Majdal Yaba ( ar, مجدل يابا) was a
Palestinian Arab village in the
Ramle Subdistrict, located northeast of
Ramla and east of
Jaffa
Jaffa, in Hebrew Yafo ( he, יָפוֹ, ) and in Arabic Yafa ( ar, يَافَا) and also called Japho or Joppa, the southern and oldest part of Tel Aviv-Yafo, is an ancient port city in Israel. Jaffa is known for its association with the b ...
. A walled city stood at the same site as early as 3000 BCE, and Majdal Yaba is first mentioned by the name Aphek in Egyptian
Execration texts
Execration texts, also referred to as proscription lists, are ancient Egyptian hieratic texts, listing enemies of the pharaoh, most often enemies of the Egyptian state or troublesome foreign neighbors. The texts were most often written upon stat ...
dating to the 19th century BCE. In the
Bible's
Old Testament
The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...
(1 Kings 20:26-30), Aphek is described as a city conquered from the
Canaanites
{{Cat main, Canaan
See also:
* :Ancient Israel and Judah
Ancient Levant
Hebrew Bible nations
Ancient Lebanon
0050
Ancient Syria
Wikipedia categories named after regions
0050
Phoenicia
Amarna Age civilizations ...
by the
Israelites, who then lost it to the
Philistines. It is also mentioned in extrabiblical
Babylonia
Babylonia (; Akkadian: , ''māt Akkadī'') was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Syria). It emerged as an Amorite-ruled state c. ...
n and
Assyrian texts as a Philistine stronghold. Under
Roman rule, the city was known as
Antipatris and the
Crusaders, who built a fort there, renamed it Mirabel. During the Islamic period it became known as Majdal Yaba. For a short time under
Ottoman rule, its name was changed from Majdal Yaba to Majdal Sadiq and then back again.
Incorporated into
Mandatory Palestine in 1922, Majdal Yaba was captured by Israeli forces during the
1948 Arab–Israeli war
The 1948 (or First) Arab–Israeli War was the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. It formally began following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight on 14 May 1948; the Israeli Declaration of Independence had ...
on July 12, 1948. The town was depopulated as a result of the military assault. The number of
refugees
A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution. from Majdal Yaba was estimated at 1,763 in 1948,
[Welcome to Majdal Yaba](_blank)
Palestine Remembered. and they and their descendants were estimated to number over 10,000 in 1998.
The
Israeli locality of
Rosh HaAyin was established on the village lands in 1950, followed by the
kibbutz
A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming h ...
Givat HaShlosha
Givat HaShlosha ( he, גִּבְעַת הַשְּׁלֹשָׁה, ''lit.'' Hill of the three) is a kibbutz in central Israel. Located about 4 km east of Petah Tikva, near the Yarkon river, it falls under the jurisdiction of Drom Hasharon R ...
in 1953.
History
Antiquity
Majdal Yaba stood on the site of a walled city in 3000 BCE,
[Murphy-O'Connor, 2008, p.186.] and is first mentioned as Aphek in the
Ancient Egyptian Execration texts
Execration texts, also referred to as proscription lists, are ancient Egyptian hieratic texts, listing enemies of the pharaoh, most often enemies of the Egyptian state or troublesome foreign neighbors. The texts were most often written upon stat ...
of the 19th century BCE, as well as the 15th century topographical list of
Thutmose III.
[Laughlin, 2006, p.21.] According to
biblical
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
tradition, the
Israelites under
Joshua conquered Aphek from the
Canaanites. With the
Philistine
The Philistines ( he, פְּלִשְׁתִּים, Pəlīštīm; Koine Greek (LXX): Φυλιστιείμ, romanized: ''Phulistieím'') were an ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan from the 12th century BC until 604 BC, when ...
s advancing toward the city, the Israelites fled towards the hills of
Samaria, and Aphek became the northernmost locality in
Philistia. The Philistine army assembled in Aphek for two major battles against the Israelites, including the slaughter of
Saul and
Jonathan
Jonathan may refer to:
*Jonathan (name), a masculine given name
Media
* ''Jonathan'' (1970 film), a German film directed by Hans W. Geißendörfer
* ''Jonathan'' (2016 film), a German film directed by Piotr J. Lewandowski
* ''Jonathan'' (2018 ...
on
Mount Gilboa and the capture of the
Ark of the Covenant
The Ark of the Covenant,; Ge'ez: also known as the Ark of the Testimony or the Ark of God, is an alleged artifact believed to be the most sacred relic of the Israelites, which is described as a wooden chest, covered in pure gold, with an e ...
