Ghuwayr Abu Shusha


Ghuwayr Abu Shusha was a Palestinian Arab village in the Tiberias Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on April 21, 1948. It was located 8 km north of Tiberias, nearby Wadi Rubadiyya.

History

In 1838 Edward Robinson found on the remains of a few dwellings, built of rough volcanic stones, some of which were still used as magazines by the Arabs of the plain. A wely with a white dome marked the spot. He found no traces of antiquity.
In 1850-1851 de Saulcy saw the village, which he described as ruined. Of the village, all which remained was a few portions of wall of modern appearance, "but in the midst of these is still standing a square vaulted tower, constructed in fine blocks of Herodian workmanship, or Roman of the early empire. This tower rests against a wall of more recent character."
In 1875 Victor Guérin visited and noted the little wely dedicated to Abou-Choutheh.
In 1881, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described it as containing 20 Moslems, with housed built of basalt, located round a mill. There were modern ruins in the village, and a number of ruined mills in the valley below.

British mandate era

In the 1945 statistics it had a population of 1,240 Muslims, with 8,609 dunams of land. Of this, 21 dunams were used for citrus and bananas, 1,377 for plantations and irrigable land, 1,848 dunams for cereals, while 6 dunams were classified as built-up area.
Ruins of watermills could be seen at the nearby Khirbat Abu Shusha.

1948, and aftermath

The village was depopulated after a military assault on 21 and 28 April 1948.
Ginosar presently occupy part of what was village land, so does Livnim, established in 1982 ca. 1 km northwest of the Ghuwayr Abu Shusha site.
In 1992 the village site was described: "The village site is covered with thorns and wild vegetation, including Christ's-thorn trees and cactuses. The shrine of Shaykh Muhammad and the remains of a mill can be seen among piles of stones and a few olive trees. The lower-lying lands are planted in bananas and citrus, while the highlands are used as grazing areas by the Israelis."

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