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Al Tira

al-Tira
al-Tira is located in Mandatory Palestine
al-Tira
al-Tira
Arabic الطيرة
Name meaning The Fortress
Also spelled Tirat al-Lawz
Subdistrict Haifa
Coordinates 32°45′43″N 34°58′31″E / 32.76194°N 34.97528°E / 32.76194; 34.97528Coordinates: 32°45′43″N 34°58′31″E / 32.76194°N 34.97528°E / 32.76194; 34.97528
Palestine grid 148/240
Population 5,270 (1945)
Area 45,262 dunams
Date of depopulation 16 July 1948
Cause(s) of depopulation Military assault by Yishuv forces
Current localities HaHotrim,Tirat Carmel,Megadim,Kfar Galim,Kfar Tzvi Sitrin

al-Tira (Arabic: الطيرة‎‎, also called Tirat al-Lawz or "Tira of the almonds" to distinguish it from other al-) was a Palestinian town located 7 kilometres south of Haifa.

It was made up of five khirbets, including Khirbat al-Dayr where lie the ruins of St. Brocardus monastery and a cave complex with vaulted tunnels.

The Crusaders called al-Tira, St. Yohan de Tire, and in the thirteenth century the village contained a Greek Orthodox abbey of St. John the Baptist. In 1283 it was mentioned as part of the domain of the Crusaders, according to the hudna between the Crusaders and the Mamluk sultan Qalawun.

In 987 H. (1579 CE) it is recorded that Assaf, the sanjaqbey of Al-Lajjun, built a mosque in the village.

In 1596, al-Tira was a village with a population of 52 Muslim households, an estimated 286 persons, under the administrative jurisdiction of the nahiya ("subdistrict") of Shafa, part of Sanjak Lajjun of the Ottoman Empire. Villagers paid a fixed tax-rate of 25 % to the authorities for the crops that they cultivated, which included wheat, goats, beehives, and vineyards; a total of 26,000 Akçe.

In 1799, it appeared under the name of El Koneiceh (= Kh. el Keniseh) on the map that Pierre Jacotin compiled that year, though it was misplaced.

Victor Guérin visited in 1870, “I first examined a small mosque, which appears to have been formerly a Christian church. Aligned from west to east it has only a single nave and is terminated towards the east by an apse. One enters through a rectangular door crowned by a fine monolithic lintel. This church, which has been constructed with very regular ashlars, is covered by slightly pointed vaults, above which there is a flat terrace roof.”


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