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Deir Abu Mash'al

This article is about the village formerly called Belfort in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate of the State of Palestine. For other uses, see Belfort (disambiguation).

Deir Abu Mash'al (Arabic: دير ابو مشعل) is a Palestinian village in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate of the State of Palestine, located 24 kilometers (15 mi) west of Ramallah in the northern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the village had a population of 4,233 inhabitants in 2017.[2]

Deir Abu Mash'al
Municipality type C
Arabic transcription(s)
 • Arabicدير ابو مشعل
Deir Abu Mash'al
Deir Abu Mash'al
Deir Abu Mash'al is located in State of Palestine
Deir Abu Mash'al
Deir Abu Mash'al
Location of Deir Abu Mash'al within Palestine
Coordinates: 31°59′54″N 35°04′06″E / 31.99833°N 35.06833°E / 31.99833; 35.06833
Palestine grid156/156
State State of Palestine
GovernorateRamallah and al-Bireh
Government
 • TypeMunicipality
 • Head of MunicipalityIbrahim Mohammad Yousi Zhran[1]
Population
 (2017)[2]
 • Total
4,233
Name meaningThe monastery with the cresset (a beacon)[3]

Location

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Deir Abu Mash'al is located 16.4 kilometers (10.2 mi) northwest of Ramallah. It is bordered by Al-Itihad to the south and east, Abud to the east and north, and Shuqba to the west.[4]

History

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Sherds from the Byzantine, Byzantine/Umayyad and Crusader/Ayyubid eras have been found here.[5]

There is a wall at the highest part of the village, with cisterns below it, which is assumed to be the remains of the 12th century Crusader castle named Bellifortis. It possibly belonged to the Hospitalliers in 1167.[6]

The PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) visited the place (in 1873), and noted: "There are here indications of an important fort, apparently of Crusading times. A rock platform, roughly square, about 50 yards wide, occupies the top of the hill, and many well-cut stones, with rustic boss and a draft 3 inches wide, lie round. On the west is a wall of rubble faced with small ashlar, which stands over a rock scarp. On the north are traces of a similar wall. There is a small tank, well cemented, with a groined roof. There is also a large well near. A rock-cut drain some 6 inches wide leads towards the well. On the south are rock-cut steps. On the east, quarries and two tanks, rock-cut, but roofed in with masonry. One measured 20 feet by 12 feet."[7] Modern opinion is that the remains are from a major Byzantine monastery, which had a Crusader tower added to it.[8]

Sherds from the Mamluk era have also been found here.[5]

Approximately one kilometer southeast of the village lies the large ruin called Khirbet Artabba, situated atop a hill. Uncovered by village residents, the site includes remnants including fortifications, architectural features, ritual baths, storage pits, and the entrances to five large cisterns. Archaeologist Dvir Raviv, drawing comparisons with other forts from the Second Temple Period and considering potsherds dating back to the Hellenistic and Early Roman periods, proposed that the site was constructed by Simon Thassi, the final leader of the Maccabean revolt. The site seems to have been deserted in the later days of Herod.[9]

Ottoman era

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In 1517, the village was included in the Ottoman empire with the rest of Palestine and in the 1596 tax-records it was in the Nahiya of Jabal Quds of the Liwa of Al-Quds. The population was 42 households, all Muslim. They paid a tax rate of 33.3% on agricultural products, which included wheat, barley, olive trees, fruit trees, goats and beehives, in addition to "occasional revenues"; a total of 3,300 akçe.[10] Sherds from the early Ottoman era have also been found here.[5]

According to Roy Marom, in the 18th or early 19th centuries, residents of Deir Abu Mash'al affiliated with the Qaysi camp during the Qays and Yaman conflicts, alongside residents of Jayyous and part of the residents of Bayt Nabala. They fought several skirmishes against Yamani rivals from Qibya and Dayr Tarif.[11]

In 1838 Edward Robinson noted Deir Abu Mesh'al on his travels in the region,[12][13] as a Muslim village, located in the Beni Zeid district, north of Jerusalem.[14]

