Yajur, Haifa

Yajur ياجور
Etymology: from personal name[1]
1870s map 1940s map modern map 1940s with modern overlay map A series of historical maps of the area around Yajur, Haifa (click the buttons)
Yajur Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 32°45′31″N 35°03′26″E / 32.75861°N 35.05722°E / 32.75861; 35.05722
Palestine grid	155/240
Geopolitical entity	Mandatory Palestine
Subdistrict	Haifa
Date of depopulation	April 25, 1948[4]
Area [3]
• Total	2,720 dunams (2.72 km2 or 1.05 sq mi)
Population  (1945)
• Total	610[2][3]
Cause(s) of depopulation	Military assault by Yishuv forces
Secondary cause	Influence of nearby town's fall
Current Localities	Yagur[5]

Yajur (Arabic: ياجور, Yâjûr) was a Palestinian Arab village located 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) southeast of Haifa. It was depopulated during the 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on April 25, 1948.

Fragments of glass, and tombs with sarcophagi are located in the old village area today.^[5]

Yajur was mentioned as part of the domain of the Crusaders during the hudna (truce) between the Crusaders based in Acre and the Mamluk sultan Al Mansur Qalawun declared in 1283.^[6]

In 1799, it was noted on the map that Pierre Jacotin compiled that year, though it was misnamed as Beled el Charq (=Balad al-Sheikh).^[7]

In 1872, the Ottoman authorities sold land in Yajur to two Lebanese businessmen, Sursock and Salim al-Khuri.^[8]

In 1875, Victor Guérin found the village to have about 200 inhabitants, and that it was surrounded by fig and olive trees.^[9]

A population list from about 1887 showed that Yajur had about 150 inhabitants; all Muslims.^[10]

In the early twentieth century the village, named El-Yadschur, was noted with 153 inhabitants. The village had a mosque. It was also noted that the villagers no longer owned their land, as it was owned by a selim el-churi, who planned to start silk production in the village.^[11]

In the 1922 census of Palestine Yajur had a population of 202; all Muslims,^[12] while in the 1931 census it was counted with Nesher; together they had 1,449 inhabitants; 554 Muslim, 26 Christians and 858 Jews, in addition to 11 with no religion, in a total of 291 houses.^[13]

The area was acquired by the Jewish community as part of the Sursock Purchase. The Lebanese landowners sold land in Yajur to the Zionists, who in turn established the kibbutz of Yagur in 1922 on what had traditionally been village land.^[8]

The village population in the 1945 statistics was 610; 560 Muslims and 50 Christians,^[2][3] with a total of 2,720 dunams of land.^[3] Of this, Arabs used 57 dunums of land for plantations and irrigable land, 261 for cereals,^[14] while 18 dunams were classified as built-up land.^[15]

Following the war the area was incorporated into the State of Israel. In 1992, the village site was described: "No traces of the houses remain on the site, which is marked by numerous fig trees and a smaller number of olive trees."^[5] Kibbutz Yagur uses part of Yajur's former land for agriculture, with cement factories on another part.^[5]

• 
  Yajur 1925
• 
  Yajur 1926
• 
  Yajur (Yagur) Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF) map. 1875
• 
  Yajur 1942 1:20,000
• 
  Yajur 1945 1:250,000

• Welcome To Yajur
• al-Yajur, Zochrot
• Survey of Western Palestine, Map 5: IAA, Wikimedia commons
• Yajur, from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center