Bayt Thul

Coordinates: 31°49′21″N 35°04′26″E / 31.82250°N 35.07389°E / 31.82250; 35.07389
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Bayt Thul
بيت ثول
Village
Etymology: The house of Tul (meaning length)[1]
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Bayt Thul (click the buttons)
Geopolitical entity
Mandatory Palestine
SubdistrictJerusalem
Date of depopulationNot known[4]
April 1, 1948[5]
Area
[3]
 • Total4,629 dunams (4.629 km2 or 1.787 sq mi)
Population
 (1945)
 • Total260[2][3]
Current LocalitiesNataf,[6] Neve Ilan[7]

Bayt Thul was a

1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on April 1, 1948, under Operation Nachshon. It was located 15.5 km west of Jerusalem
.

Name

In 1874, Clermont-Ganneau noted the similarity between the name "Beit Thul" and the Bethulia mentioned in the Book of Judith. He added that according to local fellahin, the town was previously recognized by Christians as Qal'at Fertin, signifying "the fortress of Fertin". It was named after a Christian or pagan king who once ruled the area and held dominion over the entire vicinity before meeting his demise in a catastrophic "deluge" emanating from the Tannur of Abu Shusheh, submerging the entire region.[8]

History

Ottoman era

Bayt Thul, like the rest of

Muslim. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 33,3% on various agricultural products, such as wheat, barley, olive trees, in addition to "occasional revenues"; a total of 1,860 akçe.[10]

In 1838, it was noted as a

Muslim village in the district of Beni Malik, west of Jerusalem.[11]

A Capital, which Clermont-Ganneau noted in Beit Thul in the 1870s

In the early 1870s Clermont-Ganneau found the village inhabited, and a "hearty welcome was accorded to us." He further noted that the "village contains two welys, one the sanctuary of Sheikh Injeim, the other that of Bedriyeh. In front of the wely of Bedriyeh, I noticed the remains of a small aqueduct of masonry and two large shafts of ancient columns." According to local tradition, Bedriyeh was the sister of Sheikh Injeim.

He found remains there which led him to conclude that an important Christian building of the Byzantine period once existed there.[12]

In 1883, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine noted "Foundations and a Mukam."[13]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, there were 133 villagers, all Muslims,[14] increasing in the 1931 census to 182 inhabitants, in 43 inhabited houses.[15]

In the

cereals,[16] while 13 dunams were built-up, urban, land.[17]

  • Bayt Thul 1943 1:20,000 (right of centre)
    Bayt Thul 1943 1:20,000 (right of centre)
  • Bayt Thul 1945 1:250,000
    Bayt Thul 1945 1:250,000

1948, aftermath

In late October, 1948, the

Beit Horon Battalion started the destruction of Bayt Thul.[18]

  • Bayt Thul remains on the Western hill
    Bayt Thul remains on the Western hill
  • Bayt Thul remains on the Eastern hill
    Bayt Thul remains on the Eastern hill

When the writers of an oral Palestinian history collection returned with a villager to Bayt Thul, they recorded how she, Umm 'Ali, began to collect herbs and plants. “She continued picking the leaves until what she had clutched to her chest sprouted from her like a large bush. That was Umm 'Ali, or maybe thats what we remember: A tree of wild herbs and greens moving with amazing grace over the stones of the destroyed villages, assuring, comforting, and reminding us of our descendants who are awaiting us.“[19]

References

  1. ^ Palmer, 1881, p. 287
  2. ^ a b Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 24
  3. ^ a b c Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 56
  4. ^ Morris, 2004, p. xx, village #358. Gives both cause and date of depopulation as "Not known"
  5. ^ Palestine Remembered - Bayt Thul
  6. ^ Khalidi, 1992, p. 280
  7. ^ Close by, but on land traditionally belonging to Abu Ghosh, according to Khalidi, 1992, p. 290
  8. ^ Clermont-Ganneau, 1896, vol 2, pp. 64-66
  9. ^ Toledano, 1984, p. 291, has Bayt Tul at location 31°49′20″N. 35°04′10″E
  10. ^ Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 113
  11. ^ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. 123
  12. ^ Clermont-Ganneau, 1896, vol. 2, pp. 65-67
  13. ^ Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. 86
  14. ^ Barron, 1923, p. 15
  15. ^ Mills, 1932, p. 38
  16. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 102
  17. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 152
  18. ^ Morris, 2004, pp. 234 400, note #85
  19. ^ Diab and Fahoum, 1990, p. 23; cited in Davis, 2011, p. 173

Bibliography

External links

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