(1066 BCE) (). From then on, the city is not mentioned in the
Bible, but the
Assyrians and the
Babylonia
Babylonia (; Akkadian: , ''māt Akkadī'') was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Syria). It emerged as an Amorite-ruled state c. ...
ns mention it as a stronghold in the 7th century BCE.
King Herod, who ruled the region on behalf of the
Roman Empire between 37-4 BCE, renamed the city ''
Antipatris'' to commemorate his father
Antipater
Antipater (; grc, , translit=Antipatros, lit=like the father; c. 400 BC319 BC) was a Macedonian general and statesman under the subsequent kingships of Philip II of Macedon and his son, Alexander the Great. In the wake of the collaps ...
, choosing the site because it was in the "loveliest of plains... with an abundance of rivers and trees." Antipatris became a major crossroads between the principal port city of
Jaffa
Jaffa, in Hebrew Yafo ( he, יָפוֹ, ) and in Arabic Yafa ( ar, يَافَا) and also called Japho or Joppa, the southern and oldest part of Tel Aviv-Yafo, is an ancient port city in Israel. Jaffa is known for its association with the b ...
and
Jerusalem.
Saint Paul
Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...
spent a night there when he was brought from Jerusalem to Caesarea (). The city was devastated during the southern battles of the
First Jewish-Roman War from 66 to 70 CE and did not recover until the 2nd century CE, but in 363 an earthquake leveled the city.
Arab Caliphate era
On 27 April 750, Abdullah ibn Ali, the
Abbasid ruler
Abu Al-Abbas as-Saffah's uncle, marched to Antipatris (Abu Futrus) on 25 June. He had invited 80 members of the
Umayyad dynasty, whom the Abbasids were at war with, to the town with promises of fair surrender terms only to have them massacred.
[Le Strange, 1890, pp]
55
56 On 5 April 885, at the banks of the
Auja River
The Yarkon River, also Yarqon River or Jarkon River ( he, נחל הירקון, ''Nahal HaYarkon'', ar, نهر العوجا, ''Nahr al-Auja''), is a river in central Israel. The source of the Yarkon ("Greenish" in Hebrew) is at Tel Afek (Antip ...
,
Abu'l-Abbas ibn al-Muwaffaq
Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn Ṭalḥa al-Muwaffaq ( ar, أبو العباس أحمد بن طلحة الموفق), 853/4 or 860/1 – 5 April 902, better known by his regnal name al-Muʿtaḍid bi-llāh ( ar, المعتضد بالله, link=no ...
fought against
Khumarawayh ibn Ahmad ibn Tulun in the
Battle of Tawahin ("The Mills"). Ibn al-Muwaffaq won this battle, forcing Khumarawayh to flee to Egypt. However, Ibn al-Muwaffaq's army lost a later engagement and he fled to Damascus.
[
In 975 the army of Egypt-based Fatimid caliph al-'Aziz defeated and imprisoned the ]Aleppo
)), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black".
, motto =
, image_map =
, mapsize =
, map_caption =
, image_map1 =
...
-based Hamdanid general Aftakin
Alptakin (also known as Aftakin) was a Turkish military officer of the Buyids, who participated, and eventually came to lead, an unsuccessful rebellion against them in Iraq from 973 to 975. Fleeing west with 300 followers, he exploited the power v ...
at Auja River, opposite the ruined castle of Majdal Yaba.[
]
Crusader, Ayyubid and Mamluk rule
The Crusaders conquered the Levant from the Arab Muslims in 1099, and built a fortress on the site of Majdal Yaba in 1152, naming it Mirabel. The fort was held against Baldwin of Ibelin by Manasses of Hierges
Manasses of Hierges was an important crusader and constable of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. He was lord of Ramla from 1150 to 1152.
