Iqrit
| Iqrit | |
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Saint Mary's Church in Iqrit
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 Iqrit
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| Arabic | إقرث |
| Name meaning | from personal name |
| Also spelled | Iqreet, Akrith |
| Subdistrict | Acre |
| Coordinates | 33°04′32″N 35°16′31″E / 33.07556°N 35.27528°ECoordinates: 33°04′32″N 35°16′31″E / 33.07556°N 35.27528°E |
| Palestine grid | 176/275 |
| Population | 490 (1945) |
| Area | 21,711 dunams 21.7 km² |
| Date of depopulation | early November, 1948 |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Expulsion by Yishuv forces |
| Current localities | Shomera,Even Menachem,GorenGornot ha-Galil |
Iqrit (Arabic: إقرت or إقرث, Iqrith), was a Palestinian Christian village, located 25 kilometres (16 miles) northeast of Acre. Originally allotted to form part of an Arab state under the 1947 UN Partition Plan, it was seized and forcefully depopulated by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and their territory later became part of the new State of Israel. All of its Christian inhabitants were forced to flee to Lebanon or the Israeli village of Rameh, after they were expelled by Jewish forces in 1948, and, despite the promise that they would be returned in two weeks' time, the villagers were never allowed to return. In 1951, in response to a plea from the Iqrit villagers, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the former residents of Iqrit be allowed to return to their homes. However, before that happened, the IDF, despite awareness of the Supreme Court decision, destroyed the previously Christian village on Christmas Day, 1951. Descendants to this day maintain an outpost in the village church, and bury their dead in its cemetery. All attempts to cultivate its lands are uprooted by the Israeli Lands Administration.
Iqrit contains mosaic floors, remains of a wine press, rock-hewn tombs, cisterns, and granite implements. The village also has many other archaeological sites in its vicinity. The Canaanites erected a statue for the god Melqart of Tyre in the village. When the Crusaders occupied Iqrit, they called it Acref. Açref is a name still commonly used for the village among surrounding Bedouin tribes. The village area contained numerous archaeological sites.
Incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517 with all of Palestine, Iqrit appeared in the 1596 tax registers as being in the nahiya (subdistrict) of Akka under the Liwa of Safad with a population numbered 374, and an economy dependent largely on goats, beehives and agriculture. There was a press used for olive or grape production.
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