Jimzu

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title: "Jimzu" 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", "philistines", "district-of-ramla"] topic_path: "geography/israel" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimzu" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

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

FieldValue
nameJimzu
native_nameجمزو
native_name_langar
other_nameGimzo
etymologySycamore
pushpin_mapMandatory Palestine
pushpin_mapsize200
coordinates
grid_namePalestine grid
grid_position145/148
subdivision_typeGeopolitical entity
subdivision_nameMandatory Palestine
subdivision_type1Subdistrict
subdivision_name1Ramle
established_title1Date of depopulation
established_date110 July 1948
established_title2Repopulated dates
area_footnotes
unit_prefdunam
area_total_dunam9,681
population_as_of1945
population_total1,510
blank_name_sec1Cause(s) of depopulation
blank_info_sec1Military assault by Yishuv forces
blank3_name_sec1Current Localities
blank3_info_sec1Moshav Gimzo
::

| name = Jimzu | native_name = جمزو | native_name_lang = ar | other_name = Gimzo | settlement_type = | etymology = Sycamore | pushpin_map = Mandatory Palestine | pushpin_map_caption = Location within Mandatory Palestine | image_map = | map_caption = A series of historical maps of the area around Jimzu (click the buttons) | pushpin_mapsize = 200 | coordinates = | grid_name = Palestine grid | grid_position = 145/148 | subdivision_type = Geopolitical entity | subdivision_name = Mandatory Palestine | subdivision_type1 = Subdistrict | subdivision_name1 = Ramle | established_title1 = Date of depopulation | established_date1 = 10 July 1948 | established_title2 = Repopulated dates | area_footnotes = | unit_pref = dunam | area_total_dunam = 9,681 | population_as_of = 1945 | population_total = 1,510 | blank_name_sec1 = Cause(s) of depopulation | blank_info_sec1 = Military assault by Yishuv forces | blank3_name_sec1 = Current Localities | blank3_info_sec1 = Moshav Gimzo

Jimzu (), also known as Gimzo (meaning "sycamore plantation"), was a Palestinian village, located three miles southeast of Lydda. Under the 1947 UN Partition Plan of Mandatory Palestine, Jimzu was to form part of the proposed Arab state. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the village was depopulated in a two-day assault by Israeli forces.

Under the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Jimzu's lands fell under the de facto governance of the newly created state of Israel. A year later, moshav Gimzo was established at the site of the former village and is now populated by 700 Israeli Jewish residents.

History

Jimzu is identified with the ancient Gimzo, a city mentioned in the Bible as being in the plain of Judah whose villages were seized by the Philistines (as recorded in the ). The town was home to the Tannaic sage Nahum of Gimzo.

Ottoman era

Jimzu, along with the whole of Palestine, came under the rule of the Ottoman Empire after it defeated the Mamluks at the Battle of Marj Dabiq in 1516. The village was incorporated into the Ottoman nahiya (subdistrict) of Ramla (al-Khalīl) under the Liwa of Gaza ("District of Gaza"). In the 1596 tax records, it is recorded that the village of Jimzu had 28 families, all Muslim; an estimated population of 154. They paid a tax rate of 25% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley and fruits, as well as goats and beehives, in addition to "occasional revenues"; a total of 6,990 Akçe.

Biblical scholar Edward Robinson passed through the village in 1838, and reported it to be "rather large", situated on an eminence, "to make quite a show at a distance". He also noted that the village had many subterranean magazines for storing grain. It was noted as being situated in the Ramleh district.

In 1863 Victor Guérin found the village have 400 inhabitants, and to be surrounded by olive and palm trees. The village also had a Makam for a Sidi Ahmed. Each family had its own silo.

An Ottoman village list of about 1870 counted 83 houses and a population of 325 in Dschimzu, though the population count included men, only.

In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Jimzu as a village built of adobe bricks and situated on the side of a low hill, surrounded by cactus hedges and olive trees.

