The depopulated village of Qisarya / District of Haifa

Subdistrict: Haifa

Population in 1945: 1,120 in the official statistical unit: 960 Arabs and 160 Jews

Estimated population in 1948: approximately 1,114 in later demographic estimates, including 160 Jews

Date of occupation and depopulation: 15 February 1948; most village houses were demolished on 20 February 1948

Military unit: A Palmach unit of the Haganah

Israeli settlement established on Qisarya's lands before 1948: Sedot Yam, established in 1940

Israeli settlements established on or extending onto Qisarya's lands after 1948: Or Akiva, established in 1951, and the Israeli rural locality of Caesarea, officially recognized in 1977

Information about Qisarya

Qisarya, also known as Caesarea, was a Palestinian coastal village in the Haifa Subdistrict. It stood on the Mediterranean shore, approximately 37 kilometres south of Haifa, and its lands covered 31,786 dunams. The village was occupied by a Palmach unit on 15 February 1948, and most of its inhabitants were displaced. Thirty houses were demolished five days later.

The village followed the shoreline in a north–south direction. Its houses were built of stone bonded with mud or cement, while some Bedouin residents of the surrounding area lived in tents. An elementary school for boys was established around 1884. The inhabitants obtained domestic water from several wells and relied primarily on agriculture. Archaeological excavations have revealed remains from numerous historical periods.

Boundaries of Qisarya

Qisarya was surrounded by the following villages, towns, and geographical features:

• North: Jisr al-Zarqa.
• West: the Mediterranean Sea.
• Southeast: al-Khudayra.
• South: Arab al-Nufay'at.
• East: Pardes Hanna.
• Northeast: Khirbat al-Burj.

The depopulated Palestinian village of Qisarya

The depopulated Palestinian village of Qisarya

Economic Life in Qisarya

The inhabitants obtained water for domestic use from several wells, and agriculture formed the basis of the village economy. In 1944/45, 18 dunams of Palestinian-owned land were devoted to citrus and bananas, 1,020 dunams to cereal cultivation, and 108 dunams were irrigated or used for orchards. Across the entire statistical unit, including Jewish-owned and public land, 2,193 dunams were used for cereals and 2,319 dunams were classified as cultivable.

Land Ownership in Qisarya

* One dunam equals approximately 1,000 square metres.

Land Use in Qisarya, 1944/45

* One dunam equals approximately 1,000 square metres.

Population of Qisarya

The 1922 census recorded 346 inhabitants. In 1931, Qisarya and Barrat Qisarya had 706 inhabitants living in 143 houses. The official 1945 statistics recorded 930 Muslims, 30 Christians, and 160 Jews, for a total of 1,120. The Arab population therefore numbered 960. Later demographic estimates give a total of approximately 1,114 in 1948, including 160 Jews, but this was not an official census. The number of Palestinian refugees from Qisarya and their descendants was estimated at 6,839 in 1998.

Population Figures for Qisarya

* The 1931 figure includes Barrat Qisarya. The 1948 and 1998 figures are later estimates rather than official census totals.

Number of Houses in Qisarya

* The 1931 figure includes Barrat Qisarya and comes from the official census. The 1948 figure is a later estimate.

Education in Qisarya

A boys' elementary school was established in the village around 1884 during Ottoman rule.

History of Qisarya

The village stood within the ruins of an ancient port city originally known as Strato's Tower. The settlement was established in the late fourth century BCE by Strato, ruler of Sidon, as a Phoenician trading colony. Between 22 and 10 BCE, Herod the Great rebuilt it as a major port and named it Caesarea in honour of his patron, Augustus Caesar. The city later flourished under Roman and Byzantine rule and passed into Arab Muslim hands around 640 CE. Its long history also included Crusader and Mamluk periods before a modern Muslim community was re-established there by Bosnian settlers in 1878.

Archaeological Sites in Qisarya

Qisarya is an archaeological site of exceptional historical importance. Its remains include the ancient harbour, Roman and Byzantine city walls, aqueducts, a theatre, a hippodrome, storage vaults, foundations, architectural fragments, rock-cut features, channels, and a later Crusader fortress. The site preserves material from the Phoenician, Roman, Byzantine, Islamic, and Crusader periods. Large-scale excavations by Italian, American, and Israeli teams have exposed and restored substantial parts of the ancient city for tourism.

Occupation and Depopulation of Qisarya

Israeli historian Benny Morris describes Qisarya as the first Arab community subjected to a pre-planned, organized expulsion by the Haganah in 1948. A Palmach unit captured the village on 15 February. Some residents had already left out of fear of attack; the remaining inhabitants fled or were ordered to leave. When approximately twenty residents insisted on staying, a Palmach unit demolished village houses on 20 February. Thirty houses were destroyed, while six were reportedly spared because the unit lacked sufficient explosives. The demolition formed part of broader Haganah operations to clear Palestinian communities from the coastal plain north of Tel Aviv.

Qisarya Today

Sedot Yam had been established on Qisarya's traditional lands in 1940, approximately one kilometre south of the village site. Or Akiva was founded northeast of the village in 1951 and later expanded onto village lands. The Israeli rural locality of Caesarea was officially recognized in 1977.

Most village houses were demolished. The archaeological site was extensively excavated and developed as a tourist area. Published field descriptions report that most of the few surviving houses were converted into restaurants and that the village mosque was repurposed as a bar.

Sources

• Interactive Encyclopedia of the Palestine Question (PalQuest): Qisarya.
• Government of Palestine, Village Statistics, April 1945, reproduced by Palestine Remembered.
• National Library of Israel catalogue: Village Statistics, April 1945.