al-Dirdara
Population :
1931 : na.
1944/45 : 100 (includes Mazari al-i)araja)
Al-Dirdara Before 1948
The village, located
in the middle of a flat plain, faced a mountain range in the east and overlooked the al—Hula Plain to the north and south. Although most of its
houses were made of mud, a few were built of stone. The villagers cultivated
the fertile land around the village, especially the area to the south and
southwest. Grain, vegetables, citrus, almonds, and figs were the most important
agricultural products In 1944/45 a total of 1,623 dunurns was allocated to
cereals and 795 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards.
Occupation and Depopulation
It
is not clear when al-Dirdara was occupied. It may have fallen (luring Operation
Yiftach (see Abil a!-Qamh, Safad District) in late April or May 1948. At any
rate, it was in Israeli hands by early July 1948, at the end of the first truce
of the war. The Histonj qf the War of
Independence states that it served as
one of the launching points for Operation Berosh, an attack against a Syrian
bridgehead on the Syrian border that the Israeli forces mounted (luring the Ten
I)ays between the two truces of the war (8—18 July). Syrian forces tried to
capture the village shortly after this operation but were forced to withdraw
after encountering a miiiefield and losing at least fifty men, according to the
same Haganah account. In the armistice agreement signed between Israel and
Syria in July 1949, the village and the area around it were to be demilitarized.
By that time, the Israeli settlement of Eyal had already been established on
the lands of al-Dirdara.
Israeli Settlements on
Village Lands
The settlement of Eyal , established in 1947 on village land, was destroyed during the 1948 war. After the people of al-Dirdara had been expelled, the Israelis rebuilt the settlement and named it ha-Goverim. They changed its name once more, to Ashmura, in 1953. It is no longer inhabited.
The Village Today
The site is a mound of stones and earth, overgrown with trees. There is
a canal at the northern edge through which water flows in a north-south direction.
The area around the site is cultivated.
Source(s):
al-Khalidi.
All That Remains