This article is about the former Palestinian village in Tiberias Sub-district. For the former Palestinian village in Haifa Sub-district, see Abu Shusha, Haifa. For the former Palestinian village in Ramle Sub-district, see Abu Shusha.
In 1838 Edward Robinson found on the remains of a few dwellings, built of rough volcanic stones, some of which were still used as magazines by the Arabs of the plain. A wely with a white dome marked the spot. He found no traces of antiquity.[6]
In 1850-1851 de Saulcy saw the village, which he described as ruined. Of the village, all which remained was a few portions of wall of modern appearance, "but in the midst of these is still standing a square vaulted tower, constructed in fine blocks of Herodian workmanship, or Roman of the early empire. This tower rests against a wall of more recent character."[7]
In 1875 Victor Guérin visited and noted the little wely dedicated to Abou-Choutheh.[8]
In 1881, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described it as containing 20 Moslems, with housed built of basalt, located round a mill.[9] There were modern ruins in the village, and a number of ruined mills in the valley below.[10]
British mandate era
In the 1945 statistics it had a population of 1,240 Muslims,[2] with 8,609 dunams of land.[3] Of this, 21 dunams were used for citrus and bananas, 1,377 for plantations and irrigable land, 1,848 dunams for cereals,[11] while 6 dunams were classified as built-up (urban) area.[12]
Ruins of watermills could be seen at the nearby Khirbat Abu Shusha.[13]
1948, and aftermath
The village was depopulated after a military assault on 21 and 28 April 1948.[4]
Kibbutz Ginosar presently occupies part of what was village land; so does Livnim, established in 1982 ca. 1 km northwest of the Ghuwayr Abu Shusha site.[5]
In 1992 the village site was described: "The village site is covered with thorns and wild vegetation, including Christ's-thorn trees and cactuses. The shrine of Shaykh Muhammad and the remains of a mill can be seen among piles of stones and a few olive trees. The lower-lying lands are planted in bananas and citrus, while the highlands are used as grazing areas by the Israelis."[5]
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