al-Buwayziyya Before 1948
The village was situated on the western edge of the al-Hula Plain, on the lower, rocky slopes of Mount ‘Amil. It stood on the west side of a highway that ran from the city of Tiberias to the northernmost Palestinian village, al-Mutilla. The village had many springs that provided drinking water. A boys’ elementary school opened its doors in al-Buwayziyya in 1937. The people of al-Buwayziyya, who were predominantly Muslim, earned their livelihood from agriculture and tilled a relatively large amount of land. Although they grew mainly citrus and other fruits, grain and vegetables also were cultivated. In 1944/45 a total of 2,770 dunums was allocated to cereals and 56 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards.
Occupation and Depopulation
Jewish forces captured al-Buwayziyya on 11 May 1948, during the assault on eastern Galilee known as Operation Yiftach (see Abil al-Qamh, Safad District). Israeli historian Benny Morris indicates that al-Buwayziyya’s residents fled when they learned that the neighboring village of al-Khalisa, 5 km to the north, had fallen. That village had been evacuated after the Haganah turned down the villagers’ request for an “agreement.” In the absence of such an accommodation, both villages presumably anticipated a direct attack. The villagers probably were also influenced by the fall of Safad on the same day, an event that undermined morale in the villages of the district.
Israeli Settlement of Village Land
There are no Israeli settlement on villages lands.
The Village Today
On the site where al-Buwayziyya once stood are remains of destroyed houses, a few walls and terraces, and the (intact) concrete roof of one house. The flat portion of the surrounding lands are used by Israelis for agriculture; the more hilly lands serve as pasture.
Source: al-Khalidi, Walid (ed.). All that remains: the Palestinian villages occupied and depopulated by Israel in 1948. Washington DC: 1992.
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