The depopulated village of Khirbet Lid (al-'Awwadin) / District of Haifa

Khirbat Lid (Lid al-'Awadin) – Haifa Subdistrict

Khirbat Lid, also known as Lid al-'Awadin, was a depopulated Palestinian village in the Haifa subdistrict. It stood on flat ground in the central Jezreel Valley approximately 32 km southeast of Haifa at an average elevation of about 75 meters above sea level.

The name Lid al-'Awadin reflected the presence of the al-'Awadin community, which formed the majority of the village population, and distinguished the village from the major Palestinian town of Lydda elsewhere in the country.

Khirbat Lid had 451 Muslim inhabitants in the official 1931 census and 640 Arab Muslim inhabitants in 1944/45. Its registered lands totaled 13,572 dunums, with no land recorded in the Jewish ownership category in 1945.

A Zionist force raided the village on 26 February 1948 but was driven back by the villagers. The exact date of the village's final occupation remains uncertain: several Palestinian compilations index 9 April 1948, while Walid Khalidi's core account states only that Khirbat Lid was probably among the villages captured in the Haganah counteroffensive following the Battle of Mishmar ha-'Emeq during the first half of April.

The Names Khirbat Lid and Lid al-'Awadin

Geographical sources refer to the village as Khirbat Lid, while Lid al-'Awadin was widely used by its inhabitants and in Palestinian community memory.

The second name referred to the al-'Awadin community and also distinguished the village from the Palestinian city of Lydda in central Palestine.

The term “Khirbat” was consistent with the presence of earlier archaeological remains at the site, but by the late Ottoman and British Mandate periods Khirbat Lid was a settled and inhabited Palestinian village rather than an abandoned ruin.

Location

Khirbat Lid stood on flat land in the middle of the Jezreel Valley, approximately 32 km southeast of Haifa.

Its average elevation was about 75 meters above sea level.

The al-Nuwaytir marsh occupied part of the eastern village lands, and a secondary road linked the village with the 'Afula–Megiddo highway.

Palestinian local documentation also places the Kishon River within the eastern and northern geographical environment of the village lands.

Neighboring Villages and Areas

Al-Naghnaghiyya, 'Ayn al-Mansi, Abu Zurayq, and other villages also lay within the wider military landscape of the Battle of Mishmar ha-'Emeq.

These geographical relationships should not automatically be treated as exact cadastral boundaries; original Mandate survey maps remain the strongest evidence for precise village-land limits.

Khirbat Lid in the Late Ottoman Period

The nineteenth-century Survey of Western Palestine recorded traces of older ruins at Lid, including a column shaft near a water source.

In 1900, Gottlieb Schumacher described Lid as a flourishing village containing approximately 46 huts and about 200 inhabitants, established by Bedouin inhabitants of the Jezreel Valley.

The modern community therefore appears to have developed through a gradual transition from pastoral life toward permanent agricultural settlement.

The al-'Awadin Community

The al-'Awadin formed the majority of Khirbat Lid's inhabitants, giving rise to the name Lid al-'Awadin.

Palestinian sources preserve differing accounts of their origins.

An official Palestinian informational source on the Turkmen of Palestine lists al-'Awadin among the major Palestinian Turkmen tribes and records 402 members in the 1922 census.

Community accounts published by descendants of the village, however, trace the al-'Awadin to an Arab Qahtani lineage.

Without an independent genealogical study capable of resolving this difference, this article records both Palestinian traditions rather than treating either as conclusively established.

Built Environment

Khirbat Lid was a relatively compact settlement, with houses clustered close together.

The houses were built of stone and mud or of stone and cement.

The official built-up area reached approximately 52 dunums in 1944/45.

The village had a mosque and a principal well, while Palestinian community documentation records the establishment of a small school near the end of the Mandate.

Population

Number of Houses

No 1948 house estimate is used here. Palestine Remembered's current statistics page displays 2,618 houses for 1948, a figure plainly incompatible with a population estimate of 742 and best treated as a database error.

