Al-Tira, Ramle

Al-Tira was a Palestinian Arab village in the Ramle Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War on July 10, 1948 by the Alexandroni and Armored (Eighth) brigades under Operation Dani. It was located 12 km northeast of Ramla. al-Tira was mostly destroyed with the exception of a few houses survived destruction.

History

A cistern, dating from the pre-Byzantine era, have been excavated.

Ottoman era

In 1517, Tira was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire along with the rest of Palestine, and by 1596 it was a part of the nahiya ("subdistrict") of Ramla, which was under the administration of the liwa ("district") of Gaza. A village of 160, it paid taxes on wheat, barley, vineyards, fruit trees, beehives, and goats.

In 1870, Victor Guérin found it to be a “village of seven hundred inhabitants, with gardens planted with fig trees and pomegranates, separated from each other by hedges of cactus.” Guérin also found here caves and a tomb cut in the rock; also, still standing, the door of an ancient house, its two jambs formed of great cut stones covered by a splendid block forming the lintel, and formerly decorated by mouldings, now effaced.

Ramla

Ramla (Hebrew: רַמְלָה, Ramla; Arabic: الرملة‎, ar-Ramlah) (also Ramlah,Ramle, Remle and sometimes Rama) is a city in central Israel. The city is predominantly Jewish with a significant Arab minority. Ramla was founded circa 705–715 CE by the Umayyad governor and future caliph Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik. Ramla lies along the route of the Via Maris, connecting old Cairo (Fustat) with Damascus, at its intersection with the road connecting the port of Jaffa with Jerusalem.

It was conquered many times in the course of its history, by the Abbasids, the Ikhshidids, the Fatimids, the Seljuqs, the Crusaders, the Mameluks, the Turks, the British, and the Israelis. After an outbreak of the Black Death in 1347, which greatly reduced the population, an order of Franciscan monks established a presence in the city. Under Arab and Ottoman rule the city became an important trade center. Napoleon's French Army occupied it in 1799 on its way to Acre.

The town had an Arab majority before most of its Arab inhabitants were expelled or fled during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The town was subsequently repopulated by Jewish immigrants. In 2001, 80% of the population were Jewish and 20% Arab (16% Arab Muslims and 4% Arab Christians).