View source for 'Ajjur

{{pp-extended|small=yes}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name                 = 'Ajjur
| native_name          = عجّور
| native_name_lang     = ar
| other_name           = 'Ajur
| settlement_type      = 
<!-- images, nickname, motto -->
| image_skyline        = House in Ajjur.jpg
| image_caption        = House in 'Ajjur
| image_size           = 250
| etymology            = Furrows on the sand made by the wind<ref>Palmer, 1881, [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp00conduoft#page/265/mode/1up p.265]</ref>
<!-- maps and coordinates -->
| pushpin_map          = Mandatory Palestine
| pushpin_mapsize      = 200
| coordinates          = {{coord|31|41|22|N|34|55|22|E|type:city_region:PS|display=inline,title}}
| grid_name            = [[Palestine grid|Palestine&nbsp;grid]]
| grid_position        = 142/121
<!-- location -->
| subdivision_type     = [[Geopolitical entity]]
| subdivision_name     = [[Mandatory Palestine]]
| subdivision_type1    = [[Districts of Mandatory Palestine|Subdistrict]]
| subdivision_name1    = [[Hebron Subdistrict, Mandatory Palestine|Hebron]]
<!-- established -->
| established_title1   = Date of depopulation
| established_date1    = 23–24 July 1948<ref>Morris, 2004, p.  [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PR19 xix] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402072738/https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PR19 |date=2019-04-02 }}, village #294. Also gives the cause of depopulation.</ref> primary,
23 October 1948<ref name="Khalidi2"/> secondary
| established_title2   = Repopulated dates
<!-- area -->
| unit_pref            = dunam
| area_total_km2       = 58.074
| area_total_dunam     = 58074
<!-- population -->
| population_as_of     = 1945
| population_total     = 3730
| population_footnotes = <ref name=1945p23>Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. [http://users.cecs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/yabber/census/VSpages/VS1945_p23.jpg  23] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220531153045/http://users.cecs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/yabber/census/VSpages/VS1945_p23.jpg |date=2022-05-31 }}</ref><ref name=Hadawi50>Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April 1945''. Quoted in  Hadawi, 1970,  p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20I/Hebron/Page-050.jpg 50] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180623032853/http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20I/Hebron/Page-050.jpg |date=2018-06-23 }}Accessed 2011-10-27. 2009-07-20.</ref>
<!-- blank fields (section 1) -->
| blank_name_sec1      = Cause(s) of depopulation
| blank_info_sec1      = Military assault by [[Yishuv]] forces
| blank3_name_sec1     = Current Localities
| blank3_info_sec1     = [[Agur, Israel|Agur]],<ref name="Khalidi2"/> [[Tzafririm]],<ref name="Khalidi2"/>  [[Givat Yeshayahu]],<ref name="Khalidi2"/>   [[Srigim|Li-On]],<ref name="Khalidi2"/>  [[Tirosh]]<ref name="Khalidi2"/> [[Britannia Park]]<ref>[http://mondoweiss.net/2018/03/prince-william-count/ Dear Prince William, if you have to go, make it count] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230521092750/https://mondoweiss.net/2018/03/prince-william-count/ |date=2023-05-21 }}, Robert Cohen, March 10, 2018, [[Mondoweiss]]</ref>
| official_name        = 
| pushpin_map_caption  = Location within [[Mandatory Palestine]]
| image_map            = {{Historical map series|default=2|date1=1870s|date2=1940s|date3=modern|date4=1940s with modern overlay|width=225}}
| map_caption          = A series of historical maps of the area around 'Ajjur (click the buttons)
}}
'''{{'}}Ajjur''' ({{langx|ar|عجّور}}) was a [[Palestinian people|Palestinian]] [[Arab]] village of over 3,700 inhabitants in 1945, located  {{convert|24|km|mi}} northwest of [[Hebron]]. It became depopulated in 1948 after several military assaults by Israeli military forces. [[Agur, Israel|Agur]], [[Tzafririm]], [[Givat Yeshayahu]], [[Srigim|Li-On]], and [[Tirosh]] were built on the village lands.

