List of villages depopulated during the Arab–Israeli conflict

Below is a list of villages depopulated or destroyed during the Arab-Israeli conflict. Both Jewish and Palestinian villages were depopulated, but the majority are Arab villages whose inhabitants left or were expelled during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

Arab villages
A number of these villages, those in the Jezreel Valley, were inhabited by tenants of land which was sold by a variety of absentee landlord families, such as the Karkabi, Tueini, Farah and Khuri families and Sursock family of Lebanon. The sale of land to Jewish organizations often resulted in the eviction of Arabs.

List of Palestinian villages uprooted before 1948 with the time of expulsion (and the name of Jewish settlements on village land)

Safed district
 * al-Mutila, 1896 (Metulla)
 * Difna, 1939 (Dafna)
 * al-Manara, unknown date (Menara)
 * Najmat as-Subah, unknown date (Ayelet Hashahar)

Acre district
 * Ja'atoun, unknown date (Gaaton)
 * Khirbat Jiddin, 1946, other sources says 1948 (Yehiam)

Tiberias district
 * Um al-Junah, unknown date (Kinneret, Degania)
 * Malhamiyah, 1902 (Menahemia)
 * Sha’arah, Beginning of the 20th century (Omer Sha’ara, today Shadmot Dvora)
 * Sarona, 1910 (Sharona)
 * Sarjuna, unknown date (Shorshim, today HaZor'im)
 * Yammah, 1901 (Yavniel)

Nazareth district
 * Jabata, 1926 (Gvat)
 * Khunaifis, 1926 (Sarid)
 * Jinjar, 1922 (Ganigar)
 * Rab an-Nasrah, unknown date (Mazra)
 * Tal al-’Adas, unknown date (Tel Adashim)
 * al-'Afoulah, 1925 (Afula)
 * al-Foulah, 1910 (Merhavia)
 * Mashah, 1902 (Kfar Tavor)
 * Samouniyah, unknown date (Shomron - not existing today, Timrat)

Beisan district
 * Khirbat Bayt Ilfa, unknown date (Beit Alpha)
 * Shatah, unknown date (Beit HaShita)
 * Tall al-Fir, 1922 (none)
 * Jaloud, 1922 (Ein Harod)

Haifa district
 * Jadroun, 1925 (Kfar Bialik)
 * Kurdani, unknown date (Afek)
 * Kafr Ata, 1925 (Kfar Ata - today Kiryat Ata)
 * al-Majdal, 1925 (none)
 * al-Harbaj, 1924 (Kfar Hasidim)
 * al-Harithiyah, 1924 (Sha’ar HaEmakim)
 * Tab’oun, unknown date (Tivon, today Kiryat Tivon)
 * Qusqous, unknown date (Alonim)
 * Jida, 1925 (Ramat Yishai)
 * Tal ash-Shamam, 1925 (Kfar Yehoshua)
 * Qamoun, 1925 (Yokneam)
 * Ja’ara, unknown date (Ein HaShofet)
 * Um ad-Dafouf, unknown date (Dalia)
 * Um at-Tout, unknown date (none)
 * Shifiyah, unknown date (Meir Shfeya)
 * Zamarin, unknown date (Zichron Yaacov)
 * Um al-’Alaq, unknown date (Tel Tzur - does not exist today)
 * ash-Shounah, unknown date (none), maybe identical to Khirbat al-Shuna destroyed in 1948
 * Zarghaniyah, unknown date (Binyamina)
 * al-Buraij, unknown date (Binyamina)
 * Natalah, unknown date (No data)
 * Nazlah, unknown date (none)
 * Safsaf, unknown date (none)
 * Hadidun, unknown date (none)
 * Karkour, unknown date (Ein Shemer, Gan HaShomron, Karkur, Tel Shalom)
 * Bidous, unknown date (Maanit)
 * Shaikh Hilw, unknown date (Nahliel, now part from Hadera)
 * Zardarah, unknown date (Gan Shmuel)
 * Baika, unknown date (Hadera)
 * al-Marah, 1903 (Givat Ada)
 * ’Aabiyah, 1929 (Pardes Hanna)

Tulkarm district
 * Shaikh Muhammad, unknown date (Elyashiv)

Jaffa district
 * Mulabbis, End of 19th century (Petah Tikva)

Ramla district
 * Khirbet Duran, 1891 (Rehovot)
 * Kafr Wariyah, unknown date (Kfar Uria)

1929 Palestine riots

 * Bat Yam
 * Be'er Tuvia
 * Giv'on HaHadashah
 * Hartuv


 * Kfar Uria
 * Kiryat Ata
 * Motza
 * Ramat Rachel
 * Hebron

1936 Arab Revolt

 * Kfar Shiloah
 * Kfar Etzion
 * Hebron

Arab villages
Palestinian-Arab residents were expelled from hundreds of towns and villages by the Israel Defense Forces, or fled in fear as the Israeli army advanced. Nearly 500 towns and villages were depopulated.

Jewish villages
Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem were depopulated by Jordanian forces following the Jordanian occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Some were repopulated after the Six-Day War.


 * In areas that became the State of Israel


 * Beit Eshel
 * Beit Yosef
 * Hartuv
 * Kfar Uria
 * Mishmar HaYarden
 * Nirim
 * Nitzanim
 * Kibbutz Gesher


 * In the West Bank and Gaza
 * Atarot
 * Beit HaArava
 * Kalia
 * Neve Yaakov

Gush Etzion near Jerusalem:
 * Ein Tzurim
 * Kfar Etzion
 * Masuot Yitzhak
 * Neve Daniel
 * Revadim

Gaza Strip:
 * Kfar Darom (re-settled but evacuated as part of Israel's unilateral disengagement plan of 2005)
 * Israel-Syria border
 * Hauran


 * Israel-Jordan border
 * Naharayim (Tal Or(תל אור))

West Bank
Three Arab villages, Bayt Nuba, Imwas and Yalo, located in the Latrun Corridor were destroyed on the orders of Yitzhak Rabin due to the corridor's strategic location and route to Jerusalem and because of the residents' alleged aiding of Egyptian commandos in their attack on the city of Lod. The residents of the three villages were offered compensation but were not allowed to return.

Hebron/Bethlehem area
 * Surit
 * Beit Awwa
 * Beit Mirsem
 * Shuyukh

Jordan Valley
 * al-Jiftlik (depopulated but soon repopulated)
 * Agarith
 * Huseirat

Jerusalem area
 * Nebi Samwil

In the Negev/Sinai Desert
 * Auja al-Hafir - A demilitarized zone

Golan Heights
Over 100,000 Golan Heights residents were evacuated from about 25 villages whether on orders of the Syrian government or through fear of an attack by the Israeli Defense Forces and expulsion after the ceasefire. During the following months more than a hundred Syrian villages were destroyed by Israel.


 * Deir El Bteha
 * Derbahiya
 * Hafar
 * Massakieh
 * Saiyada

Israeli settlements
Israeli settlements in Sinai were evacuated as a result of the 1979 treaty.


 * Avshalom
 * Atzmona
 * Dikla
 * Holit
 * Netiv HaAsara, Sinai
 * Nitzanei Sinai
 * Ofira
 * Sufa
 * Talmei Yosef
 * Yamit

Israel's unilateral disengagement plan
As a part of Israel's unilateral disengagement plan, 21 civilian Israeli settlements were forcibly evacuated, as well as an area in the northern West Bank containing four Israeli villages. The residential buildings were razed by Israel but public structures were left intact. The religious structures not removed by Israel were later destroyed by Palestinians.