al-Faluja:
An early attack on al-Faluja village was reported on 14 march 1948. By late October, Jewish forces beseiged an Egyptian army brigade- that of the future Egyptian president Gamal 'Abd El-Nasser- at Faluja and the neighboring village of 'Iraq al-Manshiyya. There the bridge held out until February 1949 when the “Faluja pocket” was handed over to Israel as a result of the Israeli-Egyptian armistice agreement.
However, Israel violated the terms of the agreement almost immediately, intimidating the population into leaving by 21 April 1949. At the end of the war, an Egyptian brigade and some 3,140 Palestinian civilians were trapped in the “Faluja pocket”. When the enclave was handed over, Egyptian forces left, but only a small proportion of civilians chose to go.
Within days, the local Israeli garrison engaged in beatings, robbings, and attempted rapes, according to United Nations observes at the scene. The Israeli town of Qiryat Gat was established in 1954 on the lands of 'Iraq al-Manshiyya between that village and al-Faluja; it has now spread onto the lands of al-Faluja as well. Shahar, Noga, Nir Chen, and Nehora was founded on village lands.
The foundations of the village mosque and insubstantial fragments of its walls are all that remain of al-Faluja village. Israeli government offices and an airport have been built on the surrounding land, much of which has been cultivated. |
