Malha

Coordinates: 31°45′08″N 35°10′55″E / 31.75222°N 35.18194°E / 31.75222; 35.18194
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Malha
المالحة מלחה
Geopolitical entity
Mandatory Palestine
SubdistrictJerusalem
Date of depopulation21 April 1948, 15 July 1948[2]
Area
[3]
 • Total
13,449 dunams (13.449 km2 or 5.193 sq mi)
Population
 (1948[5])
 • Total
1,940[4][3]
Cause(s) of depopulationInfluence of nearby town's fall
Secondary causeMilitary assault by Yishuv forces

Malha is a

Arabic
: المالحة).

Malha is now an upscale neighborhood featuring the Malha Shopping Mall, Teddy Stadium, and the Jerusalem Technology Park.

History

Antiquity

Excavations in Malha revealed

Early Bronze Age IV (2,200 – 2,100 BCE).[7]

Bronze Age settlement excavated in Malcha, between Malha Mall and Teddy Stadium

According to the archaeologists who excavated there in 1987–1990, Malha is believed to be the site of Manahat, a Canaanite town on the northern border of the Tribe of Judah (Joshua 15:58–59[clarification needed]).[8] Remains of the village have been preserved at the Biblical Zoo.[8]

Byzantine to Late Ottoman period

Malha was a

Vakhtang I Gorgasali, who was canonized by the Georgian Orthodox Church.[9] There was a connection to the nearby Georgian Monastery of the Cross and other Georgian religious establishments around Jerusalem, with travellers noticing distinct habits among Malha's residents for centuries.[9] Eventually they adopted Islam and integrated into the surrounding Arab society.[9] By the 18th and 19th centuries, little more than the faint traces of a church, the few remaining locals naming themselves "Gurjs", Georgians, and their right of working the lands of the Monastery of the Cross remained as witness of the Georgian past.[10]

Ottoman period

Maliha in the 1940s Survey of Palestine map. The map shows the location of the Teddy Stadium, built in the 1990s, and referred to by Arabs as "Maliha stadium".[11][12]

In the 1596

Muslim households, an estimated 286 persons. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 33,3% on wheat, barley, and olive and fruit trees, goats and beehives; a total of 8,700 akçe. 1/3 of the revenue went to a waqf.[13]

In 1838 it was noted by Edward Robinson as el Malihah, a Muslim village, part of the Beni Hasan district.[14][15]

An Ottoman village list from about 1870 showed Malha with a population of 340, in 75 houses, though the population count included men, only.[16][17]

During a visit in the 1870s, Clermont-Ganneau recorded a local tradition stating that the residents could be categorized into two distinct origins: one group hailing from Transjordan and another from Egypt. Ganneau pointed out the locals' "peculiar" way of speaking, where their "a" sounds were long and similar to "o." He documented several findings including a broken inscription, rock-cut tombs, and a box of bones, shown to him by the locals. He also mentioned Ain Yalo, a nearby spring highly celebrated by the locals.[18]

In 1883, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described the village as being of moderate size, standing high on a flat ridge. To the south was Ayn Yalu.[19]

In 1896 the population of Malha was estimated to be about 600 persons.[20]

British Mandate period

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Malhah had a population 1,038, all Muslims,[21] increasing in the 1931 census to 1,410; 1,402 Muslims and 8 Christians, in a total of 299 houses.[22] Georgian researcher, B.V. Khurtsilava, connected the steep population rise between 1868 (c. 200), to 1896 (some 600) and the 1920s-30s (c. 100–1400) with a strong influx of people of various ethnic backgrounds.[23]

In the 1945 statistics the population of Malha was 1,940; 1,930 Muslims and 10 Christians,[4] and the total land area was 6,828 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[3] Of the land, a total of 2,618 dunams were plantations and irrigable land and 1,259 were for cereals,[24] while a total of 328 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[25]

1948 war

In the

Sephardi Jews that owned large amounts of property in Jerusalem and environs.[30]

Israel

Malha, circa 1950

The first Palestinian fedayeen raid in Israel took place in November 1951 in Malha when a woman, Leah Festinger, was killed by infiltrators from Shuafat, at the time part of Jordan.[31]

