Bayt 'Itab: Difference between revisions

Template:Infobox former Arab villages in Palestine Bayt ʿIṭāb (Arabic: بيت عطاب) was a Palestinian village located on the western slope of the Jerusalem hills, that was depopulated after its capture by Israel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.^[1] An ancient tunnel associated with biblical story of Samson leads to the village spring. Sheikhs from the Lahham family clan, associated with the Qays faction, ruled the village during Ottoman times.

The Arabic name of the village appears in Latin transliteration as Bethaatap in a list recording the sale of the land holdings belonging to Gothman in 1161.^[1][2] Its affiliations with the Crusader era has led some to erroneously characterize the village as "Crusader", when in fact its habitation by Arabs predates, persisted through and extended beyond this period.^[1] Meron Benvenisti writes that Beit ʿIṭāb is a corruption of its Latin name, Atap, meaning a small fortress.^[1]

Bayt ʿIṭāb was located Template:Km to mi south southwest of Jerusalem, on a high mountain Template:M to ft above sea level, overlooking some lower mountains peaks below.^[3][4] A Roman road ran along a narrow ridge to the south of the village which also passed by Solomon's Pools.^[5] A low cliff to the east of the village was known as Arâk elظJemâl ("the cliff, cavern or buttress of the camels").^[6] Southeast of the village on the main road was the chief village spring known as ʿAin Beit ʿAṭāb (Arabic: بيت عطاب عين) or ʿAin Haud.^[7][8] Below this spring to the northwest, was a pool known as Birket 'Atab with its own spring, ٔAin el-Birkeh.^[9] Another spring nearby was known as 'Ain el Khanzierh ("the spring of the sow").^[10] Connecting the village to the chief spring was a rock tunnel said to be "of great antiquity," the entrance of which was known only to those well acquainted with the site.^[11] This cavern or tunnel, known in Arabic as Mgharat Bīr el-Hasuta, ("Cave of the Well of Hasuta") is "evidently artificial," and was hewn into the rock.^[8][12] Some 250 feet long, it runs in a south-south-west direction from the village emerging as a vertical shaft (6 ft x 5 ft x 10 ft deep) about 60 yards away from the spring that supplied the village with water. The average height of the tunnel is about 5 to 8 feet with a width of about 18 feet. There were two entrances to it from the village, one in the west, and the other at the center, the latter being closed in the 19th century.^[8]

Henry B. Tristram (1884) writes of Bayt 'Itab that it crowned "a remarkable rocky knoll," which he states is, "probably, the Rock Etam." Noting that an ancient tunnel ran down from the village eastward through the rock to the chief spring, he speculates that this would have made a good hiding place for Samson when according to biblical tradition, he "went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam" (Book of Judges, xv. 8).^[13]

John William McGarvey (1881) writes that it was Lieutenant C. R. Conder, of the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF), who first identified Bayt ʿIṭāb as the site of Etam. Garvey quotes Conder on the linguistic evidence: "The substitution of B for M is so common (as in Tibneh for Timnah) that the name Atab may very properly represent the Hebrew Etam (eagle's nest); and there are other indications as to the identity of the site."^[14]

In Conder's Survey of Western Palestine (1881), he notes that the name of the "curious cave" at Bayt ʿIṭāb in Arabic is Bir el-Has Utah. Unable to find a meaning for the word in Arabic, he finds it corresponds to the Hebrew word Hasutah, "[...] which is translated 'a place of refuge.' Thus the name seems to indicate that this place has been used from a very early time as a lurking or hiding place, as we gather it to have been in the time of Samson."^[8] McGarvey also relays Conder's belief that the cavern within the rock formation was "the real hiding place" of Samson after his destruction of the Philistine's grains.^[14]

Bayt ʿIṭāb is identified with Enadab, which appears in a list of towns compiled by Eusebius in the fourth century CE.^[3] In the mid-12th century, Bayt ʿIṭāb was a fief of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.^[8] It was acquired by them from Johannes Gothman, a Frankish (Flemish) knight, whose wife was forced to sell his landholdings after he was taken prisoner by Muslim forces in 1157 in order to raise the money needed for his ransom.^{[1][2][15][16]} An impressive maison forte or hall house in the ancient centre of the modern village is thought to have served as Gothman's residence prior to its sale to the Church.^[2] The building had two stories, both vaulted; the ground floor entrance was protected by a slit-machicolation and had stairs leading to the basement and upper floor.^[17]

