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Dayr Aban

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Dayr Aban (also spelled Deir Aban; Arabic: دير آبان) was a Palestinian Arab village in the Jerusalem Subdistrict, located on the lower slope of a high ridge that formed the western slope of a mountain, to the east of Beit Shemesh. It was formerly bordered by olive trees to the north, east, and west. The valley, Wadi en-Najil, ran north and south on the west-side of the village.

Dayr Aban
دير آبان
Entrance to a house in Dayr Aban
Entrance to a house in Dayr Aban
Etymology: The Monastery of Aban[1]
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Dayr Aban (click the buttons)
Dayr Aban is located in Mandatory Palestine
Dayr Aban
Dayr Aban
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 31°44′33″N 35°00′34″E / 31.74250°N 35.00944°E / 31.74250; 35.00944
Palestine grid151/127
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictJerusalem
Date of depopulationOctober 19–20, 1948[4]
Area
 • Total
22,734 dunams (22.734 km2 or 8.778 sq mi)
Population
 (1945)
 • Total
2,100[2][3]
Cause(s) of depopulationMilitary assault by Yishuv forces
Current LocalitiesTzora,[5] Mahseya,[5] Beit Shemesh,[5] and Yish'i[5]

The village is associated with the biblical site of Eben-Ezer.[6][7][8] The prefix "Dayr" hints at a historical monastery.[9] Early Ottoman records document a mixed Christian and Muslim population.[10] However, by the 17th century, historical records highlights a communal conversion to Islam.[9] Nonetheless, traditions associated with the village's Christian past persisted in later periods. Despite this conversion, traditions linked to the village's Christian past persisted in later periods.[11][12][13][14]

Dayr Aban was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War on October 19, 1948, during Operation Ha-Har.[15][16] It was located 21 km west of Jerusalem. Today there are over 5000 people originally from Deir Aban living in Jordan.

History

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In pre-Roman and Roman times the settlement was referred to as "Abenezer", and may have been the location of the biblical site Eben-Ezer.(1 Samuel 4:1–11).[6][7][8]

The name Dayr indicates that this was the site of a Christian monastery.[9]

Ottoman era

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In 1596, Dayr Aban appeared in Ottoman tax registers as being in the Nahiya of Quds of the Liwa of Quds. It had a population of 23 Muslim households and 23 Christian households;[10] that is, an estimated 127 persons.[17] They paid a fixed tax rate of 33,3% on agricultural products, such as wheat, barley, olives, and goats or beehives; a total of 9,700 Akçe.[10]

In the 17th century, the inhabitants of Dayr Aban collectively converted to Islam, an unusual event within the Middle East during the Ottoman period. Jerusalem court records document four related conversion certificates. The earliest, dated 1635, records the conversion of a person named Gimʿa bin Dāfir. Subsequently, in 1649-1650, three additional certificates were issued. Two, from September 5, 1649, concern individuals named Rabīʿa and Nāṣir bin Manṣūr. Later, on March 7, 1650, a communal conversion of all Dayr Abān's residents was documented. The document lists both the original and new names of the converts, along with a note indicating the entire village's conversion.[9]

In 1838, Deir Aban was noted as a Muslim village, located in the el-Arkub District, south west of Jerusalem.[18]

Victor Guérin described it in 1863 as being a large village, and its adjacent valley "strewn with sesame."[19] An Ottoman village list from about 1870 found that the village had a population of 443, in a total of 135 houses, though the population count included men, only.[20][21]

In 1883, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described Dayr Aban as "a large village on the lower slope of a high ridge, with a well to the north, and olives on the east, west, and north. This place no doubt represents the fourth century site of Ebenezer (I Sam. IV. I) which is mentioned in the Onomasticon (s.v. Ebenezer) as near Beth Shemesh. The village is 2 miles east of 'Ain Shems."[8]

Baldensperger, writing in 1893, stated that the village's residents had been Greek Orthodox until they converted to Islam at a "very recent date [...] perhaps it was about the beginning of this century". He noted that the Christians of Beit Jala and the citizens of the village continue to share the same names, and added that the village's original Greek New Testament is still kept in the church in Beit Jala.[13][12] In another article, he mentioned that women in Dayr Aban have small crosses tattooed on their foreheads.[22] Yitzhak Ben-Zvi mentioned a local tradition according which elderly Muslim women at Dayr Aban preserved old miniature crosses.[14] H. Stephan wrote that persecutions brought Christians from Dayr Aban to seek refuge at Beit Jala and Ramallah, where they stayed in touch with family members that continued to live in the village as Muslims.[11][12]

In 1896, the population of Der Aban was estimated to be about 921 persons.[23]

British Mandate era

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In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Dayr Aban had a population of 1,214 inhabitants, all Muslims,[24] increasing in the 1931 census to 1,534 inhabitants, in 321 houses.[25]

In the 1945 statistics, the village had a total population of 2,100 Arabs; 10 Christians and 2,090 Muslims,[2] with a total of 22,734 dunums of land.[3] Of this, Arabs used 1,580 dunams for irrigable land or plantations, 14,925 for cereals,[26] while 54 dunams were built-up (urban) Arab land.[27]

Dayr Aban had a mosque and a pipeline transporting water from 'Ayn Marjalayn, 5 km to the east.[5] The village contains three khirbats: Khirbat Jinna'ir, Khirbat Haraza, and Khirbat al-Suyyag.[5]

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    Dayr Aban (Deiraban), Mandate survey, 1:20,000
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    Dayr Aban (Deiraban), 1945, 1:20,000