Biography Early years
He was the son of Hodierna of Rethel and Héribrand II of Hierges; Hodierna was daughter of ...
, but eventually fell to Baldwin who ruled it as an independent lordship of the Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1162 to 1171.[Pringle, 1997, p]
67
/ref> In 1166, lands belonging to the fortress and the harvest of its fields were given to the Church of St. John the Baptist in Nablus
Nablus ( ; ar, نابلس, Nābulus ; he, שכם, Šəḵem, ISO 259-3: ; Samaritan Hebrew: , romanized: ; el, Νεάπολις, Νeápolis) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank, located approximately north of Jerusalem, with a populati ...
.[Röhricht, 1893, RRH, p]
110
No 423; cited Pringle, 1998, p
105
/ref>
The tyranny of a crusader lord Hugh of Ibelin
Hugh of Ibelin (c. 1132 – 1169/1171) was an important noble in the Kingdom of Jerusalem and was Lord of Ramla from 1152-1169.
Hugh was the eldest son of Barisan of Ibelin and Helvis of Ramla. He was old enough to witness charters in 1148, ...
Ibn Tulun القلائد الجوهرية في تاريخ الصالحية. in Majdal Yaba near Nablus was reported by Usama ibn Munqidh
Majd ad-Dīn Usāma ibn Murshid ibn ʿAlī ibn Munqidh al-Kināni al-Kalbī (also Usamah, Ousama, etc.; ar, مجد الدّين اُسامة ابن مُرشد ابن على ابن مُنقذ الكنانى الكلبى) (4 July 1095 – 17 Nove ...
Usama Ibn Munqidh.
Usama Ibn Munqidh. in 1156 CE; he imposed excessive taxes on Muslims, and required Muslims to pay four times as much tax as Christians nearby.
Ibn Tulun. The inhabitants of eight villages which included Ibn Qudamah family left their homes in 1156 AC and migrated to Damascus, where they founded Al-Salihiyah suburb.
In 1177, the Muslim Ayyubid
The Ayyubid dynasty ( ar, الأيوبيون '; ) was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultan of Egypt, Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. A Sunni ...
s under Saladin marched their army from south of Palestine northwards past Ascalon to the Castle of Mirabel which was being used to defend the road from Jaffa to Jerusalem.[Conder, 1897, p]
137
/ref> In July 1187, Saladin's younger brother, al-Adil I, conquered Mirabel, but did not destroy the castle fortress. According to E.G. Rey there existed among the ruins, 'the remains of a fine church of the 12th century', a claim repeated by T. A. Archer.[Pringle, 1998, p]
29
/ref> Chronicler Baha ad-Din ibn Shaddad
Bahāʾ al-Dīn Abū al-Maḥāsin Yūsuf ibn Rāfiʿ ibn Tamīm ( ar, بهاء الدين ابن شداد; the honorific title "Bahā' ad-Dīn" means "splendor of the faith"; sometimes known as Bohadin or Boha-Eddyn) (6 March 1145 – 8 Novem ...
recorded that in 1191–92, Saladin used the castle fortress as a base for carrying out raids against the Crusaders, although he camped outside of it. However, Saladin gave orders to dismantle the walls of Mirabel after his defeat at the battle of Arsuf
The Battle of Arsuf took place on 7 September 1191, as part of the Third Crusade. It saw a multi-national force of Crusaders, led by Richard I of England, defeat a significantly larger army of the Ayyubid Sultanate, led by Saladin.
Followin ...
.[Conder, 1897, p]
279
/ref>
While under Ayyubid
The Ayyubid dynasty ( ar, الأيوبيون '; ) was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultan of Egypt, Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. A Sunni ...
rule in 1226, Arab geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi mentions it as ''Majdal Yafa'' or "Tower of Jaffa", probably due to its proximity to the city of Jaffa
Jaffa, in Hebrew Yafo ( he, יָפוֹ, ) and in Arabic Yafa ( ar, يَافَا) and also called Japho or Joppa, the southern and oldest part of Tel Aviv-Yafo, is an ancient port city in Israel. Jaffa is known for its association with the b ...