Edward Robinson visited the village in 1838, and described its stone houses, several of which had two storeys, as solidly built. In the center of the village were the ruins of a castle or tower. Robinson estimates, the village population was 600-700. He notes that Beit 'Atab, as he called it, was the chief town of the 'Arkub (Arqub) district and the Nazir (warden) of the district lived there. ^[18]

In the mid-19th century, the sheikh of Bayt 'Atab was named 'Utham al-Lahham (Sheikh 'Othman al-Lahaam). He had been exiled in 1846, but had managed to escape and return. A supporter of the Qaisi (Qaysi) faction, Lahham was in conflict with the Yamani faction leaders, especially the sheikh of Abu Ghosh.^[19] In the 1850s the conflict between these two families over the control of the district of Bani Hasan dominated the area.^[20] As Meron Benvenisti writes, al-Lahham waged "a bloody war against Sheik Mustafa Abu Ghosh, whose capital and fortified seat was in the village of Suba."^[1] In 1855, Mohammad Atallah in Bayt Nattif, a cousin of 'Utham al-Lahham, contested his rule over the region. In order to win support from Abu Ghosh, Mohammad Atallah changed side over to the Yamani faction. This is said to have enraged 'Utham al-Lahham. He raised a fighting force and fell on Bayt Nattif on 3 January 1855. The village lost 21 dead. According to an eyewitness description by British consul James Finn, their corpses were mutilated.^[21][22]

In February 1855, the Abu Ghosh family came to the aid of Atallah, conquered Bayt ʿIṭāb, and imprisoned ʿUtham al-Laḥḥām in his own house. With the help of one of the younger members of the Abu Ghosh family, James Finn was able to negotiate a cease-fire between the Atallah and Lahham -factions in Bayt 'Itab.^[21] For three years, relative peace reigned in the area; however, the Ottoman Governor of Jeusalem, Thurayya Pasha, and his policy of consolidating Ottoman control over the local districts, step by step, led to the last rebellion of the sheikhs in 1858-59. By the fall of 1859, when 'Utham al-Lahham was ninety years old, both he and Mohammad Atallah were deported to Cyprus by Thurayya Pasha. The rest of the Laḥḥām family was resettled in Ramla.^[23]

In the late 19th century, Bayt ʿIṭāb was described as a village built on stone, perched on a rocky knoll that rose 60 to 100 feet above the surrounding hilly ridge. Its population in 1875 was approximately 700, all Muslim. Olive trees were cultivated on terraces to the north of the village. A large cavern (18 feet wide and 6 feet high) ran beneath the houses. ^[24]

At the time of the 1931 census, Bayt 'Itab had 187 occupied houses and a population of 606 Muslims.^[25] It was in the sub-district of Ramle, but due to the rearrangement of district boundaries it was later in the sub-district of Jerusalem.^[25][26]

The original layout of Bayt ʿIṭāb was circular, but newer construction to the southwest (towards Sufla), gave the village an arc-shape. Most houses were built of stone.^[27] Agriculture was the main source of income. The village owned extensive areas on the coastal plain that were planted with grain. During the British Mandate, some of the land was expropriated to plant a large, government-owned woodland.^[27] In 1944-45, a total of 1,400 dunums of village land was used for cereals, while 665 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards, of which 116 dunums were planted with olive trees. The villagers also engaged in livestock breeding.^[27][28]

The village was depopulated between 19–24 October 1948, after the Harel Brigade captured the village as part of Operation HaHar.^[29] This operation was complementary to Operation Yoav, a simultaneous offensive on the southern front.^[27] Most of the village population fled southwards, towards Bethlehem and Hebron.^[29] Many refugees from Bayt 'Itab, and other Palestinian villages clustered together on the western slope of the Judean mountains, were resettled in Dheisheh refugee camp, roughly Template:Km to mi from Bayt Itab.^[30]

In 1950, the Israeli village of Nes Harim was established on agricultural land north of the village.^[27] In 1992, Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi found the site site strewn with rubble and the remains of a Crusader fortress. He noted two cemeteries that lay east and west of the village, and the fact that some of the surrounding land was cultivated by Israeli farmers.^[27]

In 2002, the Israel National Park Authority established a 130-dunam national park in the area, known as Horvat 'Itab.^[4]

• List of Arab towns and villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
• List of villages depopulated during the Arab-Israeli conflict

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bayt 'Itab.

• Bayt 'Itab, Palestine Family
• Visiting the village erased from all but a family's memory, National Catholic Reporter