Idnibba (Arabic: إدنبّة) was a Palestinian village, located at latitude 31.7426937N and longitude 34.8561001,E in the southern part of the Ramle Subdistrict. It was depopulated in 1948, at which time its population was 568, and its lands are now used by Kfar Menahem.
In 1517, the village was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire with the rest of Palestine, and in 1596 it appeared under the name of Dinba in the tax registers being in the nahiya (subdistrict) of Gaza under the liwa' (district) of Gaza. It had 36 households, an estimated population of 198; all Muslim. They paid taxes on a number of crops, including wheat, barley and sesame seeds, as well as goats and beehives; a total of 10,800 akçe.[6]
In 1838, Edward Robinson noted Idhnibbeh as a Muslim village located in the Gaza district.[7]
In 1863 Victor Guérin found the village to be situated on a low hill, and with a population of 600. He also noted a well which was built with ancient blocks, and olives gardens surrounding the village.[8] An Ottoman village list from about 1870 found that the village (calling it ed-denube) had a population of 265, in a total of 74 houses, though the population count included men, only.[9][10]
In 1882 the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Idnibba as a village built of stone and adobe and situated on high ground. It was surrounded by cactus hedges and had a fig tree orchard to the south.[11]
Most villagers worked in agriculture and animal husbandry.[5] In the 1945 statistics the population was 490, all Muslims,[2] while the total land area was 8,103 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[3] Of this, a total of 5,277 dunums of village land was used for cereals, 85 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards, of which 64 dunums was for olives.[5][14] while 25 dunams were classified as built-up public areas.[15]
Members of Palmach from Kfar Menachen with Idnibba in distanceIdnibba 1945 1:250,000Idnibba 1948 1:20,000
On 16 July 1948, during Operation An-Far, Givati HQ informed General Staff\Operations that "our forces have entered the villages of Qazaza, Kheima, Jilya, Idnibba, Mughallis, expelled the inhabitants, [and] blown up and torched a number of houses. The area is at the moment clear of Arabs."[16]
There are no Israeli settlements on village lands. The settlement of Kefar Menachem, built in 1937, is about 2 km southwest of the village site.[5]
Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi described the remains of Idnibba in 1992: "The site and the surrounding lands have been converted into pastures and woods. A large area has been leveled by bulldozers. Demolished walls and the remnants of stone houses lie at various points on the site. There are natural caves with artificial, arched entrances on the upper, western edge of the site."[5]
^Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 115
^Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 165
^Givati HQ to General Staff\Operations, 20:50 hours, 16 July 1948, IDFA 922\75\\1176. See also Givati Brigade, "Combat Page", 16 July 1948, IDFA 6127\49\\118. Cited in Morris, 2004, p. 437
