01In brief
Al-Qubayba (also rendered El Qubeiba or Kubebah) was an Arab village in the Ramle Sub-District of Mandatory Palestine. In 1945, it had 1,720 Arab residents and 10,737 dunums of land, including 8,889 Arab-owned and 1,397 Jewish-owned dunums. It was occupied by the Giv'ati Brigade during the War of Independence on 27 May 1948. On 20 June 1948, the question of its destruction was raised within Israel's provisional government, but the reviewed sources do not establish what was destroyed or the full extent.
02Overview
Al-Qubayba was an Arab village west of al-Ramla in the Ramle Sub-District, recorded in British Mandate statistics as "Qubeiba, El."[1] A 1948 chronology uses both "al Qubayba" and "al Qubeiba." It reports the village's occupation on 27 May 1948 and a provisional-government discussion of its destruction on 20 June 1948.[2]
03History
Al-Qubayba, situated west of al-Ramla, was occupied on 27 May 1948 under Operation Barak by the Giv'ati Brigade.[2] The chronology records that Brigade commander Shimon Avidan stated he "wanted only empty villages." No further account of the specific circumstances at Al-Qubayba is unambiguously identified in the entry.[2]
On 20 June 1948, Minority Affairs Minister Bechor Shitrit raised the question of the "destruction of al Qubeiba and Zamuga."[2] Yitzhak Gvirtz, director of Absentee Property, is recorded as accepting that Arabs should not return to the villages while questioning "the wanton destruction."[2] The chronology does not establish what destruction occurred at Al-Qubayba or its full extent.
04Demographics
The 1945 statistics list the locality as "Qubeiba, El" in the Ramle Sub-District.[1] The figures describe conditions as of 1 April 1945, with population estimates referring to the end of 1944. They record 1,720 Arab residents and no Jewish residents.[1] The total land area was 10,737 dunums: 8,889 Arab-owned, 1,397 Jewish-owned, and 451 public.[1]
A separate study discusses a village spelled "Kubebah" or "Kubeba," located west of Zarnūqa alongside Yibneh and Bashīt, whose inhabitants it describes as primarily Egyptian émigrés.[3] Its table gives populations of 519 in 1922 and 2,720 in 1944 and labels the change a 211% increase; those raw figures instead imply an increase of about 424%.[3] The authors argue that the growth could not have resulted from natural increase alone.[3] They also report that Philip Baldensperger said in 1893 that the inhabitants of "Zarnūqa, Kubeba, and the other villages in the south were Egyptians" and were called Masriyīn by local peasants.[3] The study does not explicitly identify this Kubebah or Kubeba as Al-Qubayba of the Ramle Sub-District. Because its 1944 population also conflicts with the official 1,720 figure for Qubeiba, El, the identification remains unconfirmed.[1][3]
05Notes on Sources and Identification
The place name appears in several forms across the sources, including Al-Qubayba, al Qubeiba, El Qubeiba, Kubebah, and Kubeba. The chronology says it reproduced Arabic place names from its underlying texts without standardizing their spelling and cautions that dates may differ between Israeli archival records and Palestinian memory.[2] These variations do not by themselves establish that every similarly spelled locality is the same village. The Egyptian-emigration material therefore remains provisional for this specific place.[3]
Sources
- 1Internet Archive, Village Statistics 1945: A Classification of Land and Area Ownership in Palestine, accessed on October 1, 2026.
- 2Internet Archive, Full text of "Countdown To Catastrophe Palestine 1948 A Daily Chronology Hugh Humphries", accessed on October 1, 2026.
- 3Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Egyptian Émigrés in the Levant of the 19th and 20th Centuries, accessed on October 1, 2026.
IsraelPedia Question & Answers
What was Al-Qubayba in the Ramle Sub-District?
Al-Qubayba was an Arab village in the Ramle Sub-District of Mandatory Palestine. In 1945, it had 1,720 Arab residents and a total land area of 10,737 dunums, of which 8,889 dunums were Arab-owned and 1,397 were Jewish-owned. It was occupied by the Giv'ati Brigade during the War of Independence on 27 May 1948.
How was Al-Qubayba occupied during the War of Independence?
Al-Qubayba was occupied on 27 May 1948 under Operation Barak by the Giv'ati Brigade. Brigade commander Shimon Avidan is recorded as having stated he "wanted only empty villages." No further account of the specific circumstances at Al-Qubayba is unambiguously identified in the available sources.
What did Israel's provisional government discuss regarding Al-Qubayba in June 1948?
On 20 June 1948, Minority Affairs Minister Bechor Shitrit raised the question of the "destruction of al Qubeiba and Zamuga" within Israel's provisional government. Yitzhak Gvirtz, director of Absentee Property, accepted that Arabs should not return to the villages while questioning "the wanton destruction." The reviewed sources do not establish what destruction actually occurred at Al-Qubayba or its full extent.
Why does the identification of Al-Qubayba with villages described in some sources remain unconfirmed?
A separate study discusses a village spelled "Kubebah" or "Kubeba," located west of Zarnūqa, whose inhabitants it describes as primarily Egyptian émigrés, but it does not explicitly identify that village as Al-Qubayba of the Ramle Sub-District. The study's 1944 population figure of 2,720 also conflicts with the official figure of 1,720 recorded for Qubeiba, El, leaving the identification unconfirmed. The place name itself appears in several forms across sources, and the sources caution that these variations do not by themselves establish that every similarly spelled locality is the same village.