Summary
One of the four cities with an Arab population inside the borders of the Hebrew state in the 1948 Intelligence Service (Arab Section) report, with a normal-times population of 5,000 in its Gilboa district list; the report also records it as a first-phase destination that itself became a point of flight when its residents fled (The Emigration of the Arabs of Palestine in the Period 1/12/1947-1/6/1948, PDF p.1, 8, 16).
Details
- Many villagers migrated to Beit Shean from neighbouring villages “and had to flee from there when residents of Beit Shean themselves fled” (PDF p.8).
- The Gilboa annex records a partial evacuation on 1.5 from fear and the Haifa effect, and a full evacuation on 12.5 by occupation and fear, the evacuation lasting until 22.5, with residents going to the Triangle and Transjordan (PDF p.17).
- Its fall then drives further rows in the same table: Hamidiyya on 12.5 by the fall of Beit Shean, and Khuneizir, Arab Safa, Arab ‘Arida and Arab az-Zinati on 20.5 under the heading of Beit Shean and the Gesher front (PDF p.17-18).
Related pages
The Emigration of the Arabs of Palestine in the Period 1/12/1947-1/6/1948, Haifa, Tiberias, Safed