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.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, p. 341, cited in Khalidi, 1992, p. 474
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."Al-Dimashqi, 1866, p. 211 cited in le Strange, 1890, p. 484
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. British Mandate era In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Kerad al Khait had a population of 437 Muslims,Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Safad, p. 42 decreasing in the 1931 census when Mansurat el Hula had to 367 Muslims inhabitants, in a total of 61 houses.Mills, 1932, p. 108
In the 1945 statistics the village had a population of 200 Muslims, with 6,735 dunams of land, all of which was publicly owned. Of this, 5,052 dunams were used for cereals,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 120 while 17 dunams were classified as built-up, public areas.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 170
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.Morris, 2004, p. 132, note #539, on p. 160 It was noted that "houses and shacks were set alight" during the attack.Morris, 2004, p. 344, note #13, p. 396
In July 1948, a new settlement called Habonim, later renamed Kfar Hanassi, went up on the land of Mansurat al-Khayt.Morris, 2004, p. 374, note #191, p. 406
References
Bibliography
External links Welcome To Mansurat al-Khayt Mansurat al-Khayt, Zochrot Mansurat al-Khayt, Villages of Palestine Survey of Western Palestine, map 4: IAA, Wikimedia commons