In the 1870s, Arabs drove Jews out of Transjordan, attacking and burning their farms. They remain proud of this ethnic cleansing today. ~ Elder Of Ziyon

Thursday, August 14, 2025

In the 1870s, Arabs drove Jews out of Transjordan, attacking and burning their farms. They remain proud of this ethnic cleansing today.

In 1870, Jews revived the myth of the Yarmouk River and established two agricultural settlements on its northern bank in the Jerash Valley: one called Rahil (Rachel) (located between the villages of Duqara and Abu Zighan) and the other at Khirbet Aybta (near Majar, east of Jerash). These were intended as the nucleus for their future expansionist plans. A third settlement, Kfar Yehuda (today called Kfarhuda), was established in the Gilead region, halfway between Salt and the Jordan Valley, still referred to as “the Jew’s land” to this day. The settlers worked in agriculture during the day and stood guard at night, fearing attacks from neighboring residents. Four years later, they attempted to purchase additional lands to expand the settlements and bring in new settlers. At this point, Jordanians recognized the danger of a Jewish settlement nucleus on their lands and resolved to resist and thwart Zionist settlement in eastern Jordan.

In the summer of 1876, a meeting was held in the town of Sakab, known as “Sakab Night,” at the guesthouse of Sheikh Raja Mustafa Al-Ayasra to discuss the issue of Jewish land acquisitions in eastern Jordan. The meeting included sheikhs and notables from the Bani Hassan tribe and some northern Jordanian tribes, chaired by Sheikh Muflih Ubeidat, “Abu Kaid,” the sheikh of Kfar Som. The attendees decided to attack the two Jewish settlements with whatever weapons they had, and indeed, the fighters burned the settlements of Rahil and Khirbet Aybta, expelling the Jews from the area. They then proceeded to Salt and burned the third settlement, Kfar Yehuda. Afterward, the tribal leaders submitted a petition to the Ottoman Grand Vizier, demanding a ban on Jewish immigration to Jordan and Palestine and prohibiting their land acquisitions. This was the first nationalist action undertaken by Jordanians before the people of Palestine became aware of the Jewish threat, marking the first organized military operation against the Zionist idea on Jordanian and Arab lands, led by Muflih Al-Ubeidat. This action prevented Jewish settlement in our lands due to the early awareness of Jordanian tribes of the dangers of the Zionist project.

I've seen this mentioned (and celebrated) in other Arabic sites, but I haven't been able to find confirmation from Jewish sources. It is plausible that Arabs attacked Jewish farms - it happened a few years later at Rishon LeTzion.

This was all before Herzl and the idea of a modern Jewish state. In other words, this was not a coordinated attack on Zionists, but on Jews.

It is hardly surprising that Jews built communities on the east bank of the Jordan - everyone knew that as part of Palestine in the 19th century. The article's pretense that there was a separate "Jordanian" identity is as absurd as thinking there was a Palestinian Arab identity at the time.

So this article is a celebration of ethnic cleansing of Jews from Transjordan in the 19th century.

Not Zionists, not nationalists - Jews.