al-Kunayyisa

The village stood on a hill that sloped gently to the north, on the eastern edge of the coastal plain. Hills surrounded it on all sides except the south, where it overlooked a wadi. AI-Kunayyisa lay less than 2 km to the northeast of the Ramla-Jerusalem highway, and was linked to it-and to neighboring villages as well-by dirt paths. The village was established over an earlier settlement whose ruins contained building foundations, fallen masonry, cisterns, and rock-cut tombs. Most of its inhabitants came from the adjacent villages of 'Innaba and al-Qubab to farm the land, and gradually they settled there. All of the villagers were Muslims; their adobe brick houses were clustered together, separated only by narrow alleys. Rainfed agriculture constituted the backbone of their economy and was based on grain cultivation. The villagers also cultivated citrus and olives in the northern and southern parts of their lands, which they irrigated from nearby wells. In 1944/45 a total of 2,432 dunums was planted in cereals; 64 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards. To the east of al-Kunayyisa lay a khirba which contained rough stone walls, building foundations, and rock-hewn cisterns.