== History ==
Near 'Ajjur, at ''Khirbet Jannaba'', was a probable site of the [[Battle of Ajnadayn]], waged in the 7th-century [[Common Era|CE]] between the [[Rashidun Caliphate]] and the [[Byzantine Empire]], and which resulted in a decisive Rashidun victory, incorporating most of [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]] into the domains of [[Islam]]. The village of 'Ajjur itself was built during early [[Fatimid]] rule in the region in the early twelfth century CE. A [[mosque]] was built during this period and continued to serve 'Ajjur's community until its demise.<ref name="Khalidi1">Khalidi, 1992, p. 206</ref> The village 'Ajjur is believed to be named after "a sort of cucumber."<ref>p. 145 in: {{cite journal |last=Zadok |first=Ran |title=A Preliminary Analysis of Ancient Survivals in Modern Palestinian Toponymy |journal=Mediterranean Language Review |volume=9|pages=93–171 |jstor=10.13173/medilangrevi.9.1997.0093 |date=1995–1997 }}</ref>
  
===Ottoman era===
Arab chronicler [[Mujir al-Din al-'Ulaymi|Mujir ad-Din]] reported that he passed through 'Ajjur on his way from [[Gaza City|Gaza]] to [[Jerusalem]] in the early sixteenth century, when the village was a part of the [[Ottoman Empire]].<ref>al-'Ulaymi, 1876,  p. [https://archive.org/stream/histoiredejrus00ulayuoft#page/230/mode/2up 230]. Cited in Petersen, 2001, p. [https://www.academia.edu/21619490/Gazetteer_3._A-C 91] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190324182652/https://www.academia.edu/21619490/Gazetteer_3._A-C |date=2019-03-24 }}</ref> By 1596, 'Ajjur was a part of the ''[[nahiya]]'' ("subdistrict") of Gaza, part of [[Sanjak Gaza]], with 35 [[Muslim]] households; an estimated 193 persons. It paid a fine tax rate of 33,3 % on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, fruit, vineyards, beehives, and goats; a total of 5,500 [[akçe]]<ref>Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 148. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 206</ref>

In 1838 [[Edward Robinson (scholar)|Edward Robinson]] noted the village as being "small", located in the Gaza district. The villagers were Muslim.<ref>Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 2, p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearc00smitgoog#page/n373/mode/1up 351]</ref><ref name=Robinsonp119>Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p.  [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/119/mode/1up 119]</ref>

In 1863 [[Victor Guérin]] estimated the population to be around 800. Guérin further noted that several houses, including that of the local [[Sheikh]], were built partly with ancient stones.<ref>Guérin, 1869, p. [https://archive.org/stream/descriptiongogr03gugoog#page/n116/mode/1up 103]</ref> [[Albert Socin|Socin]] found from an official Ottoman village list from about 1870  that  'Ajjur had 86  houses and a population of 254, though the population count included men, only.<ref>Socin, 1879, p. [https://archive.org/stream/zeitschriftdesde01deut#page/142/mode/1up 142]</ref> [[Martin Hartmann|Hartmann]]  found that 'Ajjur  had 120  houses.<ref>Hartmann, 1883, p. [https://archive.org/stream/bub_gb_BZobAQAAIAAJ#page/n951/mode/1up  143]</ref>

In the middle of the 19th century, the nearby ruins around the village, including Khirbet Drusye ([[Horvat Midras]]) were absorbed into the territory of ʿAjjūr. Its inhabitants cultivated the surrounding fields, used the underground cavities as animal shelters, and drew water from the Byār Drusye wells in Wādī Drusye. This reflects the mid-19th-century process of rural expansion following the Ottoman Land Code of 1858 and the cadastral surveys of the 1860s, which incorporated formerly state-owned ruins into the cultivated domains of established villages.<ref>[[Orit Peleg-Barkat]], [[Roy Marom]], [[Gregg E. Gardner]], Michael Chernin, and Saleh Kharanbeh, "[https://www.academia.edu/144340995/Rural_adaptation_and_settlement_change_in_the_late_Islamic_Jabal_al_Khal%C4%B1l_Judean_Foothills_ Rural adaptation and settlement change in the late Islamic Jabal al-Khalīl (Judean Foothills)]," ''[[Journal of Historical Geography]]'' 90 (2025): 87–98.</ref>