. He says it was a village with a "formidable fort".[Khalidi, 1992, p. 396]
June 1240 CE marked the arrival of the English crusade led by Richard of Cornwall, brother of the King Henry III of England
Henry III (1 October 1207 – 16 November 1272), also known as Henry of Winchester, was King of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitaine from 1216 until his death in 1272. The son of King John and Isabella of Angoulême, Henry ass ...
and brother-in-law of Emperor Frederick II
Frederick II (German: ''Friedrich''; Italian: ''Federico''; Latin: ''Federicus''; 26 December 1194 – 13 December 1250) was King of Sicily from 1198, King of Germany from 1212, King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor from 1220 and King of Jerusa ...
. As-Salih Ayyub
Al-Malik as-Salih Najm al-Din Ayyub (5 November 1205 – 22 November 1249), nickname: Abu al-Futuh ( ar, أبو الفتوح), also known as al-Malik al-Salih, was the Ayyubid Kurdish ruler of Egypt from 1240 to 1249.
Early life
In 1221, as-S ...
, King of Egypt, offered Richard of Cornwall a new treaty to be complementary to the earlier treaty held with Theobald IV, Count of Champagne, France. His offer this time included his readiness to recognize the legitimacy of the concessions made by his uncle and opponent as-Salih Ismail
As-Salih Ismail may refer to:
*As-Salih Ismail, Emir of Damascus, the Ayyubid ruler of Damascus in the mid-13th century
*As-Salih Ismail, Sultan of Egypt, the Mamluk sultan of Egypt between 1342 and 1345
*As-Salih Ismail al-Malik
As-Salih Isma ...
, King of Damascus, to the Crusaders, so that the Galilee, and Jaffa and Ashkelon, and all of the city of Jerusalem, including Bethlehem and Majdal Yaba, in addition to Tiberias, Safed, and Belvoir Castle and Al-Tur Castle, were all included in the Kingdom of Jerusalem.[Khalil 'Athamneh, Palestine under Ayyobid and Mamluk Rule P. 137 - 151](_blank)
/ref>
In 1266, after the fall of Jaffa to the Mamluks, Sultan Baibars
Al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Bunduqdari ( ar, الملك الظاهر ركن الدين بيبرس البندقداري, ''al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Rukn al-Dīn Baybars al-Bunduqdārī'') (1223/1228 – 1 July 1277), of Turkic Kipchak ...
sent chiefs from Deir Ghassaneh
Bani Zeid ( ar, بني زيد) is a Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the north-central West Bank, located northwest of Ramallah, about 45 kilometers northwest of Jerusalem and about southwest of Salfit. A town of ...
to protect Majdal Yaba's tower.Deir Ghassaneh
Bani Zeid ( ar, بني زيد) is a Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the north-central West Bank, located northwest of Ramallah, about 45 kilometers northwest of Jerusalem and about southwest of Salfit. A town of ...
. In the late 13th century, the castle fortress at Majdal Yafa was abandoned.
Ottoman period
Majdal Yaba was apparently repopulated when Palestine was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in the early 16th century, and by the 1596 tax records, it was a small village in the '' nahiya'' ("subdistrict") of Jabal Qubal, part of Sanjak Nablus. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 33,3% on wheat, barley, beehives and goats; a total of 900 akçe
The ''akçe'' or ''akça'' (also spelled ''akche'', ''akcheh''; ota, آقچه; ) refers to a silver coin which was the chief monetary unit of the Ottoman Empire. The word itself evolved from the word "silver or silver money", this word is deri ...
