Al-Ghubayya al-Tahta

Al-Ghubayya al-Tahta was a Palestinian Arab village in the Haifa Subdistrict, located 28 km southeast of Haifa. It was depopulated during the 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on April 8, 1948, under the Battle of Mishmar HaEmek.

Al-Ghubayya al-Tahta الغبية التحتا
Village
1870s map 1940s map modern map 1940s with modern overlay map A series of historical maps of the area around Al-Ghubayya al-Tahta (click the buttons)
Al-Ghubayya al-Tahta Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 32°36′27″N 35°8′38″E
Palestine grid	163/223
Geopolitical entity	Mandatory Palestine
Subdistrict	Haifa
Date of depopulation	8–9 April 1948[1]
Population  (1945)
• Total	1,130[2][3]
Cause(s) of depopulation	Military assault by Yishuv forces
Current Localities	Midrakh Oz[4]

The village was partly inhabited by Turkmens.^[5]

History

Al-Ghubayya al-Tahta in historical context

Al-Ghubayya al-Tahta shared an elementary school founded by the Ottomans in 1888 with the villages of al-Ghubayya-al-Fawqa and al-Naghnaghiyya. The school was closed during the British Mandate rule.

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Ghabba al-Tahta had a population of 79 Muslims.^[6] In the 1931 census, the two al-Ghubayya village were counted together, the total population was 200 Muslims, in 38 houses.^[7]

In the 1945 statistics the population was counted with the neighbouring Al-Ghubayya al-Fawqa and al-Naghnaghiyya, and together they had a population of 1,130 Muslims,^[2] with a total of 12,139 dunams of land according to an official land and population survey.^[3] Of this, 209 dunams were for plantations and irrigable land, 10,883 for cereals,^[8] while a total of 1,047 dunams were non-cultivable land.^[9]

In addition to agriculture, residents practiced animal husbandry which formed was an important source of income for the town. In 1943, they owned 140 heads of cattle, 10 goats over a year old, 27 horses, 19 donkeys, 523 fowls, and 116 pigeons.^[10]

1948 and aftermath

On 8 and 9 April 1948, the Haganah raided al-Ghubayya al-Fawqa, al-Ghubayya-al-Tahta and Khirbet Beit Ras, and proceeded to blow them up in the following days.^[11]