Al-Basa 22.12.42
Translation with [comments]
[Al-Bassa was destroyed and massacred on 14 May 1948.]
Said to have been established about two hundred years ago. It is also said that Kafr al-Basa was on the beach. And the evidence for it: shells from the seashore are stuck to the rocks. Today the village is about two km away from the sea.
Water a water spring to the south of the village. The water is plentiful in winter and dry up by October November. Water is drawn by bucket. A second spring in the west of the village at al-Mushreifa [a name of a spring] with much water. The villagers water about three hundred dunam with it. The water is drawn by animals. A water hole 1 km away from the village called Bir Kafr Nabid. In the south there are about 180 holes. Most of them are new for rainwater, but not sufficient. Water is brought from a distance of two km from al-Mushreifa spring or other. The livestock is watered from al-Mushreifa spring or the Bir Kafr Nabid, or the animals are taken to water in Wadi Al-Qarn.
Roads the internal ones are paved by the local council and their condition is good. To the east runs a road to Akrash [should be Aqras, a village not mentioned in many maps and hence still information about is lacking] and further to the border of Erez Israel [namely, Palestine’s international border with Lebanon]. To the west a road that runs to the Haifa-Beirut highway. To the south the al-Kabri road [see file] To the north Mount al-Mushka, the Lebanese border.
Transportation: one bus, 4 small cars, two lorries, all belong to the village residents.
Buildings Most of them stone and loam; the stone is ancient, from the ancient caves around. Most of the roofs are wood and loam; the new ones concrete. The fences - barbed wire and brambles and some prickly pear.
Wadis from the north Wadi al-G'aran, from the south Wadi al-Bir, Wadi al-Qarn separates the land of Tarshiha from al-Basa.
Khirbes from the north Khirbat Dir-Shams, from the east Khirbat Ma'asuk, to the south-east Khirbat Hallah, ancient, still with forsaken buildings.
Livestock 300 heads of cattle, 1000 goats, 2000 chickens, 150 sheep.
Land 24 thousand dunams, both the plain and the mountainland are divided, except mount al-Mushka. The soil is red, yellow and white.
Plantations olives, orchards, fruit trees. Main crops: olives, citrus and field crops.
Land Owning Effendis 'Abed al-Fatah Sa'adi's heirs have olives and field crops. Raful al- Huam olives and field crops. 'Abed Al-Mafuah - olives. These families live in Acre and lease their land to residents of the village. There is forestland extending to about nine thousand dunams. The rest of the land is divided between 500 village families. There are families who have no land. They work for other families or in trade. Have not developed new land in recent years [this will appear about every village – a meaning less sentence with an obvious wish to primitivize the village]. There are 300 dunams irrigated from al-Mushrefa: orchards, vegetables and fruit. Have not received land from the government.
[Waqf] There are no ties to the waqf.
Number of residents in the village - 2500, men aged 18-48 - about 500.
The Families
Tanus family, 100 people, the leader Amin Al-'Isa.
Al-Huri family, 50 people, the leader Salim Al-Huri.
Liyus and Bulus families, 120 people, the leader Hudar al-Ahmad
Al-Ashkar, 60 people, the leader Mubdah Al-Liyus.
Kna'an, 35 people, the leader Tawfiq Al-Kna'an.
Three youths of the Huri family have completed their studies this year in Tyre.
Relations between the families are good and also with neighbouring villages.
Mukhtars
1. Yudi'a al-Asbah, 11 years in office, loved by all.
2. Hudar al-Ahmad, 7 years in office, loved by all.
3. Jabor al-Dabag, two years in office, appointed by the government during the uprising.
The first two are loved, the third hated. The first fled during the uprising so the government appointed the third, therefore the residents hate him.
Local Council the chairman: Salim Huri. Members - Muvada al-Liyus, Khalil Yusuf, Elias al-Huri, Yusuf Murtada, Mouhamad Darwish al-'Abdallah. The council was appointed by the government.