. All of the revenue went to a waqf. The population consisted of 8 Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
families,[Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 137] an estimated total population of 44. The castle fortress in Majdal Yaba was rebuilt in 18th to 19th centuries.[
On March 3, 1799, General Kléber, Commander in Chief of the invading French forces, received the order to push detachments after having taken up position to the south of the river Nahar-al-Ougeh, to watch enemy movements, and to prepare for the army to march to Acre. He instructed General Damas ( Lannes), on March 6, to undertake a reconnaissance in the mountains inhabited by the ]Nablus
Nablus ( ; ar, نابلس, Nābulus ; he, שכם, Šəḵem, ISO 259-3: ; Samaritan Hebrew: , romanized: ; el, Νεάπολις, Νeápolis) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank, located approximately north of Jerusalem, with a populati ...
ians, who seemed to be hostile. Turks were firing from behind rocks and down precipices. The small column was obliged to retreat with heavy losses where sixty Franks were killed and more than double the number wounded, and Damas's arm was broken.[Doguereau, 2002, p. 76 footnote no. 6][Bourrienne, 1891, p. 175]
In the 19th century, the village was named ''Majdal al-Sadiq'' after Sheikh Muhammad al-Sadiq al-Jamma'ini, the chief of the village who hailed from the prominent Rayyan clan. The Rayyan were a branch of the Bedouin
The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert and A ...
Bani Ghazi tribe that emigrated to Palestine from Jordan in the 17th century. According to Eli Smith
Eli Smith (born September 13, 1801, in Northford, Connecticut, to Eli and Polly (Whitney) Smith, and died January 11, 1857, in Beirut, Lebanon) was an American Protestant missionary and scholar. He graduated from Yale College in 1821 and from Andov ...
, in 1843, the fortress (known as the "Rayyan Fortress") in the village was in ruins.[Robinson and Smith, 1856, p]
140
/ref>
On Thursday, November 7, 1850 James Finn
James Finn (1806–1872) was a British Consul in Jerusalem, in the then Ottoman Empire (1846–1863). He arrived in 1845 with his wife Elizabeth Anne Finn. Finn was a devout Christian, who belonged to the London Society for Promoting Christia ...
future British Consul to Jerusalem and Palestine, visited the village and found it and the castle in a very dilapidated condition, he met Sheikh Al Sadiq family, and slept in the castle for a night, he surveyed the church attached to the castle and saw the Greek inscription upon the lintel signifying ''Martyr Memorial Church of the Holy Herald''.[Finn, 1877, pp]
128
132 On leaving Mejdal he descended to '' Ras el 'Ain'' ("head of the springs") at half an hour's distance, a site which he believed to be identical with the ancient city of Antipatris.
When Edward Robinson visited in 1852, he reported that the fortress had been rebuilt and also served as a palace for the ruling ''sheikh
Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonly designates a chief of a ...
''. Sheikh al-Sadiq, however, had been banished by the Ottomans. In the 1850s, the Rayyan controlled 22-25 villages in the ''nahiya'' of Jamma'in West in Sanjak Nablus,[Doumani, 1995, p.48. Doumani states that the Rayyan controlled 25 villages, while Schölch states 22.] with Majdal Yaba being their main village, where they maintained a fortress and manor. During this time, however, they were embroiled in war with their rival clan, the Qasim — who controlled the Jamma'in East area and also belonged to the Bani Ghazi tribe.
In 1859, Sulayman Rayyan was in control of Majdal Yaba, and by 1860 the Rayyan clan had lost all of their influence in the '' sanjak''
after they were defeated by the Qasims.[Schölch, 1986, pp. 173, 211. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 396] The Rayyan continued to live in and rule Majdal Yaba, but the village ceased to be a center of power. According to the PEF's '' Survey of Western Palestine'' (SWP), the Rayyan family were "ruined by the Turkish Government." Victor Guérin visited in 1870.
Members of SWP who visited in 1873 reported a large building of "massive masonry", probably a former church, with a side door inscribed in Greek "Memorial of Saint Cerycus". In 1882, the village was described as "A large and important village, evidently an ancient site, having ancient tombs and remains of a church. It stands on high ground above the plain, and contains a house or palace of large size for the Sheikh; it was the seat of a famous family who ruled the neighbourhood. The water supply is from wells and cisterns.
In 1888, a school was founded in Majdal Yaba.
British Mandate period
Majdal Yaba was captured by British troops the 9th of November, 1917.
In the 1922 census of Palestine
The 1922 census of Palestine was the first census carried out by the authorities of the British Mandate of Palestine, on 23 October 1922.
