Samakh, Tiberias

{{Infobox former Arab villages in Palestine |name=Samakh |image=Valley train semakh station.jpg |imgsize=250 |caption=Samakh Railway Station in 2006 |arname=سمخ |meaning= |altSp= |district=tb |latd=32|latm=42|lats=17.51 |longd=35|longm=35|longs=15.25 |pushpin_map= Mandatory Palestine |population=3,320 |popyear=1945 |area=18,611 |areakm= |date=28 April 1948 |cause=M |cause2= |curlocl=Ma'agan According to PalestineRemembered.com, the town's inhabitants were intimidated into leaving by Haganah forces on March 3, 1948, with the remainder leaving in the wake of an assault by the Golani Brigade against the Syrian army on April 18, 1948. Most of the former residents became internally displaced refugees in the Arab city of Nazareth .

There was battle there in World War I: see The Destruction of the Turkish Armies during the Battle of Megiddo.

Between 1905 and 1948, the town was an important stop on the Jezreel Valley railway and Hejaz railway, being the last effective stop in the British Mandate of Palestine (the station at al-Hama was geographically isolated). Today, the grounds of Samakh are occupied by the Tzemah Industrial Zone, as well as a part of the kibbutz Ma'agan.

Location

The village was situated on flat land in the Jordan Valley, on the southernmost shore of Lake Tiberias, only a short distance east of the point where River Jordan exits from the lake. Samakh was the largest village in the Tiberias district, both in terms of area and population, and was a major transportation link. The village was served by a station on the railroad line that ran on the Jezreel Valley railway, an extension of the Hijaz railway. It lay on a highway that ran along the lake shore and led to the city of Tiberias in the northwest. Sailing routes on Lake Tiberias also linked Samakh with Tiberias's harbour. Most houses were built of adobe, but some were built of the black (basalt) stone that was abundant in the Golan area near Samakh. Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, a Swiss traveler to Palestine who saw the village (which he called "Szammagh"), in 1812, described it as a collection of thirty or forty mud houses that stood alongside more costly houses built of black stone. He said about 100 faddans (1 fadda = 100–250 dunams) were cultivated in the immediate vicinity.

In the late nineteenth century, Samakh was described as a village of 200 inhabitants who cultivated the surrounding plain.

The village and its railway station were the site of a battle between British/Australian and German/Turkish forces in World War I. The battle ended in an Allied victory and opened up the way to Damascus for General Allenby's troops. It was described by Field Marshal Wavell as the most fierce and cruel battle in the Palestinian theater.

In 1923 a local council was created, which still administered Samakh by 1945. The council's expenditure grew steadily, from P£310 in 1929 to P£1,100 in 1944.

By 1944/45 the population of Samakh had increased to 3,320 Muslims, 130 Christians and 10 of other faiths. The majority of the population belonged to the settled Bedouin tribes of the 'Arab al-Suqur and 'Arab al-Bashatiwa. The village had two schools, one for boys and another for girls. Their chief crops were bananas and grain; in 1944/45 a total of 8,523 dunums were planted in cereals.

Today

According to the Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi, the structure remaining of Samakh are the ruins of the railway station and a water reservoir. The members of Degania Alef also built a public park, a gas station, and factories known today as the Tzemah Factories on the village site. The Kinneret College is also located there.

The kibbutzim Masada and Sha'ar HaGolan were established southeast of the village site in 1937, and have since expanded onto lands within Samakh's former jurisdiction. Both Ma'agan and the nearby kibbutz Tel Katzir were built on Samakh's land in 1949. The kibbutzim Deganya Alef and Deganya Bet are also close to Samakh's location, but not on land that belonged to the village.

The Tzemah road junction, between Highway 90, 92 and 98, is located next to the site of Samakh, and has in its vicinity a small water park and a Burger Ranch restaurant.

See also

List of Arab towns and villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War

References

Bibliography

Burckhardt, John Lewis, 1784-1817 (1822): Travels in Syria and the Holy Land

Conder, Claude Reignier and H.H. Kitchener (1881): The Survey of Western Palestine: memoirs of the topography, orography, hydrography, and archaeology. London:Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund. vol 1

Morris, Benny, (second edition 2004 third printing 2006) The Birth Of The Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-00967-7

External links

Welcome to Samakh

Samakh, from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center

Samakh Railway Station

Category:Arab villages depopulated prior to the 1948 Arab–Israeli War Category:District of Tiberias