Bayt Lif ( ar, بيت ليف) is a village in the

Bint Jbeil District The Bint Jbeil District is a district in the Nabatiyeh Governorate of Lebanon. The capital of the district is Bint Jbeil. Villages The following 36 municipalities are all located in the Bint Jbeil District: * Aynata * Aayta Ech Chaab * Aayta Ej ...

in southern

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

Name

According to

E. H. Palmer Edward Henry Palmer (7 August 184010 August 1882), known as E. H. Palmer, was an England, English oriental studies, orientalist and explorer. Biography Youth and education Palmer was born in Green Street, Cambridge the son of a private schoo ...

, the name means "the house of lif" (palm-fibre).

History

In 1852, Edward Robinson noted that the year before, a quantity of gold coin were found at Beit Lif, which was taken to

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

and given to the

Pasha Pasha, Pacha or Paşa ( ota, پاشا; tr, paşa; sq, Pashë; ar, باشا), in older works sometimes anglicized as bashaw, was a higher rank in the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors, gener ...

. He further noted that the people were planting

millet Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most species generally referred to as millets belong to the tribe Paniceae, but some millets al ...

and tobacco. In 1875,

Victor Guérin Victor Guérin (15 September 1821 – 21 Septembe 1890) was a French intellectual, explorer and amateur archaeologist. He published books describing the geography, archeology and history of the areas he explored, which included Greece, Asia Mino ...

found here a village with 80

Metuali Lebanese Shia Muslims ( ar, المسلمون الشيعة اللبنانيين), historically known as ''matāwila'' ( ar, متاولة, plural of ''mutawālin'' ebanese pronounced as ''metouali'' refers to Lebanese people who are adheren ...

inhabitants. In 1881, the PEF's ''Survey of Western Palestine'' (SWP) described it as: "A village, built of stone, containing about 150 Moslems .situated on a hill-top, with a few olives and arable land. Two

cistern A cistern (Middle English ', from Latin ', from ', "box", from Greek ', "basket") is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by t ...

s and a birket near supply the water." On 23 November 1997 a

South Lebanon Army The South Lebanon Army or South Lebanese Army (SLA; ar, جيش لبنان الجنوبي, Jayš Lubnān al-Janūbiyy), also known as the Lahad Army ( ar, جيش لحد, label=none) and referred to as the De Facto Forces (DFF) by the United Nat ...

compound on the edge of the village came under artillery fire. Eight civilians were killed.

Amal Amal may refer to: * Amal (given name) * Åmål, a small town in Sweden * Amal Movement, a Lebanese political party ** Amal Militia, Amal Movement's defunct militia * Amal language of Papua New Guinea * Amal (film), ''Amal'' (film), 2007, directed ...

was believed to be responsible for the shelling.Middle East International No 564, 5 December 1997; Publishers Lord Mayhew, Dennis Walters MP; Michael Jansen pp.13-14

References

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

Beit Lif
Localiban *Survey of Western Palestine, Map 4
IAAWikimedia commons
{{Bint Jbeil District Populated places in the Israeli security zone 1985–2000 Populated places in Bint Jbeil District Shia Muslim communities in Lebanon