Barfiliya

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title: "Barfiliya" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["arab-villages-depopulated-during-the-1948-arab–israeli-war", "district-of-ramla", "pre-pottery-neolithic-a", "neolithic-sites-of-asia"] topic_path: "geography/israel" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barfiliya" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox settlement"]

FieldValue
nameBarfiliya
native_nameبرفيلية
native_name_langar
other_nameBarfilia, Barfilya, Berfilya, Berfilia
settlement_typeFormer village
image_skylineBarfilia_gader.JPG
imagesize200
image_captionRuins of the village, 2008
etymologya personal name
pushpin_mapMandatory Palestine
pushpin_mapsize200
coordinates
grid_namePalestine grid
grid_position149/146
subdivision_typeGeopolitical entity
subdivision_nameMandatory Palestine
subdivision_type1Subdistrict
subdivision_name1Ramle
established_title1Date of depopulation
established_date1July 14, 1948
established_title2Repopulated dates
area_footnotes
unit_prefdunam
area_total_dunam7,134
population_as_of1945
population_total730
blank_name_sec1Cause(s) of depopulation
blank_info_sec1Military assault by Yishuv forces
blank3_name_sec1Current Localities
blank3_info_sec1Military firing range
::

| name = Barfiliya | native_name = برفيلية | native_name_lang = ar | other_name = Barfilia, Barfilya, Berfilya, Berfilia | settlement_type=Former village | image_skyline = Barfilia_gader.JPG | imagesize = 200 | image_caption = Ruins of the village, 2008 | etymology = a personal name | pushpin_map = Mandatory Palestine | pushpin_map_caption = Location within Mandatory Palestine | image_map = | map_caption = A series of historical maps of the area around Barfiliya (click the buttons) | pushpin_mapsize = 200 | coordinates = | grid_name = Palestine grid | grid_position = 149/146 | subdivision_type = Geopolitical entity | subdivision_name = Mandatory Palestine | subdivision_type1 = Subdistrict | subdivision_name1 = Ramle | established_title1 = Date of depopulation | established_date1 = July 14, 1948 | established_title2 = Repopulated dates | area_footnotes = | unit_pref = dunam | area_total_dunam = 7,134 | population_as_of = 1945 | population_total = 730 | blank_name_sec1 = Cause(s) of depopulation | blank_info_sec1 = Military assault by Yishuv forces | blank3_name_sec1 = Current Localities | blank3_info_sec1 = Military firing range

Barfiliya () was a Palestinian village located 10.5 km east of Ramla that was depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Located on a tell, excavations conducted there by Israeli archaeologists beginning in 1995 found artifacts dating back to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) period (circa 9,500-8,000 BCE).

Barfiliya lay on a road between Jerusalem and Lydda that was built in Roman times. In the early Ottoman era, it was a small village of 44 inhabitants. By 1945, before the end of the Mandatory Palestine and the outbreak of 1948 Arab–Israeli War, its population had grown to 730. Depopulated on July 14, 1948, Barifiliya was subsequently destroyed.

Etymology

Barfīlyā /Barfīlya/ is a Greek place name, derived from Πορφυρίων/Πορφυρεών, which was the name of a mythological king, based on the word for “purple-fish”. The name is recorded in its Greek form in Crusader documents: Porphilia. By 1552, it was known in its modern Arabic form.

Geography

Barfiliya was located in Wadi Jaar, along with the villages of Annabeh, Al-Burj, and Bir Main. A high road between Jerusalem and Jaffa ran through Barfiliya and Lydda, after passing the Plain of Ajalon and crossing the Beth Horon roads.

History

Roman period

During the rule of the Roman Empire in Palestine, a road was built that connected Lydda to Jerusalem and passed through Barfiliya and other villages like Beit Liqya, Biddu and Beit Iksa.