Education

Khalidi's core village entry does not mention a school in Khirbat Lid.

Palestinian community documentation, however, consistently records the establishment of a school in 1947 in the al-Hasmasa area west of the village.

Accounts differ slightly in detail: one says formal instruction began with the first grade, while another describes a single large stone classroom serving the first and second grades.

The establishment of a small elementary school in 1947 is therefore included as community documentation, while no unsupported pupil enrollment figure has been added.

Before the school opened, local memory states that children received basic instruction in reading, writing, and arithmetic from the village imam.

Religious Life

All inhabitants of Khirbat Lid were Muslims.

A mosque stood near the center of the village and served both religious and basic educational functions.

Community documentation also records a tomb known as Shaykh Muhammad al-Liddawi on the al-Hasmasa mound west of the village. Khalidi's core entry does not independently describe this shrine, so it is presented as a feature preserved in local memory.

Water Sources

The principal securely documented domestic water source was a well on the southeastern edge of the village.

Local accounts describe the well as ancient and state that villagers originally drew water with buckets before a storage reservoir was later constructed nearby to collect surplus water.

Palestinian local sources also name 'Ayn Umm al-Qalayid southwest of the village and 'Ayn al-'Aliq to the west, as well as low-lying areas where seasonal water accumulated.

These additional details are treated as supplementary local documentation, while the southeastern well remains the principal water source explicitly documented by Khalidi.

Land Ownership in 1944/45

Khirbat Lid's registered lands totaled 13,572 dunums.

Using Palestine Remembered's simplified terminology:

The official Government of Palestine categories record 13,218 Arab dunums and 354 Public dunums, with no land in the Jewish ownership category.

Land Use in 1944/45

PalQuest's current online table requires careful reading because some columns are visually misaligned and one displayed subtotal contains an arithmetic error.

Balancing the land-use categories against the official ownership totals gives the following consistent breakdown:

The total cultivable area was therefore 13,178 dunums: 13,166 Arab dunums and 12 Public dunums.

PalQuest's online subtotal displays 13,138 in one line, but this does not agree with the detailed categories or the total village area. The arithmetically consistent figure is 13,178 dunums.

Olive Cultivation

During the 1942/43 season, approximately 110 dunums were planted with olive trees.

Palestinian documentation indicates that about 100 dunums of these trees had not yet become fruit-bearing.

This is a crop-specific subcategory and is not added again to the overall land-use table.

Economic Life in Khirbat Lid

Agriculture and livestock raising formed the basis of village life.

Cereals were overwhelmingly the principal crop, occupying more than 13,000 dunums in 1944/45.

Smaller areas were devoted to orchards, irrigated agriculture, and olives.

The community's development from pastoral groups of the Jezreel Valley into a permanently settled village also helps explain the continuing importance of livestock alongside agriculture.

al-Nuwaytir Marsh

Part of al-Nuwaytir marsh lay in the eastern section of the village lands.

These wetlands formed part of the natural environment of the Jezreel Valley before extensive twentieth-century drainage and landscape transformation.

The presence of marshland within the village's agricultural territory should not be confused with the location of the built-up settlement itself, which stood on flat land suitable for permanent habitation.

Archaeological Remains

The area around Khirbat Lid contained a number of archaeological remains.

Khirbat al-Manatir lay approximately 3 km west of the village on an uneroded volcanic outcrop in the Jezreel Valley and contained evidence of a Byzantine settlement.

Local Palestinian documentation additionally records the old village well, an ancient mound northwest of the well, Khirbat Umm al-Qalayid to the west, and other features around al-Hasmasa.

Local suggestions that some of these remains were Roman are treated cautiously unless supported by specific archaeological evidence.

Khirbat Lid before the Nakba

The Jezreel Valley became an increasingly active military zone during the first months of 1948.

Khirbat Lid's position between 'Afula, al-Lajjun, and villages surrounding Mishmar ha-'Emeq placed it within the confrontation zone between the Arab Liberation Army and the Haganah.