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Jemzu had a population of 897 inhabitants, all Muslims, increasing in the 1931 census to 1,081, still all Muslims, in a total of 268 houses.

The villagers of Jimzu maintained a mosque. An elementary school was established in the village in 1920, and by the mid-1940s it had 175 students.

Most villagers worked in agriculture. while 50 dunams were classified as built-up public areas. File:Jimzu 1942.jpg|Jimzu 1942 1:20,000 File:Kharruba 1942.jpg|Jimzu 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

Jizmu was occupied by the Yiftach Brigade, of the newly formed Israeli army, on July 10, 1948, in the first phase of Operation Dani. ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Jimzu.jpg" caption="[[Yiftach Brigade]] after the capture of Jimuz during [[Operation Dani"] ::

According to Benny Morris:"The intention, from the first, was to depopulate [Jimzu and surrounding villages]. On 10 July, Yiftah Brigade HQ informed Dani HQ: Our forces are clearing the 'Innaba-Jimzu-Daniyal area and are torching everything that can be burned.'" The following day (11 July) Yiftach informed Dani Headquarters, that its forces had conquered Jimzu and Daniyal and were "busy clearing the villages and blowing up the houses ['oskot betihur hakfarim u'fitzutz habatim]" All of Jimzu's inhabitants left as a result of the assault by Israeli forces. Its 434 homes were demolished on September 13, 1948.

The settlement of Gimzo was established on village land in 1950. Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi described the remains of Jimzu in 1992: "All that remains of the houses are stones, strewn over the site, and some crumbled walls. The site is overgrown with shrubs and thorny plants. Other kind of vegetation also grow on village land, including Christ's-thorn trees, foxtail, cactuses, and some abandoned olive trees."

References

Bibliography

  • p.834

References

  1. Palmer, 1881, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp00conduoft#page/230/mode/1up 230]
  2. Morris, 2004, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PR19 xix], village #230. Also gives cause of depopulation.
  3. Department of Statistics, 1945, p. [http://cs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/yabber/census/VSpages/VS1945_p29.jpg 29]
  4. 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-067.jpg 67]
  5. Khalidi, 1992, p. 387
  6. [http://domino.un.org/maps/m0103_1b.gif Map of UN Partition Plan] {{webarchive. link. (2009-01-24)
  7. "Gimzo ... Glass". The Illustrated Bible Dictionary.
  8. Ben-Zion Rosenfeld. (2009). "Torah Centers and Rabbinic Activity in Palestine 70-400 C.e: History and Geographic Distribution". BRILL.
  9. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 152. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 386
  10. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol. 3, [https://archive.org/details/biblicalresearch03robiuoft p. 56]. Also cited in Khalidi, 1992, p. 386.
  11. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol. 3, 2nd appendix, p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/121/mode/1up 121]
  12. Guérin, 1868, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/descriptiongog01gu#page/335/mode/1up 335]-336
  13. Socin, 1879, p. [https://archive.org/stream/zeitschriftdesde01deut#page/153/mode/1up 153] Also noted it to be in the Ramle district
  14. Hartmann, 1883, p. [https://archive.org/stream/bub_gb_BZobAQAAIAAJ#page/n948/mode/1up 140], also noted 83 houses
  15. Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp02conduoft#page/297/mode/1up 297], Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 386
  16. Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Ramleh, p. [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n24/mode/1up 22]
  17. Mills, 1932, p. [https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas 20].
  18. Khalidi, 1992, p. 386
  19. In the [[Village Statistics, 1945
  20. 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-165.jpg 165]
  21. "Jizmu:District of al-Ramla". Palestine Remembered.
  22. Morris, 2004, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA435 435]
  23. Yiftah HQ\Intelligence to Dani HQ, etc., 11 July 1948, IDFA 922\75\1237. Quoted in Morris, 2004, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA435 435]

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arab-villages-depopulated-during-the-1948-arab–israeli-warphilistinesdistrict-of-ramla