Al-Shaykh Muwannis

Al-Shaykh Muwannis lay north of Jaffa in the Jaffa subdistrict of the Southern District.[3][4] Archival catalog records list the locality under the names "Ash Sheikh Muwannis" and "Sheikh Muwannis" and identify registration blocks 6898, 6899, and 6900. The catalog dates plans for blocks 6898 and 6900 to 1935 and marks the September 1935 date for block 6899 as uncertain.[3] A separate registration block within land cataloged as Ash Sheikh Muwannis, block 6628, is identified as En Nusraniya; a 1933 Survey of Palestine plan recorded its area as 686.412 dunams.[3]

As of April 1, 1945, the village's total land was recorded as 15,972 dunams: 11,456 under Arab ownership, 3,545 under Jewish ownership, and 971 as public land.[2] The underlying figures were drawn from land-settlement records where title settlement had been completed and from tax-distribution records elsewhere.[2]

The village's origins are imprecisely dated in the available accounts. One places its probable establishment in the eighteenth century, while another dates its founding to the nineteenth century.[4][5] The latter account situates the village along the boundary of Tel Qasile, described as a Philistine settlement dating to the twelfth century BCE, and states that Sheikh Muwannis remained under Ottoman rule until British forces captured it in a surprise attack in February 1917.[5]

Kressel and Aharoni describe Sheikh Muwanis as one of six Egyptian settlements established north of Jaffa, alongside Faja, Jaljuliya, Em-Mlabes, Sumeil, and Salame.[1] In their account, the newcomers cultivated land that inhabitants of the eastern hill regions used seasonally and left after the summer harvest.[1] The authors also attribute to Ever Hadani a 1951 account that the settlers eventually prevented the landowners from returning to their fields; they present this as a cited historical account rather than a quantified land survey.[1]

During the lead-up to Israel's War of Independence, village notables sought to keep Sheikh Muwannis out of the fighting.[4] They maintained contact with the Haganah and the Tel Aviv municipality, pledged that the village would not participate in hostilities, and worked to prevent irregular Arab fighters from entering.[4]

On March 12, 1948, Lehi members kidnapped five village residents; a subsequent Haganah report stated that "the village is angry."[4] In mid-March, Haganah forces surrounded the village and severed its connections to the Arab hinterland to prevent hostile forces from entering it. Residents began leaving during this period.[4] On March 30, units of the Kiryati Brigade and a General Service unit entered the village and found it empty. Its territory was thereafter incorporated into Tel Aviv.[4]

Following Israel's establishment, Lehi was disbanded. Nathan Yellin-Mor conducted a final honor guard of his men at Sheikh Munis as the members emerged from the underground to enlist in the newly formed Israel Defense Forces.[6]

At the end of 1944, the population was estimated at 1,930 Arabs, with no Jewish population recorded.[2] The publication cautioned that its locality-level population figures were rough estimates and were less reliable than its broader subdistrict and countrywide totals.[2] A later account put the village's population at more than 2,000 in 1948 and identified it as the largest village in the area between Tel Aviv and Herzliya.[4]

A prominent building on village land, known as the Green House, was described in 2005 as having been erected a little more than 120 years earlier, placing its construction roughly in the early 1880s.[5] During the British Mandate, its upper two floors served as residences while its ground floor housed commercial activity. In March 1948, all three floors became a Lehi headquarters.[5]

From Israel's establishment until Tel Aviv University opened in 1964, the Green House provided temporary housing for new immigrants and soldiers.[5] It was renovated in 1992 and converted into a conference and events center and restaurant while continuing to serve as a club for senior university faculty.[5]

The former village territory was incorporated into Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv University and several streets in neighborhoods north of the Yarkon River were later built on land identified as having belonged to the village.[4]

The Eretz Israel Museum in northern Tel Aviv has been identified in one account as standing on the site of the village's ruins.[7] In 2013, the museum hosted a conference on Palestinian refugee repatriation organized by the Israeli NGO Zochrot and titled "From Truth to Redress: Realizing the Return of Palestinian Refugees."[7]

The village's name has continued to appear in contemporary geographic and political contexts. A 2008 Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs article stated that Ramat Aviv, the site of Tel Aviv University, appeared on Google Earth as "Al Shaykh Muwannis" and characterized the label as part of a politically motivated Palestinian mapping effort.[8] In 2018, passengers aboard a Swiss flight approaching the Tel Aviv coast saw "Sheikh Munis" displayed on seat-back navigation screens. The airline said it used geographic maps supplied by an outside provider and would investigate, adding that it sought to remain neutral on political and international issues.[4]

A petition submitted to the president of Tel Aviv University by activist Elinor Amit called on the university to formally commemorate the village in its official papers. The petition asserted that the village had stood on the university's site before 1948.[9]