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Jimzu (), also known as Gimzo (meaning "sycamore plantation"), was a Palestinian village, located three miles southeast of Lod. Under the 1947 UN Partition Plan of Mandatory Palestine, Jimzu was to form part of the proposed Arab state. Map of UN Partition Plan During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the village was depopulated in a two-day assault by forces.
Under the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Jimzu's lands fell under the de facto governance of the newly created state of Israel. A year later, moshav Gimzo was established at the site of the former village and is now populated by 700 Israeli Jews residents.
Biblical scholar Edward Robinson passed through the village in 1838, and reported it to be "rather large", situated on an eminence, "to make quite a show at a distance". He also noted that the village had many subterranean magazines for storing grain.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol. 3, p. 56. Also cited in Khalidi, 1992, p. 386. It was noted as being situated in the Ramleh district.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol. 3, 2nd appendix, p. 121
In 1863 Victor Guérin found the village have 400 inhabitants, and to be surrounded by olive and palm trees. The village also had a Makam for a Sidi Ahmed. Each family had its own silo.Guérin, 1868, pp. 335-336
An Ottoman village list of about 1870 counted 83 houses and a population of 325 in Dschimzu, though the population count included men, only.Socin, 1879, p. 153 Also noted it to be in the Ramle districtHartmann, 1883, p. 140, also noted 83 houses
In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Jimzu as a village built of adobe bricks and situated on the side of a low hill, surrounded by cactus hedges and olive trees.Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 297, Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 386
The villagers of Jimzu maintained a mosque. An elementary school was established in the village in 1920, and by the mid-1940s it had 175 students.Khalidi, 1992, p. 386
Most villagers worked in agriculture. In the 1945 statistics, the population was 1,510, all Muslims, while the total land area was 9,681 , according to an official land and population survey. Of this, a total of 77 Dunam was devoted to citrus and , while 5,577 dunums were allocated to cereals. 1,605 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards, of which 1,400 dunums was for ,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 115 while 50 dunams were classified as built-up public areas.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 165
The settlement of Gimzo was established on village land in 1950. Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi described the remains of Jimzu in 1992: "All that remains of the houses are stones, strewn over the site, and some crumbled walls. The site is overgrown with shrubs and thorny plants. Other kind of vegetation also grow on village land, including Christ's-thorn trees, foxtail, cactuses, and some abandoned olive trees."
1948 war
Jizmu was occupied by the Yiftach Brigade, of the newly formed Israeli army, on July 10, 1948, in the first phase of Operation Dani.
According to Benny Morris:"The intention, from the first, was to depopulate Jimzu. On 10 July, Yiftah Brigade HQ informed Dani HQ: Our forces are clearing the 'Innaba-Jimzu-Daniyal area and are torching everything that can be burned.'"Morris, 2004, p. 435
The following day (11 July) Yiftach informed Dani Headquarters, that its forces had conquered Jimzu and Daniyal and were "busy clearing the villages and blowing up the houses '''oskot"Yiftah HQ\Intelligence to Dani HQ, etc., 11 July 1948, IDFA 922\75\\1237. Quoted in Morris, 2004, p. 435 All of Jimzu's inhabitants left as a result of the assault by Israeli forces. Its 434 homes were demolished on September 13, 1948.
See also
Bibliography
(1977). 9783920405414, Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft. . ISBN 9783920405414
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