Arab al-Fuqara

Arab al-Fuqara (Arabic: عرب الفقراء) was a Palestinian Arab village in the Haifa Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on April 10, 1948.^[2] At that time, the land records of the village consisted of a total area of 2,714 dunams, of which 2,513 were owned by Jews, 15 owned by Arabs, and the remaining 186 dunams being public lands.

Arab al-Fuqara عرب الفقراء/الشيخ حلو
Etymology: Sheikh Helu, p.n[1]
1870s map 1940s map modern map 1940s with modern overlay map A series of historical maps of the area around Arab al-Fuqara (click the buttons)
Arab al-Fuqara Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 32°27′08″N 34°54′21″E
Palestine grid	140/206
Geopolitical entity	Mandatory Palestine
Subdistrict	Haifa
Date of depopulation	April 10, 1948[2]
Area [3]
• Total	15 dunams (1.5 ha or 4 acres)
Population  (1945)
• Total	310[4][5]
Cause(s) of depopulation	Expulsion by Yishuv forces
Current Localities	Hadera[6]

Location

The village was located 42 km southwest of Haifa, south of Wadi al-Mafjar and northwest of Hadera, in a flat, sandy area.^[6]

History

"El Fuqara" land noted in 1932 in the Survey of Palestine, N-W of Hadera

In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described a local Mukam Sheikh Helu here, and noted a few adobe houses near, which were not noticed in the official [Government] lists.^[7]

British Mandate era

The Arab villagers were descendants of a section of the al-Balawina Bedouin tribe, whose primary territory was near Beersheba.^[6] The area was generally swampy and malarial, and this limited population growth until the mid-1920s.

The gradual and legal expansion of the Jewish town Hadera reduced the free public land available to the Arab villagers, until only a thin strip of land between Hadera and Wadi al-Mafjar was retained (15 dunams),^[6] where the land was considered non-cultivable.^[8]

The village population in the 1945 statistics was 310, all Muslims.^[4][5]

1948 and aftermath

On 6 April 1948, the Haganah implemented a new policy for the coastal plains, namely of clearing the whole area of its Arab inhabitants.^[9] On 10 April, the villagers of Arab al-Fuqara, together with the villagers of Arab al-Nufay'at and Arab Zahrat al-Dumayri, were ordered to leave the area.^[10]

Following the 1948 war, the area was incorporated into the State of Israel and the village's land is now part of the northwestern area of Hadera.^[6]