First Raid – 26 February 1948

On the evening of 26 February 1948, a Zionist force infiltrated Khirbat Lid.

According to a contemporary report in the Palestinian daily Filastin, villagers opened heavy fire on the infiltrating force and compelled it to withdraw after a brief skirmish.

No casualties were reported.

This is the first clearly documented military confrontation at the village during the 1948 war.

The Battle of Mishmar ha-'Emeq

The Battle of Mishmar ha-'Emeq began on 4 April 1948 when the Arab Liberation Army attacked the nearby settlement.

After the attack failed, a British-mediated truce was proposed, but Haganah commanders rejected it and launched a broad counteroffensive aimed at capturing and destroying surrounding Palestinian villages.

During the night of 8–9 April, Haganah forces captured Abu Shusha, Abu Zurayq, and al-Naghnaghiyya.

Forces participating in the wider regional offensive included units of the Palmach First Battalion and the Carmeli and Alexandroni brigades.

Occupation of Khirbat Lid: Disagreement among Sources

Walid Khalidi does not provide a definitive date for the occupation of Khirbat Lid and explicitly states that no clear account of the village's capture is available.

His principal reconstruction, based on the village's location, is that it was probably among the villages seized by the Haganah following the Battle of Mishmar ha-'Emeq as the counteroffensive expanded across the Jezreel Valley during the first half of April 1948.

Palestine Remembered and several other Palestinian compilations, however, index 9 April 1948 as the date of occupation and depopulation.

That date is plausible within the military sequence but is more precise than Khalidi's core evidence and is not independently established by a village-specific narrative.

The most accurate formulation is therefore that Khirbat Lid was probably occupied in the aftermath of the Battle of Mishmar ha-'Emeq during the first half of April 1948; several Palestinian sources index 9 April, but Khalidi's principal account does not establish that exact day.

The Weaker Alternative: Operation Dekel

Khalidi also mentions a second, less likely possibility: that Khirbat Lid remained outside firm Zionist control until Operation Dekel.

Operation Dekel took place from 8 to 18 July 1948 and brought much of Lower Galilee, including Nazareth, under Israeli control.

Given Khirbat Lid's location and the documented capture of surrounding villages after Mishmar ha-'Emeq, however, Khalidi's primary reconstruction favors the April scenario.

Military Unit

No village-specific source identifies one battalion or brigade as the force that physically entered Khirbat Lid.

The wider Haganah counteroffensive following the Battle of Mishmar ha-'Emeq included units of the Palmach First Battalion, Carmeli Brigade, and Alexandroni Brigade.

Assigning Khirbat Lid specifically to any one of these formations would therefore go beyond the available evidence.

The most accurate designation is: Haganah forces operating in the counteroffensive following the Battle of Mishmar ha-'Emeq, while noting that the exact village-level unit remains unidentified.

Depopulation

Palestine Remembered classifies the cause of depopulation as expulsion by Zionist forces.

The broader accounts of the Mishmar ha-'Emeq counteroffensive also record that inhabitants of captured villages either fled under military pressure or were expelled if they remained, after which the villages were systematically destroyed.

For Khirbat Lid itself, Khalidi does not provide a detailed hour-by-hour account of civilian departure.

This article therefore links the village's depopulation to the military offensive that brought it under Haganah control without inventing an unsupported family-by-family sequence.

Occupation Chronology

1. 01
   26 February 1948

   First raid on Khirbat Lid

   A Zionist force entered the village area at night, but villagers opened fire and forced it to withdraw after a brief skirmish.

2. 02
   4 April 1948

   Beginning of the Battle of Mishmar ha-'Emeq

   The Arab Liberation Army attacked Mishmar ha-'Emeq, turning the surrounding Jezreel Valley into a major battle zone.

3. 03
   After the failure of the ALA attack

   Haganah counteroffensive begins

   Haganah commanders rejected a proposed truce and decided to seize and destroy surrounding Palestinian villages.