In 1870, Victor Guérin found the village to have 450 inhabitants. He further noted: "At the highest point I notice, on a large platform, the traces of a powerful construction, some of which are still inferior, and which was built with beautiful cut stones of a magnificent device. Under this platform reigns a huge cistern dug into the rock. To the south stands a gigantic wall of very thick wall, but built with stones of a much lesser apparatus than those which constitute the lower courses of which I have just spoken. The houses in the village are roughly built, but almost all of them contain ancient materials. Near these Moslem dwellings lay on the leveled rock several areas, perhaps dating back to the earliest antiquity, and which the present fellahs still use to beat their barley or wheat."[15] An Ottoman village list of about the same year, 1870, indicated 33 houses and a population of 159, though the population count included men, only.[16][17]

In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Deir Abu Meshal as "A small and partly ruinous stone village in a very strong position on a lofty hill. [] A pool exists on the south side of the village, which supplies the place with water."[18]

In 1896 the population of Der abu masch'al was estimated to be about 273 persons.[19]

British Mandate era

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In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, the village, named Dair Abu Masha'al, had a population of 289, all Muslim,[20] increasing in the 1931 census to 404 Muslim, in 88 inhabited houses.[21]

In the 1945 statistics the population of Deir Abu Mash'al was 510 Muslims,[22] with 8,778 dunams (8.8 km2; 3.4 sq mi) of land according to an official land and population survey.[23] Of this, 2,076 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 1,058 used for cereals,[24] while 19 dunams (1.9 ha; 4.7 acres) were built-up (urban) land.[25]

  •  
    Deir Abu Mash'al 1942 1:20,000 from 1918 survey
  •  
    Deir Abu Mash'al 1942 1:250,000

Jordanian era

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In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Deir Abu Mash'al came under Jordanian rule.

The Jordanian census of 1961 found 987 inhabitants at Deir Abu Mash'al.[26]

1967-present

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Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Deir Abu Mash'al has been under Israeli occupation.

After the 1995 accords, 85% of village land was classified as Area B, and the remaining 15% as Area C. Israel has confiscated hundreds of dunams of land for bypass roads.[27]

References

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  1. ^ West Bank Archived 2007-06-30 at the Wayback Machine Local Elections ( Round two)- Successful candidates by local authority, gender and No. of votes obtained, Deir Abu Mish'al p.Donde nació Ibrahim salen 22
  2. ^ a b Preliminary Results of the Population, Housing and Establishments Census, 2017 (PDF). Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) (Report). State of Palestine. February 2018. pp. 64–82. Retrieved 2023-10-24.
  3. ^ Palmer, 1881, p. 228
  4. ^ Deir Abu Mash'al Village Profile, ARIJ, p. 4
  5. ^ a b c Finkelstein, et al, 1997, p. 201
  6. ^ Röhricht, 1893, RHH, p. 113, No. 433; cited in Pringle, 1997, p. 46
  7. ^ Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 310
  8. ^ Ellenblum, 2003, pp. 128-130
  9. ^ Raviv, Dvir (2018). "The Artabba Fortress: An Unknown Hasmonaean-Herodian Fortress on the Northern Border of Judaea". Israel Exploration Journal. 68 (1): 56–76. ISSN 0021-2059.
  10. ^ Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 114
  11. ^ Marom, Roy (2022-11-01). "Jindās: A History of Lydda's Rural Hinterland in the 15th to the 20th Centuries CE". Lod, Lydda, Diospolis. 1: 14.
  12. ^ Robinson and Smith, vol. 2, p. 133
  13. ^ Robinson and Smith, vol. 3, pp. 30, 58, 66
  14. ^ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. 124
  15. ^ Guérin, 1875, pp. 118-119
  16. ^ Socin, 1879, p. 151 It was also noted to be in the Beni Zeid district
  17. ^ Hartmann, 1883, p. 106 also found 33 houses
  18. ^ Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 290
  19. ^ Schick, 1896, p. 124
  20. ^ Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Ramallah, p. 16
  21. ^ Mills, 1932, p. 48
  22. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 26
  23. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 64
  24. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 111
  25. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 161
  26. ^ Government of Jordan, 1964, p. 24
  27. ^ Deir Abu Mash'al Village Profile, ARIJ, p. 15

Bibliography

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