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Mansurat al-Khayt

منصورة الخيط
Mansurat al Kheit^[1]
Mansurat al-Khayt منصورة الخيط Mansurat al Kheit
Village
	1870s map 1940s map modern map 1940s with modern overlay map A series of historical maps of the area around Mansurat al-Khayt (click the buttons)
	Mansurat al-Khayt Location within Mandatory Palestine
	Coordinates: 32°58′15″N 35°36′58″E / 32.97083°N 35.61611°E
Palestine grid	207/264
Geopolitical entity	Mandatory Palestine
Subdistrict	Safad
Date of depopulation	January 18, 1948
Area
• Total	6,735 dunams (6.735 km2 or 2.600 sq mi)
Population (1945)
• Total	200
Cause(s) of depopulation	Military assault by Yishuv forces
Current Localities	Kfar Hanassi? However, Khalidi writes that it is on the land of Tuba

See Mansura (disambiguation) for other sites with similar names.

Mansurat al-Khayt was a Palestinian Arab village in the Safad Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on January 18, 1948. It was located 11.5 km east of Safed, 1 km west of the Jordan River.

History

Part of the name, al-Khayt, came from the area named as ard al-khayt, located southwest of the lake of Hula.^[6]

Al-Dimashqi (d.1327) wrote about Al Khait: "A district of the Upper Ghaur of the Jordan Valley. The country resembles that of Irak in the matter of its rice, its birds, its hot springs, and excellent crops."^[7]

In the mid 18th century, The Syrian Sufi teacher and traveller al-Bakri al-Siddiqi (1688-1748/9) noted that he passed by al-Khayt with a judge from Safad.^[5]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Kerad al Khait had a population of 437 Muslims,^[8] increasing in the 1931 census when Mansurat el Hula had to 367 Muslims inhabitants, in a total of 61 houses.^[9]

In the 1945 statistics the village had a population of 200 Muslims,^[2] with 6,735 dunams of land, all of which was publicly owned.^[3] Of this, 5,052 dunams were used for cereals,^[10] while 17 dunams were classified as built-up, public areas.^[11]

The village was also known by Mansurat al-Hula to distinguish it from al-Mansura in Safed and had a shrine for a local sage known as al-Shaykh Mansur from which the village was named after.

1948, aftermath

The village was temporarily evacuated after a Haganah attack on 18 January 1948. The Haganah was under order to "eliminate" anyone in the village who resisted.^[12] It was noted that "houses and shacks were set alight" during the attack.^[13]

In July 1948, a new settlement called Habonim, later renamed Kfar Hanassi, went up on the land of Mansurat al-Khayt.^[14]

References

^ ^a ^b Morris, 2004, p. xvi, village #59. Also gives cause of depopulation
^ ^a ^b Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 10
^ ^a ^b ^c Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 70
^ Morris, 2004, p. xx, settlement #13.
^ ^a ^b Khalidi, 1992, p. 475
^ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, p. 341, cited in Khalidi, 1992, p. 474
^ Al-Dimashqi, 1866, p. 211 cited in le Strange, 1890, p. 484
^ Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Safad, p. 42
^ Mills, 1932, p. 108
^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 120
^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 170
^ Morris, 2004, p. 132, note #539, on p. 160
^ Morris, 2004, p. 344, note #13, p. 396
^ Morris, 2004, p. 374, note #191, p. 406