Amka

Template:Short description Template:For Template:Pp-extended Template:Infobox Israel village Amka (Template:Langx), also Amqa (Template:Langx), is a moshav in the Matte Asher Regional Council of Israel's Northern District, near Acre. The moshav, located in the vicinity of Amqa, a Palestinian village depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, was founded by Yemenite Jews in 1949. In Template:Israel populations, its population was Template:Israel populations.Template:Israel populations

EtymologyEdit

Edward Henry Palmer thought that the name Amka derived from the Arabic word for “deep”,<ref>Palmer, 1881, p. 40</ref> but according to Ringgren, it preserves the name of Beth Ha-Emek, a city mentioned in Template:Bibleverse as part of the allotment of the Tribe of Asher.<ref name=ringgrenp204>Ringgren, 2000, p. 204.</ref>

HistoryEdit

Ancient periodEdit

Amka is identified with Kefar Amiqo (Template:Langx), a place mentioned in the Mishnah and Tosefta.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Walid Khalidi writes that during the Roman period, the village located at the site was called Kefar Amqa.<ref name=Khalidi4/>

Middle AgesEdit

During the Crusader period, Amka was referred to as Amca.<ref name=Khalidi4/> In 1179, Joscelin III acquired the land of the village,<ref>Strehlke, 1869, pp. 10-11, No. 11; cited in Röhricht, 1893, RHH, p. 154, No. 579, cited in Frankel, 1988, pp. 257, 263</ref> and in 1220 Jocelyn III's daughter Beatrix de Courtenay and her husband Otto von Botenlauben, Count of Henneberg, sold their land, including ‘’Amca’’, to the Teutonic Knights.<ref>Strehlke, 1869, pp. 43- 44, No. 53; cited in Röhricht, 1893, RHH, p. 248, No. 934 (16); cited in Frankel, 1988, p. 263</ref>

In 1283, Amka was mentioned as part of the domain of the Crusaders during the hudna between the Crusaders based in Acre and the Mamluk sultan al-Mansur (Qalawun).<ref>Barag, 1979, p. 204</ref>

Ottoman EmpireEdit

Incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517, Amqa appeared in the 1596 tax registers as being in the nahiya (subdistrict) of Akka under the liwa' (district) of Safad, with a population of 215.<ref name="Hutteroth"/> All the inhabitants were Muslim.<ref>39 households, according to Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 192</ref> The villagers paid taxes on a number of crops, such as wheat, barley, olives, cotton and fruit, and on other types of produce, such as goats and beehives.<ref name="Hutteroth">Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 192. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 4</ref><ref>Note that Rhode, 1979, p. 6 Template:Webarchive writes that the register that Hütteroth and Abdulfattah studied was not from 1595/6, but from 1548/9</ref>

In the early 18th century, the village was under control of Shaykh Najm. He had an agreement to sell the cotton from this and other villages under his control exclusively to the Dutch trader Paul Maashook. In return, Maashook would pay the miri (tax slated for funding the annual Hajj caravan), which was normally payable by the village shaykhs (chiefs).<ref>Cohen, 1973, p.12. Cited in Petersen, 2001, p. 93</ref> The Syrian Sufi teacher and traveler Mustafa al-Bakri al-Siddiqi (1688–1748/9), who traveled through the region in the first half of the 18th century, said that he prayed in the village after visiting the citadel of Atlit.<ref name=Khalidi4>Khalidi, 1992, p.4</ref> In 1776 the village was used as a base by Ahmad Pasha al-Jazzar to suppress a revolt led by Ali al-Zahir, one of the sons of Sheikh Zahir al-Umar, who ruled the Galilee between 1730 and 1775.<ref>Petersen, 2001, p. 93. Cohen, 1973, p. 94.</ref>

File:חפירות ארכיאולוגיות עמקה 2015 (2.jpg

Excavations in Amka

A map by Pierre Jacotin from Napoleon's invasion of 1799 showed the place, misnamed as El Mead,<ref>Karmon, 1960, p. 162 Template:Webarchive.</ref> In the late 19th century, the village was described as being built of stone, situated on a slight rise in a valley, surrounded by olive and fig trees, and arable land. There were an estimated 300 Druze living there.<ref name="SWPI">Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 145</ref> Later, the residents were described as Muslims who maintained a village mosque. In 1887, the Ottoman authorities built a school in ´Amqa.<ref name=Khalidi4/>

A population list from about 1887 showed that Amka had about 740 inhabitants, all Muslim.<ref>Schumacher, 1888, p. 172</ref>

British MandateEdit

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}}Template:Main other In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Amqa had a population of 724 inhabitants, of whom 722 were Muslims and two Christians.<ref name="Census1922">Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Acre, p. 36</ref> The population increased in the 1931 census to 895, all Muslims, living in a total of 212 houses.<ref name="Census1931">Mills, 1932, p. 99</ref>

In 1945, the population of Amqa was 1,240 Muslims,<ref name=DoS1945p4>Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 4</ref> with over Template:Convert of land according to an official land and population survey.<ref name="p. 40"/> Of this, 1,648 dunams were plantations and irrigable land; 3,348 used for cereals,<ref>Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 80 Template:Webarchive</ref> while 36 dunams were built-up (urban) land.<ref name=Hadawi130>Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 130 Template:Webarchive</ref>

IsraelEdit

People from neighboring villages began to seek refuge in 'Amqa in May 1948. The village was attacked on 10-11 July by the Sheva' (Seventh) Brigade and the First Battalion of the Carmeli Brigade.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It was captured on 16 July 1948 during Operation Dekel and largely destroyed, with the exception of the school and mosque. Most of the inhabitants left with the exception of the Druze residents who still live nearby. Some inhabitants remained in Israel as present absentees.<ref>Template:Cite journal; Template:Cite journal</ref> On 1 March 1949 a UN observer reported a large group of villagers from 'Amqa seeking refuge in Salim. Another group arrived on 26 March.<ref>Morris, 1993, pp. 146-147</ref> In February 1950, the village was declared a closed area.<ref name="JiryisBook">Template:Cite book</ref> The Arab population remained under Martial Law until 1966.

In 1949, a group of Yemenite Jewish immigrants settled in Amka.Template:Citation needed <ref name=cr>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Khalidi, 1992, p. 5</ref> The elementary school for boys founded in 1887 and the village mosque remained untouched although other structures were razed in the late 1950s.<ref name=Khalidi4/><ref>Ellenblum, 2003, p. 177</ref><ref>Torstrick Rebecca L. (2000) The Limits of Coexistence: Identity Politics in Israel University of Michigan Press, Template:ISBN p 180</ref> According to Petersen, the mosque and school were used as warehouses.<ref name=Khalidi4/><ref name="Petersen, 2001, p. 93">Petersen, 2001, p. 93</ref>

Archaeological sitesEdit

Three khirbas (archaeological ruins) lay within Amka's vicinity and contain the foundations of buildings, well-chiseled building stones, presses, and a cistern. During archaeological searches of the area remnants of a Byzantine church were discovered but due to the destruction of the village no foundations could be established.<ref>Ellenblum, 2003, p. 178</ref><ref>The War for Palestine (second Edition 2007) Rogan and Shlaim Cambridge University Press Template:ISBN p 66</ref><ref>Khoury, Elias (2007) Gate of the Sun: Bab Al-Shams Translated by Humphrey Davies Macmillan, Template:ISBN p 308</ref> The Amka mosque was inspected by Petersen in 1991. The date of the mosque construction is not known, but it bears a general similarity to the nearby mosque of al-Ghabisiyya, and is probably of a similar age, i.e. early 19th century.<ref name="Petersen, 2001, p. 93" />