View of Malha, 2007
The Jerusalem Technology Park in Malha

Under the aegis of the

Jerusalem Malha Railway Station. Malha is now considered an upscale neighborhood. Schools include a vocational high school (ORT) and an elementary school, the Shalom School. The Jerusalem Technology Park houses many companies, including some high-tech start-ups as well as international media offices.[32] In 2019, plans were approved for the construction of 30-floor towers in the technology park.[33]

A line of the Jerusalem Light Rail is being built from Jerusalem's Central Bus Station to the Malha sports complex.[34]

See also

  • Jerusalem Malha Railway Station
  • Depopulated Palestinian locations in Israel

References

  1. ^ Palmer, 1881, p. 322
  2. ^ Morris, 2004, p. xx, village #361. Also gives the cause for depopulation
  3. ^ a b c Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 57
  4. ^ a b Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 25
  5. ^ Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics Archived 2012-02-12 at the Wayback Machine Depopulated Jerusalem Localities of the year 1948 by Selected Variables
  6. ^ An Intermediate Bronze Age Farmhouse at Newe Shalom
  7. ^ Refaim Valley: The Palestinian villages of Al Wallaja and Battir, Archaeological View[usurped]
  8. ^ a b Nahal Refa'im - Canaanite Bronze Age villages near Jerusalem. History: ARCHEOLOGICAL SITES NO. 6. Posted 20.11.2000. Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Accessed 25 September 2023.
  9. ^
    Jerusalem Post
    . Re-accessed 25 September 2023.
  10. ^ Khurtsilava, Besik V. (2017). Sentries of "Jvari": On the traces of Gurjs from Malha. Ch. 2. First Data on forgotten tribesmen, pp. 23-24 (English translation). In "Georgia and Holy Land", Tbilisi. Accessed 25 September 2023.
  11. ^ Arab MK welcomes cancellation of Argentina soccer game, Jun 6, 2018; Arutz Sheva, ""I congratulate the Argentine team on its decision to cancel the game at Al-Maliha Stadium," tweeted Zahalka, referencing the name the Arabs use to call the Teddy Stadium, where the game was to have been played."
  12. ^ Beitar cancels Barcelona match after demand to not have game in Jerusalem, July 15, 2021; Jerusalem Post: "Palestinian Football Association president Jibril Rajoub received a letter from Laport about the match planned in Jerusalem on August 4 "in a stadium built on the ruins of the Palestinian village of al-Malha, whose residents were forcibly expelled and displaced in refugee camps," Wafa reported."
  13. ^ Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 118. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 304
  14. ^ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. 123
  15. ^ Robinson & Smith, 1841, vol 2, p. 156
  16. ^ Socin, 1879, p. 157, also noted it to be in the Beni Hasan district
  17. ^ Hartmann, 1883, p. 122, also noted 75 houses
  18. ISSN 0031-0328
    .
  19. ^ Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. 21. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p.304
  20. ^ Schick, 1896, p. 125
  21. ^ Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Jerusalem, p. 14
  22. ^ Mills, 1932, p. 41
  23. ^ Khurtsilava, Besik V. (2017). Ch. 4. Pages of sad history of Malha residents, pp. 29-30.
  24. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 103
  25. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 153
  26. ^ Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics Archived 2012-02-12 at the Wayback Machine
  27. ^ Morris, 2004, pp. 75, 91
  28. ^ Morris, 2004, p. 239
  29. ISBN 978-0-521-00967-6
    .
  30. ^ Sephardi entrepreneurs in Jerusalem: The Valero family, 1800-1948, Joseph B. Glass, Ruth Kark
  31. ^ Ynet Encyclopedia
  32. ^ Malha Technological Centre Archived 2008-12-01 at the Wayback Machine
  33. ^ Two 30-floor towers approved for Jerusalem's Malha, Globes
  34. ^ Jerusalem light rail to expand to 5 lines, 27km of tracks

Bibliography

31°45′08″N 35°10′55″E / 31.75222°N 35.18194°E / 31.75222; 35.18194

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