Crusader period

The Crusaders knew Barfiliya by the name Porfylia or Porphiria. Under their rule, it was one of five villages to make up the diocese of Lydda. The village came to belong to the prior and canons of the Holy Sepulchre in November 1136, granted permission to build a church there by their bishop in 1170–1, it is unknown if they ever did in fact do so. The first Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, which ruled over most of Palestine, came to an end after the victory of Saladin's forces over those of the Crusaders in the 1187 Battle of Hattin. ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Barfilia_bor2.jpg" caption="Village ruins today"] ::

Ottoman period

Barfiliya, like the rest of Palestine, was ruled by the Ottoman Empire between 1517 and 1917/18. In 1596, the village formed part of the nahiya (subdistrict) of al-Ramla under the liwa' (district) of Gaza. It had a population of 8 households, an estimated 44 persons, all Muslim. Villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 25% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, sesame and fruit, as well as goats, beehives and vineyards and occasional revenues; a total of 6,000 akçe.

In 1838, it was noted as a Muslim village, Burfilia, in the Ibn Humar area in the District of Er-Ramleh. In 1863, Victor Guérin found the village to have 150 inhabitants.

An official Ottoman village list of about 1870 showed that "Berfilija" had 28 houses and a population of 175, though the population count included only men. In the late 19th century, Barfiliya is described as a small hamlet, situated on a slope, 2000 ft above a valley. The villagers cultivated olives.

During the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of World War I, in the lead up to the 1917 Battle of El Burj, the Australian Light Horse Brigades led by Major-General Hodgson reached Barfiliya on November 28–29 in an effort to relieve Commonwealth troops in their battles against German and Turkish troops.

British Mandate

After the war's end, the Ottoman Empire was partitioned and a Palestine mandate was accorded to Britain by the League of Nations. In a census conducted in 1922 by the British Mandate authorities, Barfilia had a population of 411 residents; all Muslims, increasing in the 1931 census to 544, still all Muslims, in a total of 132 houses.

Still under Mandatory rule in the 1945 statistics, the village comprised a total area of 7,134 dunums, and the population was entirely Muslim. A large number of inhabitants were employed in cereal farming. However, some land was allocated to irrigation and plantation as well as the growing of olives.

Types of land use in dunams by Arabs in 1945:

::data[format=table]

Land UsageDunams
Irrigated & Plantation241
Olives191
Cereal2,739
Urban17
Cultivable2,980
Non-cultivable4,137
::

The land ownership of the village before occupation in dunams: ::data[format=table]

OwnerDurnams
Arab7,130
Jewish0
Public4
Total7,134
::

17 dunams were classified as built-up public areas.

File:Innaba 1942.jpg|Barfiliya 1942 1:20,000 File:Kharruba 1942.jpg|Barfiliya 1945 1:250,000 File:Lydda and Ramla area - 9 July 1948.PNG|Palestinian villages depopulated in the area around Lydda and Ramla (coloured in green)

1948 war and aftermath

During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Barfiliya briefly became a destination for Palestinian refugees from Lydda. One survivor of the 1948 Palestinian expulsion from Lydda and Ramle, Haj As'ad Hassouneh, reports that when Jews came to Lydda in July 1948, they called the people together and told them to, "Go to Barfiliya," where the Arab Legion was still stationed. Only one or two knew where Barfiliya was, and though the distance could usually be travelled in about 4 hours, it took the group made up of men, women, children, the elderly, the sick, among others, three days to make the journey. In the hot, dry summer, without adequate provisions, many died of thirst along the way.

Barfiliya itself was depopulated as a result of a military assault by Israeli forces on July 14, 1948. On September 13, David Ben-Gurion requested the destruction of Barfiliya, among other Palestinian villages whose inhabitants fled or were expelled. All 58 Palestinian villages in the al-Ramla district that came under Israeli control were depopulated in 1948, and those mentioned in Ben-Gurion's memorandum were either partially or totally destroyed.

Archaeology

The village of Barfiliya stood on a large tell, considered one potential site for ancient Be'eroth (the other possibilities being the tells of Daniyal or Simzu). Since 1995, Shimon Gibson and Egon Lass have conducted salvage excavations in the hills of Modi'in in units of land belonging to "one of the main ancient settlements in the region," identified by Gibson as having been in "Khirbet el-Burj (Titura), Bir Ma'in (Re'ut) and Berfilya."

