Iraq al-Manshiyya
| Iraq al-Manshiyya | |
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Place of Iraq al-Manshiyya
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 Iraq al-Manshiyya
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| Arabic | عراق المنشية |
| Name meaning | "The cliff of the place of growth" |
| Also spelled | 'Iraq al-Manshiya, Arak el Menshiyeh |
| Subdistrict | Gaza |
| Coordinates | 31°36′17″N 34°46′59″E / 31.60472°N 34.78306°ECoordinates: 31°36′17″N 34°46′59″E / 31.60472°N 34.78306°E |
| Palestine grid | 129/112 |
| Population | 2010 (1945) |
| Area | 17,901 dunams 17.9 km² |
| Date of depopulation | February–June 1949 |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Expulsion by Yishuv forces |
| Current localities | Gat,Kiryat Gat,Sde Moshe |
Iraq al-Manshiyya (Arabic: عراق المنشية) was a Palestinian Arab village located 32 km northeast of Gaza City. The village contained two mosques and a shrine for Shaykh Ahmad al-Arayni. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
The village was located 32 km north-east of Gaza, in an area of rolling hills, where the coastal plain and the foothills of the Hebron mountains merged. It was on the south side of the highway between al-Faluja to the north-west, and Bayt Jibrin to the east.
It was also located at the foot of Tell Maqam Shaykh Ahmad al-Arayni (now: Tel Gat). It has been speculated that the mound was of Assyrian origin.
Remains from the Early Bronze Age and Iron Age have been excavated at the foot of the Tell, and a Byzantine era burial site has been found south-west of the Tell.
A khan was established in 717 H. (1317-1318 C.E.) by al-Malik Jukandar during the reign of the Mamluk sultan al-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qalawun. This is according to inscriptions on either side of the entrance to the Maqam Shaykh Ahmad al-Arayni, at the summit of the tell. However, Sharon thinks that the inscription text was not in situ, but originally came from a khan, As-Sukkariya, located 5 km south of the Maqam.
Iraq al-Manshiyya, like the rest of Palestine, was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517, and in the census of 1596 it was a village in the nahiya (subdistrict) of Gaza under the liwa' (district) of Gaza, with a population of 61. It paid taxes on a number of crops, including wheat, and barley, as well as goats and beehives.
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