp. 16-17.

Bibliography

• Barron, J. B., ed. (1923). Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922. Government of Palestine.
• Benvenisti, E.; Gans, Chaim; Ḥanafī, S. (2007). Israel and the Palestinian refugees: Volume 189 of Beiträge zum ausländischen öffentlichen Recht und Völkerrecht (Illustrated ed.). Springer. ISBN 978-3-540-68160-1.
• Conder, C.R.; Kitchener, H.H. (1883). The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology. Vol. 3. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
• Department of Statistics (1945). Village Statistics, April, 1945. Government of Palestine.
• Eshed, Vered (2018-03-13). "Modiʽin, Barfiliya" (130). Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
• Gibson, S. (Spring 1999). "Landscape Archaeology and Salvage Excavations in Modi'in" (PDF). American Schools of Oriental Research Newsletter. 49 (1).
• Guérin, V. (1868). Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine (in French). Vol. 1: Judee, pt. 1. Paris: L'Imprimerie Nationale.
• Hadawi, S. (1970). Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine. Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center.
• Hartmann, M. (1883). "Die Ortschaftenliste des Liwa Jerusalem in dem türkischen Staatskalender für Syrien auf das Jahr 1288 der Flucht (1871)". Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins. 6: 102–149.
• Herzog, C.; Gazit, S. (2004). The Arab-Israeli wars: war and peace in the Middle East from the War of Independence to the present (2nd, revised, illustrated ed.). Greenhill. ISBN 978-1-85367-585-0.
• Hütteroth, W.-D.; Abdulfattah, K. (1977). Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century. Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft. ISBN 3-920405-41-2.
• Khalidi, W. (1992). All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948. Washington D.C.: Institute for Palestine Studies. ISBN 0-88728-224-5.
• Mills, E., ed. (1932). Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas. Jerusalem: Government of Palestine.
• Morris, B. (2004). The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-00967-6.
• Palestine Exploration Fund (1838). Henry C. Stewardson (ed.). The Survey of Western Palestine. Printed for the Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund by Harrison & Sons.
• Palmer, E.H. (1881). 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. Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
• Pringle, D. (1998). The Churches of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: L-Z (excluding Tyre). Vol. II. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-39037-0.
• Pringle, D. (1993). The Churches of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: A-K (excluding Acre and Jerusalem). Vol. I. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-39036-2.
• Proceedings of the Twenty-Second Congress of Orientalists. Brill Archive. 1957.
• Robinson, E.; Smith, E. (1841). Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838. Vol. 3. Boston: Crocker & Brewster.
• Röhricht, R. (1893). (RRH) Regesta regni Hierosolymitani (MXCVII-MCCXCI) (in Latin). Berlin: Libraria Academica Wageriana.
• Sa'di, A.H.; Abu-Lughod, L. (2007). Nakba: Palestine, 1948, and the claims of memory (Illustrated ed.). Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-13579-5.
• Saunders, Trelawny; Conder; Kitchener; Palestine Exploration Fund (1881). An Introduction to the Survey of Western Palestine: Its Waterways, Plains, & Highlands. New Burlington Street: Richard Bentley and Son.
• Shapira, A.; Abel, Evelyn (2008). Yigal Allon, native son: a biography (Illustrated ed.). University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-4028-3.
• Socin, A. (1879). "Alphabetisches Verzeichniss von Ortschaften des Paschalik Jerusalem". Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins. 2: 135–163.

External links

• Welcome To Barfiliya
• Barfiliya, Zochrot
• Australian Light Horse Studies Centre
• Survey of Western Palestine, Map 17: IAA, Wikimedia commons