References

Bibliography

References

  1. [[Palestine Exploration Fund]], 1838, [https://books.google.com/books?id=H6A_AAAAYAAJ&pg=PT91 p. 84]
  2. Palmer 1881, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp00conduoft#page/287/mode/1up 287]
  3. Morris, 2004, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PR19 xix], village #241. Also gives the cause for depopulation.
  4. Department of Statistics, 1945, p. [http://users.cecs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/yabber/census/VSpages/VS1945_p29.jpg 29]
  5. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20I/al-Ramla/Page-066.jpg 66]
  6. "Barfiliya". Palestine Remembered.
  7. Marom, Roy. (2023). "Early-Ottoman Palestinian Toponymy: A Linguistic Analysis of the (Micro-)Toponyms in Haseki Sultan’s Endowment Deed (1552)". Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins.
  8. Saunders et al., 1881, p. [https://archive.org/stream/introductiontosu00saunrich#page/44/mode/1up 44].
  9. Saunders et al., 1881, p. [https://archive.org/stream/introductiontosu00saunrich#page/235/mode/1up 235].
  10. Pringle, 1998, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=2Y0tA0xLzwEC&pg=PA167 167]
  11. Pringle, 1993, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=BgQ6AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA110 110]
  12. Röhricht, 1893, p. [https://archive.org/stream/registaregnihier00rhuoft#page/n48/mode/1up 41], no 165; cited in Pringle, 1993, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=BgQ6AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA110 110]
  13. Röhricht, 1893, p. [https://archive.org/stream/registaregnihier00rhuoft#page/n136/mode/1up 129], no 490; cited in Pringle, 1993, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=BgQ6AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA110 110]
  14. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 152. Quoted in Khalidi, p. 360.
  15. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/121/mode/1up 121]
  16. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/n74/mode/1up 57]
  17. Guérin, 1868, p. [https://archive.org/stream/descriptiongog01gu#page/336/mode/1up 336]
  18. Socin, 1879, p. [https://archive.org/stream/zeitschriftdesde01deut#page/145/mode/1up 145]
  19. Hartmann, 1883, p. [https://archive.org/stream/bub_gb_BZobAQAAIAAJ#page/n948/mode/1up 140] also noted 28 houses
  20. Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp03conduoft#page/15/mode/1up 15] Quoted in Khalidi, p.361
  21. "El Burj, Palestine, 1 December 1917: Gullett's Account". Australian Light Horse Studies Centre.
  22. Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Ramleh, p. [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n24/mode/1up 22]
  23. Mills, 1932, p. [https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas 18]
  24. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20II/al-Ramla/Page-114.jpg 114]
  25. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20III/al-Ramla/Page-164.jpg 164]
  26. Shapira and Abel, 2008, p. 229.
  27. Benvenisti et al., 2007, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=bWCN0OUiTJkC&pg=PA70 70]-71.
  28. It was captured by the [[8th Armored Brigade (Israel)
  29. As Safiriya]] 2. [[Al-Haditha, Palestine. Al-Haditha]] 3. [[Innaba]] 4. [[Daniyal]] 5. [[Jimzu]] 6. [[Kafr 'Ana]] 7. [[Al-'Abbasiyya. Al Yahudiya]] 8. Barfiliya 9. Al Barriya 10. [[Al-Qubab]] 11. [[Beit Nabala]] 12. [[Dayr Tarif]] 13. [[Al-Tira (Ramla)
  30. Sa'di and Abu-Lughod, 2007, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=A4U9iw4R1TYC&pg=PA37 37]
  31. Proceedings of the Twenty-Second Congress of Orientalists, p. 595.
  32. Archaeological remains of ancient human activities are designated 'features' and numbered accordingly. The landscape archaeology survey and excavations to date have idenitifed the following features: "farm buildings, towers, [[cistern]]s, [[sherd]] scatters, [[PPNA]] flint scatters, roads, terraces, stone boundaries, stone clearance heaps, threshing floors, caves, tombs, [[wine press]]es, cupmarks, stone quarries, lime [[kiln]]s, and charcoal burners."Gibson, Spring 1999, pp. 16-17.

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arab-villages-depopulated-during-the-1948-arab–israeli-wardistrict-of-ramlapre-pottery-neolithic-aneolithic-sites-of-asia