The Crusaders called the place for Broiquet.[6] In 1265, Burayka was among the villages and estates sultan Baibars allocated to his amirs after he had expelled the Crusaders. Half of the income from Burayka went to his emir Jamal al-Din Musa b. Yaghmur, the other half to emir 'Alam al-Din Sanjar al-Hilli al-Ghazzawi.[7]
Ottoman era
In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described it as "a small village on a hill-top, with a well to the north, and wooded country round."[8] A population list from about 1887 showed that Bureikeh had about 115 inhabitants, all Muslim.[9]
A school, founded in 1889 during the Ottoman period, was located in the village, but was closed during the British Mandate period.[6]
In the 1945 statistics the village had a population of 290 Muslims,[4] and Arabs had a total of 1,864 dunams of land according to an official land and population survey.[5] Of this, 78 dunams were for plantations and irrigable land, 1,538 for cereals,[6][11] while 15 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[12]
1948, aftermath
Initially, the villagers did not want to take part in the war, and they opposed garrisoningALA militiamen in their village.[13]
According to Yishuv sources, the AHC had in early March, 1948, ordered the villagers to evacuate, so that it could serve as a base for Arab irregular forces, However, most of the villagers seems to have stayed in the village at this stage.[14] The village was finally depopulated in early May, in the aftermath of the Battle of Mishmar HaEmek, when IZL attacked the remaining villages in the area with mortar fire.[15]
Today, a civilian explosives factory is located on the site.[16]
References
^ abMorris, 2004, p. xviii, village #161. Also gives cause of depopulation.
^ abBarron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Haifa, p. 34
^"תעשיות חרושת חומרי נפץ - היסטוריה" [Explosives industries - History]. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 30 November 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)