Name meaning The little tower Subdistrict Haifa Current localities Binyamina Current locality Binyamina-Giv'at Ada | Also spelled Burj Binyamina Palestine grid 144/212 Local time Monday 7:31 AM | |
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Weather 15°C, Wind SW at 16 km/h, 85% Humidity | ||
Khirbat Al-Burj was a formerly a Palestinian village, depopulated in 1948. Presently, Khirbat Al-Burj or Burj Binyamina is a structure in the Sharon Plain 1 km south of Binyamina is named. The structure is recognized to be from the Ottoman period.
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Modern History
In 1882, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described it: "Walls and foundations without any indication of date." On October 26, 1898, German Kaiser Wilhelm II stayed at the Burj khan (caravanserei) building during his visit to the Holy Land. Turkish owner, Sidki Pasha, brother of Jamal Pasha, sold 4,000 dunams of the Burj farmland to I.C.A. in 1903. The serious drawback was that most of the land was an uncultivable swamp. Rothschild turned the land over to Binyamina's holdings. Initially a group of farmers from Zichron Ya'akov stayed at the khan, due to distance to their settlement during the week. The group was called Burja’im. Subsequently, Binyamina was founded. A letter from early 1920s describes establishment of Binyamina: "The 'Zichronim' [ people of Zichron Ya'akov ] owners of Burj farm decided to establish a Moshavah in this farm, in order to settle their sons there… "
Burj became Binyamina in 1922. In the 1931 census Khirbat Al-Burj was listed under Binyamina. The ownership of the village land was determined in 1934 according to the Land Settlement Ordinances. By the time of the 1945 village survey, there were 5,291 dunums, 15 of which were owned by Arabs, 4,933 owned by Jews, and 343 were public. In the 1945 Index Gazetteer, Khirbat Al-Burj was listed as a "village unit" but "no population". According to Khalidi, Khirbat Al-Burj was a Palestinian village which was depopulated by Israelis in 1948. The redsand (hamra) soils from Binyamina to Gedera, west of the coastal plain, were not cultivated till 20th century. Khalidi also says the "village" was "known for its citrus crops" and situated on "rolling terrain". The original economy of Binyamina was citrus-based. According to Frantzman, the 1:20,000 map shows "a large structure, akin to a khan with no indication that it was populated".
Archeological excavations
During June 2009, archeological excavations in the courtyard of the building Burj from the Ottoman period exposed a small building that dated to the Byzantine period (5th–7th centuries CE). The surviving parts of the structure include a fortified structure with gun ports (the southwestern end of the center wing) and a sequence of vaults (the northern wing).