Najd

The village of Najd stood on a flat elevated area in the southern coastal plain, overlooking the surrounding agricultural lands. It was connected by secondary roads to several points along the main Gaza–Al-Majdal highway and to neighboring villages.

In 1596, Najd was recorded as a village in the Gaza subdistrict (Liwa Gaza), with a population of 215. It paid taxes on a variety of agricultural products, including wheat, barley, and fruit, in addition to other forms of production and assets such as goats, beehives, and vineyards.

The American biblical scholar Edward Robinson, who visited the region in 1838, noted that Najd was located to the south of a wadi, and that its inhabitants were planting barley using wooden plows in the wind.

By the late 19th century, Najd was a small village with a well and a cistern. Its population grew during the British Mandate period, and the village expanded northwestward. The residents, all of whom were Muslim, sent their children to the school in the nearby village of Simsim, located about two kilometers to the northeast.

The people of Najd primarily worked in agriculture and poultry farming. Grain and fruit orchards surrounded the village from all sides, with fruit trees concentrated in the northern and northeastern parts. These were irrigated using water from wells, and the trees were also planted in the wadis that traversed the village lands.

In 1944–1945, a total of:

• 10 dunums were allocated for citrus and bananas,

• 11,916 dunums for cereals,

• and 511 dunums were irrigated or used as orchards.

South of the village lay the site of Khirbat Najd, which contained stone foundations of old buildings, caves, and cisterns.

Occupation and Ethnic Cleansing of the Village

The residents of Najd were expelled on May 13, 1948, just days before the declaration of the State of Israel. Israeli historian Benny Morris notes that the residents of the neighboring village of Simsim were also expelled at the same time by the Negev Brigade of the Palmach. This brigade launched a series of small attacks to the north and east in coordination with the southward advance of the Giv’ati Brigade during the first half of May.

The Village Today

The site is overgrown with vegetation and a few old trees, suggesting that it may have been reclassified as a nature reserve. The area is covered with prickly pear (sabra) plants, Christ’s Thorn shrubs (Ziziphus spina-christi), and sycamore trees. The ruins of building walls are still present but indistinguishable, making it difficult to determine their former use. An irrigation channel is also visible on the site. The surrounding lands are currently cultivated by Israeli farmers.

Zionist Settlements on Village Lands

Two settlements were established on the village lands:

• Sderot, founded in 1951, to the south of the village site,

• Or HaNer, founded in 1957, near the site to the northeast.