Bayt Thul Explained

Bayt Thul
Native Name:بيت ثول
Native Name Lang:ar
Settlement Type:Village
Etymology:The house of Tul (meaning length)[1]
Pushpin Map:Mandatory Palestine
Pushpin Mapsize:200
Coordinates:31.8225°N 35.0739°W
Grid Name:Palestine grid
Grid Position:157/136
Subdivision Type:Geopolitical entity
Subdivision Name:Mandatory Palestine
Subdivision Type1:Subdistrict
Subdivision Name1:Jerusalem
Established Title1:Date of depopulation
Established Date1:Not known[2]
April 1, 1948[3]
Established Title2:Repopulated dates
Unit Pref:dunam
Area Total Dunam:4,629
Population As Of:1945
Population Total:260[4] [5]
Blank Name Sec1:Cause(s) of depopulation
Blank3 Name Sec1:Current Localities
Blank3 Info Sec1:Nataf,[6] Neve Ilan[7]

Bayt Thul was a Palestinian village in the Jerusalem Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 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 Palestine, was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517, and in the census of 1538–1539, Bayt Tul was noted in the Nahiya of Quds of the Liwa of Quds.[9] In the 1596 census, the village had a population was 7 households, all 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]

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 1945 statistics, the village had a population of 260 Muslims,[4] with a total of 4,629 dunums of land.[5] Of this, 55 dunams were for irrigable land or plantations, 787 for cereals,[16] while 13 dunams were built-up, urban, land.[17]

1948, aftermath

In late October, 1948, the Beit Horon Battalion started the destruction of Bayt Thul.[18]

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]

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. Palmer, 1881, p. 287
  2. Morris, 2004, p. xx, village #358. Gives both cause and date of depopulation as "Not known"
  3. https://www.palestineremembered.com/Jerusalem/Bayt-Thul/index.html Palestine Remembered - Bayt Thul
  4. Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 24
  5. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 56
  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

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