In 1882, the [[Palestine Exploration Fund|PEF]]'s  ''[[PEF Survey of Palestine|Survey of Western Palestine]]'' (SWP) described  'Ajjur as a small village containing olive trees,<ref name=SWP414>Conder and Kitchener, 1882, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp02conduoft#page/414/mode/1up 414]. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 207</ref> with most of its houses clustered together, but some dispersed to the west and south.  A private school named Abu Hasan was established in this period.<ref name="Khalidi2">Khalidi, 1992, p. 207</ref>

In 1896 the population of  'Ajjur was estimated to be about 1,767 persons.<ref>Schick, 1896, p.  [https://archive.org/stream/zeitschriftdesde19deut#page/n230/mode/1up  123]</ref>

===British Mandate era===
In the [[1922 census of Palestine]] conducted by the [[Mandatory Palestine|British Mandate authorities]], 'Ajjur had a population of 2,073 inhabitants, all Muslim,<ref name=Barron10>Barron, 1923,  Table V, Sub-district of Hebron, p.  [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n12/mode/1up   10]</ref> increasing in the [[1931 census of Palestine|1931 census]] to 2,917; 4 Christians and the rest Muslims, in a total of 566 residential houses.<ref name="Census1931">Mills, 1932,  p. [https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas  27]</ref>

During this period, 'Ajjur became economically active in its vicinity. It held a Friday market or ''[[souk]]'' that attracted consumers and merchants from nearby towns and villages. A second school was founded in the village in 1934, which served students from nearby villages as well as from 'Ajjur. Like other [[Arab]] villages in Palestine at the time, 'Ajjur depended on agriculture, which was the basis of its economy. The main crops were olives and wheat. The second most important economic activity was animal husbandry, in particular, goat herding. Animal ownership was a symbol of social status and pride in the village, and residents gave affectionate names to certain types of animals. Animal herding caused seasonal movement by herders to distant dwellings from the village site, but still in its vicinity such as Khirbet al-Sura and Khirbet al-'Ammuriyya. Shoemaking, carpentry, and tanning were other common occupations in 'Ajjur.<ref name="Khalidi2"/>

In the [[Village Statistics, 1945|1945 statistics]], 'Ajjur had a  population of 3,730; 10 Christians and 3,720 Muslims,<ref name=1945p23/> with a total of 58,074 dunams of land.<ref name=Hadawi50/>  Of this, 2,428 dunums were irrigated or used for plantations,  25,227 dunams were used for  [[cereal]]s,<ref>Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p.  [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20II/Hebron/Page-093.jpg 93] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120907073152/http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20II/Hebron/Page-093.jpg |date=2012-09-07 }}</ref> while 171 dunams were built-up (urban) areas.<ref>Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p.  [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20III/Hebron/Page-143.jpg  143] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130131005326/http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20III/Hebron/Page-143.jpg |date=2013-01-31 }}</ref>

[[File:Ajjur 1945.jpg|thumb|Ajjur 1945 1:250,000]]

===1948 War and aftermath ===
On 23 October 1948, the Fourth Battalion of [[Israel]]‘s [[Giv'ati Brigade]] occupied ‘Ajjur in the northern front of [[Operation Yoav]], unifying Israeli military operations in the southern and western fronts. Most of ‘Ajjur’s inhabitants had fled before this assault—their flight was triggered by an earlier attack, on 23 July-24.<ref name="Khalidi2"/>

