PLace

Khirbat Umm Sabuna

Place
Khirbat Umm Sabuna — خِرْبَة أُمّ صابُونَة
District
Galilee
Subdistrict
Baysan
Average Elevation
-175 m
Distance from Baysan
10.5 km
Population
Year Arab Total
1931 * 444

The village was located below the neighboring village of Kawkab al-Hawa, at the foot of the cliff on which Kawkab al-Hawa was perched. It stood on the western edge of the Jordan Valley and faced east; the Jordan River was 3.3 km due east. Both the wadi which flowed northeast from the village site and the nearby spring took their names from the village. Khirbat Umm Sabuna was classified as a hamlet in the Palestine Index Gazetteer. Quantities of fragmented pottery on the surface of the village site as well as the buried foundations of buildings which protruded from the soil indicated that the site had been inhabited in earlier times.

The location of the village suggests that it was captured in the course of Operation Gideon. The nearest village for which there is adequate information is Kawkab al-Hawa, only 2 km away. Several sources indicate that that village was occupied some time between 16 and 21 May. Iraqi troops, which entered the country along this front after 15 May, made little progress in recapturing villages in the area. The population of Khirbat Umm Sabuna was probably driven out around the time of occupation, during May 1948.

There are no Israeli settlements on village lands, which have been combined with those of Kawkab al-Hawa. The settlement of Newe Ur , established in 1949, is about 1 km east of the village site.

Only stone rubble remains on the village site. An orchard owned by the Newe Ur settlement is on village lands. The hilly areas around the site are used by Israeli farmers for grazing.

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