Khirbat Iribbin
خربة عربين
Iribbin, Khirbat
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Village
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A series of historical maps of the area around Khirbat Iribbin (click the buttons)
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  Khirbat Iribbin Location within Mandatory Palestine | |
| Coordinates: 33°04′50″N 35°13′41″E / 33.08056°N 35.22806°E / 33.08056; 35.22806 | |
| Palestine grid | 172/276 |
| Geopolitical entity | Mandatory Palestine |
| Subdistrict | Acre |
| Date of depopulation | October 31, 1948 |
| Area | |
| • Total | 11,463 dunams (11.463 km2 or 4.426 sq mi) |
| Population
(1945)
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| • Total | 360[1][2] |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Military assault by Yishuv forces |
| Current Localities | Adamit,[3] Goren[3] |
Khirbat Iribbin (Arabic: خربة عربي) or Khurbet 'Arubbin (meaning "The ruin of Arubbin"),[4] was a Palestinian Arab village in the Upper Galilee, located 23 km (14 mi) northeast of the city of Acre. In 1945, it had a built-up land area of over 2,000 dunums and a population of 360 Arab Muslims.
The village was located on the north bank of Wadi Karkara, about 1 km south of the Lebanese border, and with a view to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.[5]
A three-aisled Byzantine church (from the 6th or 7th century CE) had been reused as a village house.[6][7]
In 1875 Victor Guérin inspected the place, which he described: "The ruins of this name are scattered over the flanks and summit of a hill, bordered on the south by the deep ravine of Wady Kerkera. Terraces, once regulated by the hand of man and now overgrown with thick underwood, were formerly covered with dwelling-houses whose remains cumber the soil. The foundations of some are still visible. They were small, but tolerably well-built, with regular stones of fair dimensions. On the door, still standing, of one of them, we observe a cross with standing, equal arms set in a niche. Besides these, the ruins of a building measuring twenty-six paces long from west to east, and twenty from north to south, deserve particular attention. It was built with cut stones worked in with much care and without cement. The southern facade was pierced with these doors. Another door, the only one on that side, was constructed in the middle of the western facade; its lintel is lying on the ground. On the east was an apse, whose interior are in place. Within this ancient church are several monolithic columns half hidden by the bushes; they measure 2.50 metres in length, by thirty-five centimetres in diameter. The capitals and the base are wanting, or at all events no longer visible. By the side of this building is observed a sort of subterranean magazine arched in stone with a circular arch. It is partly filled up. On the sumrnit of the hill the vestiges of a town can be recognised. It was approached by a number of steps.'[8]
In the 1945 statistics, the village (including Arab al-Aramisha, Jurdayh and Khirbat Idmith) had a population of 360 Muslims.[1] A total of 2,637 dunums of village land were used for cereals, and 16 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards.[5][9]
During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, it was captured by Israel's Oded Brigade on October 31, 1948, during Operation Hiram.
Following the war the area was incorporated into the State of Israel. Kibbutz Adamit was founded in 1958 on village land, to the west of the village site.[3] The Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi described the village site in 1992: "The site is covered with the debris of houses. It also has a number of wells and caves. The remains of animal shelters are located about 1 km (1 mi) away, and about 4 km (2 mi) to the east is the rubble of houses used by the Arab al-Qulaytat."[10]
Petersen inspected the place in 1991, and found that the remains of the village consisted of several widely spaced rectangular houses, one storey high. Most houses were made of rough field stones laid dry, but with traces of older coursed masonry in places. The roofs were flat, made of earth on top of short branches, resting on transverse arches.[11]