In 1992, the Palestinian historian [[Walid Khalidi]] described the village: “Only three houses remain; two are deserted and one has been turned into a warehouse. One of the deserted houses is a two-story stone structure with a large, triple-arched front porch.”<ref name="Khalidi2"/> Petersen, who inspected the place in 1994, noted “a large two-story building with a vaulted [[Arcade (architecture)|arcade]] on the northern side. The upper part of the building is today used as a house while the lower part appears to be abandoned (although it remains locked). The arcade consists of three cross-vaulted bays resting on two free-standing piers and two engaged piers at either end. On the outer (north) face of each of the two central piers there is a stone carved with two rosettes which appears to be part of a classical entablature. The outer arches are emphasized by a flat hood molding. Each bay is covered with a cross-vault which reaches a height of approximately 4m. [..] The upper floor is reached by an external staircase on the east side leading to a walled terrace above the arcade. [..] The identity or function of this building is not known although its design and orientation indicate that it may be a [[mosque]].”<ref>Petersen, 2001, pp. [https://www.academia.edu/21619490/Gazetteer_3._A-C 91] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190324182652/https://www.academia.edu/21619490/Gazetteer_3._A-C |date=2019-03-24 }}−92</ref> In 2000, [[Meron Benvenisti]] observed that: “Three large, beautiful structures, which were located outside the village amid orchards of fruit trees, have been renovated, and Jewish families live in them. In one, chamber music concerts are held.”<ref>Benvenisti, 2000, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=7itq6zYtSJwC&pg=PA319 319]</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of towns and villages depopulated during the 1947–1949 Palestine war]]

