Hunin

Hunin
Hunin
Arabic	هونين
Name meaning	from personal name,
Subdistrict	Safad
Coordinates
Palestine grid	201/291
Population	1,620 (1945)
Area	14,224 dunams
Date of depopulation	3 May 1948 and September 1948
Cause(s) of depopulation	Fear of being caught up in the fighting
Secondary cause	Expulsion by Yishuv forces
Current localities	Margaliot

Hunin (Arabic: هونين‎‎) was a Palestinian Arab village in the Galilee Panhandle part of Mandatory Palestine close to the Lebanese border. It was the second largest village in the district of Safed, but was depopulated in 1948.

History

In 1752, a mosque was constructed in Hunin. The inscription dedication has been tentatively found to be dedicated to the Ja'far al-Sadiq, the sixth Shia Imam.

The village was badly damaged in the earthquake in 1837, according to Edward Robinson who visited in 1856. In 1875, Victor Guérin visited.

In 1881, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine described Hunin: "A village, built of stone, joining on to ruined Crusading castle [..], and containing about 100 Moslems. The situation is on a low ridge just before the hills drop down to the east to the Huleh Valley ; the hills round are uncultivated, covered with low- scrub, but in the valleys there is some arable land. Water is obtained from numerous cisterns ; a birket and spring to the south-east."

British Mandate era

Hunin, 1946

Hunin was one of the seven Shiite villages, and 17 other villages, that were transferred from the French to the British spheres in 1924 on the basis of the border agreement of 1923.

In the 1931 census of Palestine, the population of Hunin was 1,075, all Muslims, in a total of 233 houses.

In 1945 the population of Hunin (with Hula and Udeisa) was 1620, with a total of 14,224 dunams of land. Of this, Arabs used 859 for plantations and irrigated land, 5,987 dunums were allocated to grain farming, while 81 dunams were classified as urban land.

1948, aftermath

In May 1948, during hostilities between Arab and Israeli forces, Hunin received an evacuation order from Arab authorities, but the departure of all but 400 residents was the result of a Palmach raid. Four village women were raped and murdered by Israeli soldiers during the summer. In August 1948 village notables approached Kibbutz Kfar Giladi, declaring their willingness to be good citizens of Israel. Their proposal was conveyed to the Israeli government, where it received enthusiastic support from the Minorities Minister Bechor-Shalom Sheetrit. However, most of the residents were expelled in late August and the remainder in early September when the Carmeli Brigade raided the village killing 20 and blowing up 20 buildings including the mosque. Most of the villagers took refuge in Shiite villages in Lebanon.

See also

• Shia villages in Palestine

Bibliography

• p. 49

External links

• Welcome to Hunin
• Survey of Western Palestine, map 2: IAA, Wikimedia commons
• Hunin, from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center