Ottoman era

In the late Ottoman era, in May, 1838, Edward Robinson visited during harvesting time. He noted that Al-Dawayima was situated on a hill, with a view of several villages to the east. During the harvest, several Christians from Beit Jala were employed here as labourers; the barley harvest was coming to an end, while the wheat harvest was just beginning.^[10] He further noted it as a Muslim village, between the mountains and Gaza, but subject to the government of el-Khulil.^[11]

In 1863 Victor Guérin visited twice, and he estimated that the village contained 900 inhabitants,^[12] while an Ottoman village list from about 1870 found that Dawaime had only a population of 85, in a total of 34 houses, though the population count included men, only. It also noted that it was located west of Hebron.^[13][14]

In 1883, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described al-Dawayima as a village on a high stony ridge that had olive groves beneath it. On a higher ridge to the west stood a shrine that was topped by a white stone.^[15]

• 
  Map with Al-Dawayima dated 1894. bottom centre
• 
  Al-Dawayima 1933 1:20,000
• 
  Al-Dawayima 1945 1:250,000

The people of al-Dawayima were Muslims. They maintained several religious shrines, chief among them the shrine of Shaykh ´Ali. This shrine had a large courtyard, a number of rooms, and one large hall for prayers, and was surrounded by fig and carob trees and cactuses. It attracted visitors from the neighboring villages.^[16] A mosque was located in the village center, it was maintained by the followers of al-tariqa al-khalwatiyya, a Sufi mystic order founded by Shaykh Umar al-Khalwati (d.1397)^[17]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, AI Dawaima had a population of 2,441 inhabitants, all Muslims,^[18] increasing in the 1931 census to 2,688, still all Muslim, in a total of 559 houses.^[19]

The villagers expanded and renovated the village mosque in the 1930s, and added a tall minaret.^[16]

In the 1945 statistics, Al-Dawayima had a population of 3,710 Muslims,^[4] with a total land area of 60.585 dunums of land.^[3] By 1944/45, 21,191 dunums of village land were allotted to cereals, 1,206 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards,^[20] while 179 dunams were built-up (urban) areas.^[21]

The Institute for Palestine Studies and The Palestinian Museum note the following about the town's built environment:

"Shops were scattered throughout the various neighborhoods of the village center. Houses were made of stone and mud, separated by narrow streets and alleys. The older houses were clustered closely together. Each set of houses shared a hawsh, a large courtyard that provided space for women to do their domestic chores, for children to play, and for families to gather in the evening and on special occasions. As the village expanded people began to build new houses outside of the village core. These new houses were larger and built of whitewashed stone some of them had thick, stone walls and were called jidaris (from the Arabic word for wall, jidar)....Each house had two levels: the upper level was occupied by the family members and the lower level by their animals. The houses of the well-to-do villagers had their own courtyards and large guest rooms, in addition to animal stables."^[22]

1948 war and aftermath

Al-Dawaymima was captured by Israel's Eighty Ninth Battalion (commanded by Dov Chesis) of the 8th Armored Brigade led by the founder of the Palmach, Yitzhak Sadeh, after Operation Yoav on 29 October 1948, five days after the start of the truce. It was the site of the al-Dawayima massacre in which 80–200 civilians were killed, including women and children.^[6] According to Lieutenant-General John Bagot Glubb, a British officer stationed with Jordanian's Arab Legion in Bethlehem and Hebron at that time, the massacre was calculated to drive out the villagers and had been reported by UN observers to involve 30 deaths.^[23] The massacre was cited by Yigal Allon as the reason for the halting of the creeping annexation that included Bayt Jibrin, Qubeiba and Tel Maresha.^[24] It was also seen as a reprisal by the Israelis for the massacre of Jews in Kfar Etzion months before, on May 13, 1948, by Palestinian fighters and some members of the Arab Legion.^[25]

The moshav of Amatzia was established in 1955 on land that had belonged to Al-Dawayima.^[26] According to the Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi :

"The site has been fenced in. A cowshed, a chicken coop, and granaries have been built at its center (which has been leveled). The southern side of the site contains stone terraces and the remnants of a house. The eastern side is occupied by the residential area of the moshav."

In 2013, the whole area, apart from some ancient Jewish remains, was bulldozed to pave the way for the erection of a new community called Karmei Katif, which was completed in 2016 and which houses evacuees of the Gaza Strip settlements. The new name is reminiscent of Gush Katif.^[5]

In popular culture

• In the 2008 film Salt of this Sea, Al-Dawayima is the village which Emad, the male protagonist, hails from. The village ruins serve as the temporary residence of the main characters, Emad and Soraya. The film is dedicated to the memory of the Al-Dawayima massacre.