Summary
A village of 2,000 in normal times in the Central Region list of the 1948 Intelligence Service (Arab Section) report, whose five dignitaries’ kidnapping by the Dissidents the report singles out, with Deir Yassin, as an action of special impact on the Arab migration (The Emigration of the Arabs of Palestine in the Period 1/12/1947-1/6/1948, PDF p.5, 21).
Details
- The report states that after the kidnapping the Arab learned “that it was not enough to make a deal with the Haganah”, and that there were other Jews, of whom one must be wary, perhaps even more than of the Haganah, which had no control over them (PDF p.5).
- The Central Region annex records the village’s full evacuation on 30.3 “After the abduction by the Dissidents”, its people going to Qalqiliyah and abroad and fleeing together with Arab Abu Kishk; the same day’s rows record Arab Abu Kishk and Arab Salama leaving under the effect of the Dissidents’ action in Sheikh Muwannis, and Jlil on 3.4 under the same effect (PDF p.22).
- The trajectory/comment cell of Khirbat ‘Azzun’s 21.2 row in the Central Region annex is printed in full as “To the village of ‘Azzun, Sheikh Muwannis, first village evacuated in this area.” (PDF p.21). It can also be read as a trajectory (‘Azzun, Sheikh Muwannis) with “first village evacuated in this area” referring to Khirbat ‘Azzun itself, and the same table dates Sheikh Muwannis’s own evacuation to 30.3, after earlier rows in the district; the ambiguity is recorded under Open questions on the source page, and neither reading is stated as fact.
Related pages
The Emigration of the Arabs of Palestine in the Period 1/12/1947-1/6/1948, Irgun, Haganah, Deir Yassin