Bayyarat Hannun

The village, which was classified as a farm in the Index Gazetteer of Palestine, was situated on an elevated piece of land slightly higher than the surrounding flat terrain. To the south of the village, there was an artificial pond. One of its most prominent landmarks was a large house. A secondary road connected the village to nearby towns and villages, and one of these roads passed directly through the village, dividing it into eastern and western sections.

The first part of the village’s name, “Bayarat” (meaning “orchard”), suggests that the village may have been established during the citrus cultivation boom that began in the coastal regions of Palestine in the 1880s.

Occupation and Ethnic Cleansing

Like many other villages in the Tulkarm subdistrict, Bayarat Hannun was likely affected by the war from its early stages. Although the exact date of its occupation is not precisely known, this part of the coastal area was densely populated by Jewish settlements and became a target for “cleansing” by late March 1948.

At that time, the Haganah and Irgun launched attacks on several villages in the region, expelling their inhabitants and terrorizing others, leading them to flee. According to Israeli historian Benny Morris, the residents of the nearby village of Umm Khalid were displaced during March and early May.

The Village Today

A large, two-story abandoned house still stands on the site, although parts of it have been destroyed. Each floor consists of three large rooms. An artificial pond lies near the western side of the house, and a wall extends from the house in an east-west direction. The rooms on the lower floor are currently used as storage for agricultural equipment.

Avocado orchards surround the house from the north and west, and citrus groves lie to the south. At the eastern edge of the site, there is a group of ruined houses.

Israeli Settlements on Village Lands

The lands of Bayarat Hannun have been incorporated into the lands of the village of Ghabat Kafr Sur. The southern section of the settlement of Netanya is located approximately half a kilometer from the site of Bayarat Hannun.