4. 04
   Night of 8–9 April 1948

   Capture of nearby villages

   Haganah units captured Abu Shusha, Abu Zurayq, and al-Naghnaghiyya as the counteroffensive expanded.

5. 05
   9 April 1948

   Palestinian indexed date for Khirbat Lid

   Palestine Remembered and several Palestinian sources give this as the occupation and depopulation date, although Khalidi does not independently confirm the exact day.

6. 06
   12–14 April 1948

   Expansion of control around Mishmar ha-'Emeq

   Palmach and Haganah forces had taken an increasing number of villages in the area, reaching roughly ten captured villages by 14 April.

7. 07
   First half of April 1948

   Probable occupation of Khirbat Lid

   Khalidi considers it likely that the village was among those taken after the Battle of Mishmar ha-'Emeq, but does not provide a definitive date.

8. 08
   During or in connection with the occupation

   Depopulation

   The villagers' departure was linked to the military offensive. Palestine Remembered classifies the cause as expulsion, but no complete village-specific chronology survives.

9. 09
   After occupation; exact independent date not documented

   Destruction of the village

   Khirbat Lid was destroyed, leaving only scattered stone rubble at the later field survey.

10. 10
    8–18 July 1948

    Less likely alternative

    Khalidi raises the weaker possibility that firm occupation occurred during Operation Dekel, although this is not his primary reconstruction.

Refugees from Khirbat Lid

Palestine Remembered estimates Khirbat Lid's population in 1948 at approximately 742. This is a later demographic estimate rather than an official Government of Palestine census figure.

The same source estimates that refugees from Khirbat Lid and their descendants numbered approximately 4,559 in 1998.

Community histories of the al-'Awadin record that a number of families initially moved toward the Jenin area and that many later settled around Irbid in Jordan, particularly in the al-Manara area, while later generations also migrated to several European countries.

These accounts document the experience of significant sections of the village community but do not constitute a complete official census of all displaced families.

Israeli Settlements on Khirbat Lid Village Lands

The Israeli settlement of HaYogev was established in 1949 west of the former village site.

Khalidi and PalQuest state that some of its houses were built on Khirbat Lid village land.

Other nearby settlements in the Jezreel Valley have not been listed as being on Khirbat Lid land unless specifically supported by cadastral evidence.

Khirbat Lid Today

In Walid Khalidi's field description, all that remained of the village was scattered stone rubble lying near several large eucalyptus and olive trees.

A modern structure had been constructed over the village well.

PalQuest dates a general field photograph of the village ruins to May 1987.

This description forms part of the field research undertaken for All That Remains between 1987 and 1990.

Palestine Remembered also contains later community photographs, including a 2017 visit documenting the village well and the structure built above it, indicating that the well remained a recognized landmark at that date.

These later photographs are valuable supplementary documentation but do not amount to a comprehensive 2026 field or cadastral survey of all former village lands.

Sources

• PalQuestPalQuest – Khirbat Lid
• PalQuestPalQuest – Abu Shusha; regional context of the Battle of Mishmar ha-'Emeq and the Haganah counteroffensive
• PalQuestPalQuest – Operation Dekel; the weaker alternative occupation scenario
• Palestine RememberedPalestine Remembered – Khirbat Lid / Lid al-'Awadin, Haifa District
• Palestine RememberedPalestine Remembered – Khirbat Lid entry from Walid Khalidi's All That Remains
• Institute for Palestine StudiesInstitute for Palestine Studies – Walid Khalidi, All That Remains
• info.wafa.psWAFA – Turkmen in Palestine; al-'Awadin and the 1922 population figure
• palqura.comPalestinian Villages Encyclopedia – Khirbat Lid / Lid al-'Awadin; supplementary documentation on boundaries, school, water, and community history
• Palestine RememberedPalestine Remembered – History of Lid al-'Awadin; supplementary community documentation
• PalQuestPalQuest – All That Remains: Methodology and Field Research