Tabsur


Tabsur, also Khirbat 'Azzun, was a Palestinian village located 19 kilometres southwest of Tulkarm. In 1931, the village had 218 houses and an elementary school for boys. Its Palestinian population was kicked out during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.

History

Tabsur was established before the middle of the nineteenth-century on an archaeological site. The village contained archaeological remains, including the foundations of a building, a well, fragments of mosaic pavement, and tombs.
In the late nineteenth century, Tabsur was described as a moderate-sized hamlet with a well to the north. It was later classified as a hamlet by the Palestine Index Gazetteer.

British Mandate era

During the British Mandate an elementary school for boys was established in the village. The village also had a few shops.
In the 1922 census of Palestine there were 709 villagers; 700 Muslims and 9 Christians, increasing in 1931 census to 994; 980 Muslims and 14 Christians, in 218 houses.
In the 1944/45 statistics, a total of 1,602 dunums were allocated to cereals, while 24 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards. 29 dunams were classified as built-up area.

1948, aftermath

The Arabs of Tabsur were ordered to leave by the Haganah on 3 April 1948, as part of Haganas policy of clearing out the Arab villages on the coastal plain. The villagers left on 16 April 1948.
Ra'anana was established south of Tabsur in 1921. Now a city, some of its suburbs have expanded into land that once belonged to the village. Batzra, founded in 1946 on village land, lies to the north.
In 1992, the Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi wrote: "The village has been completely covered with Israeli citrus orchards, making it difficult to distinguish from the surrounding lands. Citrus and cypress trees grow on the village land."
The estimated number of Palestinian refugees from Tabsur in 1998 was 2,406.