Subdistrict Baysan Population 520 (1945) | Palestine grid 200/214 Area 10,641 dunams | |
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Arabic عرب البواطي/خربة الحكمة Name meaning Kh. el Hakeimîyeh, the ruin of el Hakeimîyeh | ||
Arab al-Bawati (Arabic: عرب البواطي/خربة الحكمة), was a Palestinian Arab village in the District of Baysan. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
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It was located 4 kilometres north east of Baysan in the Baysan valley.
History
In 1882, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine described Kh. el Hakeimiyeh as having "ruined walls and a few modern deserted houses - a small deserted village."
British Mandate era
In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the Mandatory Palestine authorities, Bawati had a population of 348 Muslims, increasing in the 1931 census to 461, (under the name of 'Arab Hakamiya) still all Muslims, in 86 houses.
In 1945 it had a population of 520 Muslims with a total of 10,641 dunums of land. That year Arabs used 2,225 dunams of village lands for plantations and irrigated land, 3,335 for cereals, while 52 dunams were classed as uncultivable.
1948, aftermath
The village was destroyed on May 16, 1948. According to a Palestinian historian, Walid Khalidi, "All of the village houses have been demolished. The remains of basalt stone walls and the square and circular foundations of buildings can be seen among the weeds." Today the ruins of walls, pillars, the foundations of buildings, and Roman milestones are visible in the area.