v t e Palestinian Arab towns and villages depopulated during the 1948 Palestinian exodus by subdistrict
Acre	Amqa Arab al-Samniyya al-Bassa al-Birwa al-Damun Dayr al-Qassi al-Ghabisiyya Iqrit Iribbin Jiddin al-Kabri Kafr 'Inan Kuwaykat al-Manshiyya al-Mansura Mi'ar al-Nabi Rubin al-Nahr al-Ruways Suhmata al-Sumayriyya Suruh al-Tall Tarbikha Umm al-Faraj az-Zeeb
Beisan	Arab al-'Arida Arab al-Bawati Arab al-Safa al-Ashrafiyya al-Bira Beisan Danna Farwana al-Fatur al-Ghazzawiyya al-Hamidiyya al-Hamra Jabbul Kafra Kawkab al-Hawa al-Khunayzir Masil al-Jizl al-Murassas Qumya al-Sakhina al-Samiriyya Sirin Tall al-Shawk al-Taqa al-Tira Umm 'Ajra Umm Sabuna Yubla Zab'a al-Zawiya
Beersheba	al-Imara al-Jammama al-Khalasa Auja al-Hafir
Gaza	Arab Suqrir Barbara Barqa al-Batani al-Gharbi al-Batani al-Sharqi Bayt 'Affa Bayt Daras Bayt Jirja Bayt Tima Bil'in Burayr Dayr Sunayd Dimra al-Faluja Hamama Hatta Hiribya Huj Hulayqat Ibdis Iraq al-Manshiyya Iraq Suwaydan Isdud al-Jaladiyya al-Jiyya Julis al-Jura Jusayr Karatiyya Kawfakha Kawkaba al-Khisas al-Masmiyya al-Kabira al-Masmiyya al-Saghira al-Muharraqa Najd Ni'ilya Qastina al-Sawafir al-Gharbiyya al-Sawafir al-Shamaliyya al-Sawafir al-Sharqiyya Simsim Summil Tall al-Turmus Yasur
Haifa	Abu Shusha Abu Zurayq Arab al-Fuqara Arab al-Nufay'at Arab Zahrat al-Dumayri 'Atlit Ayn Ghazal Ayn Hawd Balad al-Sheikh Barrat Qisarya Burayka al-Burj al-Butaymat Daliyat al-Rawha' al-Dumun al-Ghubayya al-Fawqa al-Ghubayya al-Tahta Hawsha Ijzim Jaba' al-Jalama Kabara al-Kafrayn Kafr Lam al-Kasayir Khubbayza Lid al-Manara al-Mansi al-Mansura al-Mazar Naghnaghiya Qannir Qira Qisarya Qumbaza al-Rihaniyya Sabbarin al-Sarafand al-Sarkas Sa'sa' al-Sawamir al-Shuna al-Sindiyana al-Tantura al-Tira Umm ash Shauf Umm az-Zinat Wa'arat al-Sarris Wadi Ara Yajur
Hebron	'Ajjur Barqusya Bayt Jibrin Bayt Nattif al-Dawayima Deir al-Dubban Dayr Nakhkhas Kudna Mughallis al-Qubayba Ra'na Tell es-Safi Umm Burj az-Zakariyya Zayta Zikrin
Jaffa	al-'Abbasiyya Abu Kabir Abu Kishk Bayt Dajan Biyar 'Adas Fajja al-Haram Ijlil al-Qibliyya Ijlil al-Shamaliyya al-Jammasin al-Gharbi al-Jammasin al-Sharqi Jarisha Kafr 'Ana al-Khayriyya al-Mas'udiyya al-Mirr al-Muwaylih Rantiya al-Safiriyya Salama Saqiya al-Sawalima al-Shaykh Muwannis Yazur
Jenin	al-Jawfa al-Mazar Ayn al-Mansi Lajjun Nuris Zir'in
Jerusalem	Allar Aqqur Artuf Bayt 'Itab Bayt Mahsir Bayt Naqquba Bayt Thul Bayt Umm al-Mays al-Burayj Dayr Aban Dayr 'Amr Dayr al-Hawa Dayr Rafat Dayr al-Shaykh Deir Yassin Ayn Karim Ishwa Islin Ism Allah Jarash al-Jura Kasla al-Lawz Lifta al-Maliha Nitaf al-Qabu Qalunya al-Qastal Ras Abu 'Ammar Sar'a Saris Sataf Sheikh Badr Suba Sufla al-Tannur al-'Umur al-Walaja
Nazareth	al-Mujaydil Indur Ma'alul Saffuriyya
Ramle	Abu al-Fadl Abu Shusha Ajanjul Aqir Barfiliya al-Barriyya Bashshit Bayt Far Bayt Jiz Bayt Nabala Bayt Shanna Bayt Susin Bir Ma'in Bir Salim al-Burj al-Buwayra Daniyal Dayr Abu Salama Dayr Ayyub Dayr Muhaysin Dayr Tarif al-Duhayriyya al-Haditha Idnibba Innaba Jilya Jimzu Kharruba al-Khayma Khulda al-Kunayyisa al-Latrun Lydda al-Maghar Majdal Yaba al-Mansura al-Mukhayzin al-Muzayri'a al-Na'ani al-Nabi Rubin Qatra Qazaza al-Qubab al-Qubayba Qula Ramla Sajad Salbit Sarafand al-Amar Sarafand al-Kharab Saydun Shahma Shilta al-Tina al-Tira Umm Kalkha Wadi Hunayn Yibna Zakariyya Zarnuqa
Safad	Abil al-Qamh al-'Abisiyya 'Akbara Alma Ammuqa Arab al-Shamalina Arab al-Zubayd Ayn al-Zaytun Baysamun Biriyya al-Butayha al-Buwayziyya Dallata al-Dawwara Dayshum al-Dirbashiyya al-Dirdara Fara al-Farradiyya Fir'im Ghabbatiyya Ghuraba al-Hamra' Harrawi Hunin al-Husayniyya Jahula al-Ja'una Jubb Yusuf Kafr Bir'im al-Khalisa Khan al-Duwayr Karraza al-Khisas Khiyam al-Walid Kirad al-Baqqara Kirad al-Ghannama Lazzaza Madahil Al-Malkiyya Mallaha al-Manshiyya al-Mansura Mansurat al-Khayt Marus Meiron al-Muftakhira Mughr al-Khayt al-Muntar al-Nabi Yusha' al-Na'ima Qabba'a Qadas Qaddita Qaytiyya al-Qudayriyya al-Ras al-Ahmar Sabalan Safsaf Saliha al-Salihiyya al-Sammu'i al-Sanbariyya Sa'sa' al-Shawka al-Tahta al-Shuna Taytaba Tulayl al-'Ulmaniyya al-'Urayfiyya al-Wayziyya Yarda, Safad al-Zahiriyya al-Tahta al-Zanghariyya Zawiya al-Zuq al-Fawqani al-Zuq al-Tahtani
Tiberias	Awlam al-Dalhamiyya Ghuwayr Abu Shusha Hadatha al-Hamma Hittin Kafr Sabt Lubya Ma'dhar al-Majdal al-Manara al-Manshiyya al-Mansura Nasir al-Din Nimrin al-Nuqayb Samakh al-Samakiyya al-Samra al-Shajara al-Tabigha al-'Ubaydiyya Wadi Hamam al-Wa'ra al-Sawda' Yaquq
Tulkarm	Bayt Lid Bayyarat Hannun Fardisya Ghabat Kafr Sur al-Jalama Kafr Saba al-Majdal al-Manshiyya Miska Qaqun Raml Zayta Tabsur Umm Khalid Wadi al-Hawarith Wadi Qabbani al-Zabadida Zalafa

• Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War
• District of Ramla
• Pre-Pottery Neolithic A
• Neolithic sites of Asia