== References ==
{{reflist|25em}}

== Bibliography ==
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite book| editor = Barron, J.B.| title = Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922| url = https://archive.org/details/PalestineCensus1922| publisher = Government of Palestine| year = 1923}}
*{{cite book|title=Sacred Landscape: The Buried History of the Holy Land Since 1948|url=https://archive.org/details/sacredlandscapeb00benvrich|url-access=registration|first1=M.|last1=Benvenisti|author-link=Meron Benvenisti|others=Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta (translator)|publisher=[[University of California Press]]|year=2000|isbn=978-0-520-21154-4}}
*{{cite book|last1=Conder|first1=C.R.|author-link1=Claude Reignier Conder|last2=Kitchener|first2=H.H.|author-link2=Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener|year=1882|url=https://archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp02conduoft|title=The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology|location=London|publisher=[[Palestine Exploration Fund|Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund]]|volume=2}} 
*{{cite book|title=Village Statistics, April, 1945|url=http://web.nli.org.il/sites/nli/Hebrew/library/Pages/BookReader.aspx?pid=856390|author=Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics|year=1945|archive-date=2019-04-02|access-date=2017-04-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402072744/http://web.nli.org.il/sites/nli/hebrew/library/pages/bookreader.aspx?pid=856390|url-status=live}} 
*{{cite book|last=Guérin|first=V.|author-link=Victor Guérin|title=Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine|url=https://archive.org/details/descriptiongog02gu|volume=1: Judee, pt. 2|year=1869|publisher=L'Imprimerie Nationale|location=Paris|language=fr}}   
*{{cite book|title=Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area Ownership in Palestine|url=http://www.palestineremembered.com/Articles/General-2/Story3150.html|first=S.|last=Hadawi|author-link=Sami Hadawi|year=1970|publisher=Palestine Liberation Organization Research Centre|archive-date=2018-12-08|access-date=2008-12-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181208215837/http://www.palestineremembered.com/Articles/General-2/Story3150.html|url-status=live}}
*{{cite journal | last = Hartmann | first = M. | author-link = Martin Hartmann | title = Die Ortschaftenliste des Liwa Jerusalem in dem turgescent Staatskalender dur Syrien auf das Jahr 1288 der Flucht (1871) | journal = [[Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins]] | volume = 6 | pages = 102–149 | url = https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_BZobAQAAIAAJ | year = 1883 }}
*{{cite book |last1=Hütteroth |first1=W.-D. |author-link1=Wolf-Dieter Hütteroth |first2=K. |last2=Abdulfattah |author-link2=Kamal Abdulfattah |title=Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wqULAAAAIAAJ |year=1977 |publisher=Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft |isbn=3-920405-41-2 |archive-date=2024-10-08 |access-date=2017-08-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241008051623/https://books.google.com/books?id=wqULAAAAIAAJ |url-status=live }}
*{{cite book|title=All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_By7AAAAIAAJ|first=W.|last=Khalidi|author-link=Walid Khalidi|year=1992|location=[[Washington D.C.]]|publisher=[[Institute for Palestine Studies]]|isbn=0-88728-224-5|archive-date=2024-10-08|access-date=2017-04-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241008100754/https://books.google.com/books?id=_By7AAAAIAAJ|url-status=live}}
*{{cite book | editor = Mills, E. | title = Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas | url = https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas | publisher = Government of Palestine | location = Jerusalem | year = 1932 }}  
*{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C |first=B. |last=Morris |author-link=Benny Morris |year=2004 |title=The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited |isbn=978-0-521-00967-6 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |archive-date=2024-10-14 |access-date=2016-07-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241014211455/https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C |url-status=live }}
*{{cite book|author-link=Mujir al-Din|url=https://archive.org/details/histoiredejrus00ulayuoft|title=Histoire de Jérusalem et d'Hébron depuis Abraham jusqu'à la fin du XVe siècle de J.-C. : fragments de la Chronique de Moudjir-ed-dyn|year=1876|author=Moudjir ed-dyn al-'Ulaymi|editor=Sauvaire}}
*{{cite book|last=Palmer|first=E.H.|author-link=Edward Henry Palmer|year=1881|url=https://archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp00conduoft|title=The Survey of Western Palestine: Arabic and English Name Lists Collected During the Survey by Lieutenants Conder and Kitchener, R. E. Transliterated and Explained by E.H. Palmer|publisher=[[Palestine Exploration Fund|Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund]]}}  
*{{cite book|last=Petersen|first=Andrew|title=A Gazetteer of Buildings in Muslim Palestine (British Academy Monographs in Archaeology)|url=https://www.academia.edu/21619490|volume=1|year=2001|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=978-0-19-727011-0|archive-date=2021-05-29|access-date=2018-12-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210529123801/https://www.academia.edu/21619490/Gazetteer_3_A_C|url-status=live}}  
*{{cite book|last1=Robinson|first1=E.|author-link1=Edward Robinson (scholar)|last2=Smith|first2=E.|author-link2=Eli Smith|year=1841|url=https://archive.org/details/biblicalresearc00smitgoog|title=Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838|location=Boston|publisher=[[Crocker & Brewster]]|volume=2}}  
*{{cite journal | last = Schick | first = C. | author-link = Conrad Schick | title = Zur Einwohnerzahl des Bezirks Jerusalem | journal = Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins | volume = 19 | pages = 120–127 | url = https://archive.org/details/zeitschriftdesde19deut | year = 1896 }} 
*{{cite journal | last = Socin | first = A. | author-link = Albert Socin | title = Alphabetisches Verzeichniss von Ortschaften des Paschalik Jerusalem | journal = Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins | volume = 2 | pages = 135–163 | url = https://archive.org/details/zeitschriftdesde01deut | year = 1879 }}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.palestineremembered.com/Hebron/Ajjur/index.html Welcome to Ajjur]
* [http://www.zochrot.org/en/village/49394 'Ajjur], from [[Zochrot]]
*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 16: [https://web.archive.org/web/20190402072741/http://www.iaa-archives.org.il/zoom/zoom.aspx?folder_id=93&type_id=6&id=8378 IAA], [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Survey_of_Western_Palestine_1880.16.jpg  Wikimedia commons]
* [http://www.alnakba.org/villages/hebron/ajjur.htm 'Ajjur], at Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120829060950/http://www.zochrot.org/en/node/49394 All About... Ajjur], from [[Zochrot]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140629121436/http://www.zochrot.org/en/content/ajjur-tour-report  'Ajjur tour - Report],   [[Zochrot]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140108012132/http://zochrot.org/en/content/remembering-ajjur Remembering A'jjur], A'jjur Booklet, 10/2008
{{Palestinian Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Palestine War}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ajjur, '}}
[[Category:Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War]]
[[Category:District of Hebron]]