outside the village walls, for agriculture. In the 1945 statistics Kawkab al-Hawa had a population of 300 Muslims with a total of 9,949 dunes of land. Of this, a total of 5,839 dunums was allocated to cereals; 170 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards, while 56 dunams was built-up land. 1948 War and aftermath According to Benny Morris, Kibbutzniks demanded - and often themselves carried out - the destruction of neighbouring villages as a means of blocking the return of the Arab villagers. For this reason a veteran local leader, Nahum Hurwitz of Kfar Gil'adi appealed in a letter in September 1948 for permission to destroy Kawkab al-Hawa, Jabbul, al-Bira and al-Hamidiyya in the area for fear that they may be used by Arabs for military operations and to enable them to "take the village's lands, because the Arabs won't be able to return there". Walid Khalidi described the remaining structures of the village in 1992: "The village has been eliminated, but the site of the Belvoir Castle has been excavated and turned into a tourist attraction. Fig and olive trees grow on the village site. The slopes overlooking the Baysan Valley and Wadi al-Bira are used by Israelis as grazing areas; they also cultivate the other surrounding lands." According to Meron Benvenisti, Kawkab al-Hawa represents one of the most conspicuous examples of the Israeli practice of removing Arab settlements of all Arab structures which did not interest them. At Kawkab al-Hawa (and at Caesarea) all Arab structures (except those useful as tourist amenities) were demolished by the Israelis, while the Crusader buildings were restored and made into tourist attractions. According to Benvenisti: "In the Israeli context, it is preferable to immortalize those who exterminated the Jewish communities of Europe (in the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries) and murdered the Jews of Jerusalem in 1099 than to preserve relics of the local Arab civilization with which today's Israelis coexist. Crusader structures, both authentic and fabricated, lend a European, romantic character to the country's landscape, whereas Arab buildings spoil the myth of an occupied land under foreign rule, awaiting liberation at the hands of the Jews returning to their homeland." See also Depopulated Palestinian locations in Israel References Bibliography (Conder, 1874, pp. 179-180) (Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, pp. 177, 219) (pp. 310, 314, 329, 339) External links Welcome to Kawkab-al-Hawa Kawkab al-Hawa, Zochrot Survey of Western Palestine,