[Schools] There is a government school - 80 pupils. Also the "National Secondary" school that has boarding facilities. Reaches to second grade of secondary. 45 pupils board and there are another 85 both Muslim and Christian. The latter was established about thirty years ago by the mutran [bishop] Hajar. There used to be a communal Catholic school, but when Salim 'Attalah Diab of 'Ein Abel in Lebanon became the headmaster, in 1927, it changed its status to the "National School". The teachers: Diab Iskander Sa'id of Kafr Yasif, Ibrahim Barakat Bishara of al-Basa, Sa'id 'Ilabuni of Tiberias, Ibrahim Bulus of Kafr Yasif, Tawfiq 'Abdallah Daib of al-Basa, Yusuf J’afri of 'Alma Al-Sha'a in Lebanon, Sawfat al-Huri from al-Basa. In the open they are non-partisan but in effect they all tend to Haj Amin's party [the Mufti Haj Amin al-Husayni party was the Arab national party]- because they are all young, zealous and radical.
Artisans quarrymen, masons, cobblers - 5, tinkers - 2, one locksmith, plasterers - 4, drivers - 10, mechanics - 2. There is a surgeon, Ya'qub Zagreb of Lebanon, has been in the village 10 years.
[Shops] There are about sixty shops and three motorised oil presses and five oil presses worked with animals, 11 coffee shops and the rest commercial shops. The owners live off them.
Government Service there are about 15 small officials, in the customs, police and railway, mostly orderlies.
About 15 families have moved to Haifa, Acre and Jaffa for work.
[Guesthouses] There are no guesthouses.
Tax is levied by the local council from the residents, the households and workshops and trading houses. Every male pays an annual 50 Eretz Israel mil [Palestine coin that constitutes one thousandth of a pound], every household 50-200 EI mil, in addition the local council has issued to date 60 permits for shops, oil presses, coffee houses and pubs.
Notable Relatives in the British consulate in Egypt there is one official from Basa named George Yunan. Another official is Jaryus Faryot - treasurer in Acre.
[Jews] There are no ties with the Jews.
[Mosques and Churches] There is a mosque with a keeper but no preacher or imam. There are two churches, one for the Orthodox headed by the priest Abu Yassin Salah and one for the Catholics, headed by George Bishara. There are about 200 people with the security forces, among them guards at the new airport near al-Basa, 40 have enlisted to the army, of whom 4 are prisoners in Germany [a very unknown fact of the relative large number of Palestinian serving in the British army during the second world war]. [The Churches ruins are still visible to day in the exclusive Jewish town Shlomi built on the ruins of the village].
[Guards] There is no village guard.
Relations with the government are currently good.
[Finance] Most of the residents owe money. They loan from each other at a monthly interest of 20-30 EI mil per pound.
[Smuggling] The village of al-Basa is known for smuggling goods and people as it is on the Lebanese border. Smuggling is conducted across mount al-Mushka.
During the Troubles [the Arab Revolt] the village was not active in the events. Its members were not in the gangs [namely in the guerrilla units of the revolt].
Killed: during the uprising a mine exploded on the road to al-Basa. A British officer and two soldiers were killed. In retaliation a company of soldiers entered the village and shot at the residents, killed - Michail 'Uda, Richard Liyus, Shukri Liyus, Yusuf Yunan, Tawfiq Al-Jamal, Ahmad al-Jamal and two foreigners [volunteers from the Arab world]. The terrorists [the guerrilla fighters] killed two of the villagers - Sa'id al-Ghattas, Ahmad Al-Kna'an, accused of spying for the government. In the beginning of the uprising the rebels killed police sergeant Rashid Shaqer.
The government arrested a few of the villagers and they were released a week later. No trials were held against the villagers.
No arms were confiscated. The amount there today is unknown.
Damages following the explosion of the mine on the route of the soldiers - the army demolished 4 shops and 50 houses were damaged. The damages are estimated at 4000 EI pounds. The police laid a fine of 300 EI pounds for cutting the military barbed wire. The residents paid part then and the rest the government has not yet collected.
There are no exiles or deportees.
Note - in the village of al-Basa a cooperative was established in 1933 with a fund of 1400 EI pound - number of members 150, the secretary Jubran al-Azuah.