Aitit Explained

Aitit
Native Name:عيتيت
Settlement Type:Town
Pushpin Map:Lebanon
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name: Lebanon
Subdivision Type1:Governorate
Subdivision Name1:South Governorate
Subdivision Type2:District
Subdivision Name2:Tyre District
Unit Pref:Imperial
Area Land Sq Mi:2.76
Elevation M:290
Population As Of:2011
Population Total:12,000
Timezone:GMT +3
Coordinates:33.2244°N 35.3053°W
Grid Position:178/292 PAL

Aitit[1] is a town located in Tyre District, South Lebanon, north of Qana. Aitit's residents are primarily Shiite Muslim.

History

In the early 1860s Ernest Renan noted: "Its antiquities are a stone with three circles, two with rays, in which are crosses (not of great age), a grotto, and beside it a good sarcophagus lid serving to support a press. Near Aitit is a rectangular cemetery, well preserved".[2]

In 1881, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described it as "A village, built of stone, containing about 450 Metawileh, situated on hill-top, surrounded by olives and arable cultivation; water supplied from cisterns and a spring near."[3]

They further noted: "There are traces at this village of ancient remains. It is said by the natives that there was once a church here. There are broken pillars scattered about, stone lintels, three caves, and three olive-presses, with cisterns."[4] Aitit is mainly occupied by the family of the Mohsens, who have the majority of the village.

Attacks on Aitit

Due to it being close to Israel many attacks have been made against Hezbollah in Aitit. Throughout Aitit many houses have bullet holes engraved in the bricks and some buildings have still not been revived. Most of these incidents were due to the 2006 Lebanon War. Within that war 3 people died.

Bibliography

. Edward Henry Palmer. 1881. The Survey of Western Palestine: Arabic and English Name Lists Collected During the Survey by Lieutenants Conder and Kitchener, R. E. Transliterated and Explained by E.H. Palmer. Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

. Ernest Renan. Mission de Phénicie. 1864. Imprimerie impériale . Paris. French.

External links

Notes and References

  1. From personal name, according to Palmer, 1881, p. 17
  2. Renan, 1864, p. 641, as given in Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 108
  3. Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 90
  4. Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 108