Beit 'Affa
| Bayt 'Affa | |
|---|---|
 Bayt 'Affa
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| Arabic | بيت عفا |
| Name meaning | The house of Affeh (or chaste) |
| Subdistrict | Gaza |
| Coordinates | 31°39′41″N 34°42′24″E / 31.66139°N 34.70667°ECoordinates: 31°39′41″N 34°42′24″E / 31.66139°N 34.70667°E |
| Palestine grid | 122/118 |
| Population | 700 (1945) |
| Area | 5,808 dunams |
| Date of depopulation | Not known |
Bayt 'Affa was a Palestinian village in the Gaza Subdistrict. It was depopulated and destroyed during the 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine. It was located 29 km northeast of Gaza and Wadi al-Rana ran east of the village.
The village had a khirba which contained the remains of walls made of ancient columns, uncut stones and a well.
Incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517 with all of Palestine , Bayt 'Affa appeared in the 1596 tax registers as being in the Nahiya of Gaza of the Liwa of Gazza. It had a population of 26 households, that is 143 inhabitants, all Muslim, who paid taxes on wheat, barley, vine yards and fruit trees.
In 1863, Victor Guérin found it to be a village of 400 inhabitants, surrounded by tobacco and cucumber fields, while an Ottoman village list of about 1870 indicated 37 houses and a population of 90, though the population count included men, only.
In 1883, the Palestine Exploration Fund's "Survey of Western Palestine", described Bayt 'Affa as resembling Iraq Suwaydan; that is, a moderate-sized adobe village situated on a plain. In addition, Bayt 'Affa was supplied with a well.
According to the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Bayt 'Affa had a population of 422 inhabitants, all Muslims. which had increased in the 1931 census to 462, still all Muslim.
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Wikipedia