Arabic نمرين Area 12,019 dunams12.0 km² Date of depopulation 17 July 1948 | Name meaning well-watered Palestine grid 190/245 Local time Tuesday 1:16 AM | |
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Cause(s) of depopulation Fear of being caught up in the fighting Weather 8°C, Wind W at 6 km/h, 78% Humidity | ||
Nimrin was a Palestinian Arab town of 320 that was captured and depopulated by Israel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
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History
Nimrin stood on the site of Kfar Nimra when Palestine was ruled by the Roman Empire. Its inhabitants were Jews when Saint Peter and Saint James visited the town in 30 CE.
Ottoman era
Nimrin was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in the sixteenth century CE, and by 1596 the village had a population of 110 under the administration of the nahiya ("subdistrict") of Tiberias, part of Sanjak Safad. It paid taxes on wheat barley, wheat, olives, beehives, and goats.
A map from Napoleon's invasion of 1799 by Pierre Jacotin showed the place, named as Nemen.
In the nineteenth century, Nimrin grew to become a stone-built village of 250 Muslim people. It was described as being built on the slope of a hill, surrounded by arable land. The Ottomans founded an elementary school in the village.
British Mandate era
In 1922, Nimrin became a part of the British Mandate of Palestine and in the 1922 census of Palestine, Nemrin had a population of 273; all Muslims, increasing in the 1931 census to 316, still all Muslims, in a total of 71 houses.
The main economic sectors were farming and livestock, with grain being the most important crop, followed by vegetables. The Ottoman school was closed down during this period.
In 1945 the population consisted of 320 Arabs, and the total land area was 12,019 dunams. Of this, Arabs used 7,905 dunams for cereals, 335 for plantations and irrigable land, while 64 dunams were classified as built-up (urban) area.
1948 war, and aftermath
During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Nimrin fell into Israeli hands on July 17, 1948 after nearby Lubya was captured at the end of Operation Dekel. Its entire population of 320 (1945) fled for unclear reasons. According to Walid Khalidi, "the site and a major part of the lands are surrounded by a fence."