Edward Henry Palmer thought that the name Amka derived from the Arabic word for “deep”,[2]
but according to Ringgren, it preserves the name of Beth Ha-Emek, a city mentioned in Joshua 19:27 as part of the allotment of the Tribe of Asher.[3]
History
Ancient period
Amka is identified with Kefar Amiqo (Hebrew: כפר עמיקו), a place mentioned in the Mishnah and Tosefta.[4]Walid Khalidi writes that during the Roman period, the village located at the site was called Kefar Amqa.[5]
In 1283, Amka was mentioned as part of the domain of the Crusaders during the hudna between the Crusaders based in Acre and the Mamluk sultan al-Mansur (Qalawun).[8]
Ottoman Empire
Incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517, Amqa appeared in the 1596 tax registers as being in the nahiya (subdistrict) of Akka under the liwa' (district) of Safad, with a population of 215.[9] All the inhabitants were Muslim.[10] The villagers paid taxes on a number of crops, such as wheat, barley, olives, cotton and fruit, and on other types of produce, such as goats and beehives.[9][11]
In the early 18th century, the village was under control of Shaykh Najm. He had an agreement to sell the cotton from this and other villages under his control exclusively to the Dutch trader Paul Maashook. In return, Maashook would pay the miri (tax slated for funding the annual Hajj caravan), which was normally payable by the village shaykhs (chiefs).[12] The Syrian Sufi teacher and traveler Mustafa al-Bakri al-Siddiqi (1688–1748/9), who traveled through the region in the first half of the 18th century, said that he prayed in the village after visiting the citadel of Atlit.[5] In 1776 the village was used as a base by Ahmad Pasha al-Jazzar to suppress a revolt led by Ali al-Zahir, one of the sons of Sheikh Zahir al-Umar, who ruled the Galilee between 1730 and 1775.[13]
Excavations in Amka
A map by Pierre Jacotin from Napoleon's invasion of 1799 showed the place, misnamed as El Mead,[14] In the late 19th century, the village was described as being built of stone, situated on a slight rise in a valley, surrounded by olive and fig trees, and arable land. There were an estimated 300 Druze living there.[15] Later, the residents were described as Muslims who maintained a village mosque. In 1887, the Ottoman authorities built a school in ´Amqa.[5]
A population list from about 1887 showed that Amka had about 740 inhabitants, all Muslim.[16]
In 1945, the population of Amqa was 1,240 Muslims,[22] with over 6,000 dunums (1,500 acres) of land according to an official land and population survey.[18] Of this, 1,648 dunams were plantations and irrigable land; 3,348 used for cereals,[23] while 36 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[24]
Israel
People from neighboring villages began to seek refuge in 'Amqa in May 1948. The village was attacked on 10-11 July by the Sheva' (Seventh) Brigade and the First Battalion of the Carmeli Brigade.[25] It was captured on 16 July 1948 during Operation Dekel and largely destroyed, with the exception of the school and mosque. Most of the inhabitants left with the exception of the Druze residents who still live nearby. Some inhabitants remained in Israel as present absentees.[26] On 1 March 1949 a UN observer reported a large group of villagers from 'Amqa seeking refuge in Salim. Another group arrived on 26 March.[27] In February 1950, the village was declared a closed area.[28] The Arab population remained under Martial Law until 1966.
In 1949, a group of Yemenite Jewish immigrants settled in Amka.[citation needed][29][30] The elementary school for boys founded in 1887 and the village mosque remained untouched although other structures were razed in the late 1950s.[5][31][32] According to Petersen, the mosque and school were used as warehouses.[5][33]
Archaeological sites
Three khirbas (archaeological ruins) lay within Amka's vicinity and contain the foundations of buildings, well-chiseled building stones, presses, and a cistern. During archaeological searches of the area remnants of a Byzantine church were discovered but due to the destruction of the village no foundations could be established.[34][35][36] The Amka mosque was inspected by Petersen in 1991. The date of the mosque construction is not known, but it bears a general similarity to the nearby mosque of al-Ghabisiyya, and is probably of a similar age, i.e. early 19th century.[33]
^ abHütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 192. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 4
^39 households, according to Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 192
^Note that Rhode, 1979, p. 6Archived 2019-04-20 at the Wayback Machine writes that the register that Hütteroth and Abdulfattah studied was not from 1595/6, but from 1548/9
^Cohen, 1973, p.12. Cited in Petersen, 2001, p. 93
^Morris, 2004, p. xvii, village #85. Also gives cause of depopulation.
^ abGovernment of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 40Archived 2018-09-15 at the Wayback Machine
^Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 80Archived 2018-09-15 at the Wayback Machine
^Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 130Archived 2018-09-15 at the Wayback Machine
^Khalidi, Walid, ed. (1992). All that remains: the Palestinian villages occupied and depopulated by Israel in 1948. Washington, D.C: Institute for Palestine Studies. pp. 4–5. ISBN978-0-88728-224-9.
^Charles S. Kamen (1987). "After the Catastrophe I: The Arabs in Israel, 1948-51". Middle Eastern Studies. 23 (4): 453–495. doi:10.1080/00263208708700721.; Sabri Jiryis (1973). "The Legal Structure for the Expropriation and Absorption of Arab Lands in Israel". Journal of Palestine Studies. 2 (4): 82–104. doi:10.1525/jps.1973.2.4.00p0099c.
Barag, Dan (1979). "A new source concerning the ultimate borders of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem". Israel Exploration Journal. 29 (3/4): 197–217. JSTOR27925726.
Cohen, A. (1973), Palestine in the Eighteenth Century: Patterns of Government and Administration. Hebrew University, Jerusalem. Cited in Petersen, (2001)
Frankel, Rafael (1988). "Topographical notes on the territory of Acre in the Crusader period". Israel Exploration Journal. 38 (4): 249–272. JSTOR27926125.