1948, aftermath

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On 4 August 1948, two weeks into the Second truce of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestinian nationalist Amin al Husseini noted that ‘for two weeks now . . . the Jews have continued with their attacks on the Arab villages and outposts in all areas. Stormy battles are continuing in the villages of Sataf, Deiraban, Beit Jimal, Ras Abu ‘Amr, ‘Aqqur, and ‘Artuf . . .’[15]

The village became depopulated on 19–20 October 1948, after a military assault during Operation Ha-Har.[4][16][28] Through the second half of 1948, the IDF, under Ben-Gurion’s tutelage, continued to destroy Arab villages, including Dayr Aban on 22 October 1948.[29]

After the war, the ruin of Dayr Abban remained under Israeli control under the terms of the 1949 Armistice Agreement[30] between Israel and Jordan, until such time that the agreement was dissolved in 1967.[31][32]

The moshav of Mahseya was later established near the site of the old village,[33] on the land of Dayr Aban, as was Tzora, Beit Shemesh and Yish'i.[5]

 
Houses being blown up by the Harel Brigade October 1948

Etymology

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The prefix "Dayr" which appears in many village names is of Aramaic and Syriac-Aramaic origin, and has the connotation of "habitation," or "dwelling place," usually given to places where there was once a Christian population, or settlement of monks. In most cases, a monastery was formerly built there, and, throughout time, the settlement expanded.[34] Dayr Aban would, therefore, literally mean, "the Monastery of Aban."[1]

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    Dayr Aban-Ruin
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    Dayr Aban, stone wall
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    Dayr Aban, stone façade
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    Dayr Aban, Cistern
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    Dayr Aban
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    Dayr Aban-Ruin
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    Dayr Aban, in sunlight
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    Ruins of Dayr Aban, wall
  •  
    The outer wall of structure in Dayr Aban
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    Ruins of Dayr Aban
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    Dayr Aban, Olive and Almond Tree
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    Dayr Aban on the Background of Beit Shemesh
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    The ruins of Dayr Aban overlooking Beit Shemesh
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    Projecting wall, in Dayr Aban
  •  
    What remains of the inside wall of a house, with niche in wall
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    Front wall of house in Dayr Aban
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    Razed buildings in Dayr Aban
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    Mouth of pit, one of many in Dayr Aban
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    Razed structures in Dayr Aban
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    A sign post of the cemetery in Dayr Aban
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    What remains of a house still stands tall
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    Old structures in Dayr Aban
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    Sealed Archway in Dayr Aban
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    House and tree amidst ruins, in Dayr Aban

References

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  1. ^ a b Palmer, 1881, p. 293
  2. ^ a b Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 24
  3. ^ a b Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 56
  4. ^ a b Morris, 2004, p. xx, village #335. Also gives cause of depopulation.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Khalidi, 1992, p. 283
  6. ^ a b Fetellus, 1896, p. 43
  7. ^ a b Conder, 1876, p. 149
  8. ^ a b c Conder and Kitchener, 1883, p. 24
  9. ^ a b c d Tramontana, Felicita (2014). "III. Conversion to Islam in the villages of Dayr Abān and Ṣūbā". Passages of Faith: Conversion in Palestinian villages (17th century) (1 ed.). Harrassowitz Verlag. p. 68. doi:10.2307/j.ctvc16s06.8. ISBN 978-3-447-10135-6. JSTOR j.ctvc16s06.
  10. ^ a b c Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 119
  11. ^ a b H. Stephan, Stephan (1939–1940). "JPOS". Journal of the Palestine Oriental Society (19): 143.
  12. ^ a b c Bagatti, Bellarmino (2002). Ancient Christian Villages of Judaea and Negev. Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press. pp. 132–133.
  13. ^ a b Baldensperger, Philip J. (1893). "Religion of the Fellahin of Palestine". Palestine Exploration Quarterly. 25 (4): 308. doi:10.1179/peq.1893.25.4.307. ISSN 0031-0328.
  14. ^ a b Ben-Zvi, Yitzhak (1966). שאר ישוב [She'ar Yishuv] (in Hebrew) (2nd ed.). Jerusalem: Yad Ben Zvi. p. 410.
  15. ^ a b Morris, 2004, p. 447, note #211, p. 461
  16. ^ a b Morris, 2004, p. 462
  17. ^ Khalidi, 1992, p. 282
  18. ^ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. 125
  19. ^ Guérin, 1869, pp. 22-23, 323
  20. ^ Socin, 1879, p. 151
  21. ^ Hartmann, 1883, p. 145: 150 houses, more than Socin
  22. ^ Baldensperger, G. (1904). "The Immovable East". Palestine Exploration Quarterly. 36 (1): 50. doi:10.1179/peq.1904.36.1.49. ISSN 0031-0328.
  23. ^ Schick, 1896, p. 123
  24. ^ Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Ramleh, p. 21
  25. ^ Mills, 1932, p. 19
  26. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 102
  27. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 152
  28. ^ Morris, 2004, p. 466, note #13, p. 493
  29. ^ Morris, 2004, p. 355, note #85 Harel Brigade HQ\Intelligence, ‘Daily Report for 22 October’, 23 Oct. 1948, IDFA 4775\49\3, for the destruction of Beit Nattif and Deiraban, p. 400
  30. ^ The 1949 Armistice Agreement between Israel and Jordan
  31. ^ Enlarged map showing Dayr Abban (Deiraban) in relation to the "Green-Line"
  32. ^ Larger map showing "1949 Cease-fire line" (Green-line) between Israel and Jordan (Hebrew)
  33. ^ Yalqut Teiman, Yosef Tobi and Shalom Seri (editors), Tel-Aviv 2000, p. 158, s.v. מחסיה (Hebrew) ISBN 965-7121-03-5
  34. ^ Al-Shabeshti, Diyārāt (Monasteries).

Bibliography

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