The reported population was 757,182, including the military and persons of foreign nationality. The divisi ...
conducted by the British Mandate authorities, there were 726 inhabitants living in the village; 3 Jews and 723 Muslims,[Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Ramleh, p]
22
/ref> rising to 966, all Muslim, in a total of 227 houses in the 1931 census.[Mills, 1932, p]
21
The layout of the village resembled a parallelogram and its houses were built close together, being only separated by narrow alleys. They were built of mud and straw or stone and cement. Each neighborhood was inhabited by a single '' hamula'' ("clan") and contained a '' diwan'' for public meetings and receiving guests. The Rayyan family had still not recovered by the beginning of the Mandate Period; it was known to be impoverished, as was the Qasim family. ''"Dar az-zalimin kharab'' he home of the oppressors is ruined
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...
" said peasants when they passed by their ''kursis''. In 1935, a mosque was built in Majdal Yaba and the Ottoman-built school had reopened in 1920, enrolling 147 students in the mid-1940s. There was also a clinic in the village. Agriculture was the basis of the economy, with farmers planting wheat, corn, barley, vegetables, and sesame. They also tended fruit orchards, particularly citrus. Artesian well
An artesian aquifer is a confined aquifer containing groundwater under positive pressure. An artesian aquifer has trapped water, surrounded by layers of impermeable rock or clay, which apply positive pressure to the water contained within th ...
s irrigated the fields.
In the 1945 statistics Majdal Yaba had a population of 1,520 Muslim inhabitants[ with a total of 26,332 dunams of land.][Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p]
67
/ref> Of this, a total of 2,481 dunums
A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; tr, dönüm; he, דונם), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area equivalent to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amount ...
of village land was used for citrus and banana
A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...
s, 110 dunams were plantations or irrigable land, 13,906 dunums were used for cereals, while 59 dunams were classified as built-up urban areas.
File:JaffaJerusalem1799.jpg, Majdal Yaba during French Invasion of 1799
File:Majdal Yaba 1941.jpg, Al-Muzayri'a 1941 1:20,000
File:Al Mirr 1945.jpg, Al-Muzayri'a 1945 1:250,000
File:Majdal Yaba.jpg, Families prior to 1948
1948 war and aftermath
File:Occupation of Majdal Yaba.png, Majdal Yaba, July 1948
File:Justice Tower ii.jpg, Majdal Yaba, February 1949
File:Justice Tower.jpg, Majdal Yada, March 1949
File:Majdal Yaba iii.jpg, Member of Harel Brigade at Majdal Yaba, 1949
File:Tombstone in Majdal Yaba cemetery.jpg, Vandalized remaining tomb in Majdal Yaba's cemetery
Majdal Yaba was in the territory allotted to the Arab state under the 1947 UN Partition Plan. During the war, it was occupied by the Second Battalion of the Alexandroni Brigade
The Alexandroni Brigade (3rd Brigade) is an Israel Defense Forces brigade that has fought in multiple Israeli wars. History
Along with the 7th Armoured Brigade both units had 139 killed during the first battle of Latrun (1948), Operation Ben Nu ...
on July 12, 1948, in Operation Danny, after wresting it from the Iraqi Army
The Iraqi Ground Forces (Arabic: القوات البرية العراقية), or the Iraqi Army (Arabic: الجيش العراقي), is the ground force component of the Iraqi Armed Forces. It was known as the Royal Iraqi Army up until the coup ...
who were defending the village during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
Events January
* January 1
** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated.
** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect.
** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...
. The nearby village of Ras al-Ein, deserted in the 1920s, was also captured. The '' New York Times'' reported that the situation of the surrounded Iraqi troops was "hopeless".[''New York Times'' quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p.397.] The capture of Majdal Yaba also led to the control of the hills lying to the north of the operation zone and the springs of the al-Auja river
The Yarkon River, also Yarqon River or Jarkon River ( he, נחל הירקון, ''Nahal HaYarkon'', ar, نهر العوجا, ''Nahr al-Auja''), is a river in central Israel. The source of the Yarkon ("Greenish" in Hebrew) is at Tel Afek (Antip ...
( ar, نهر العوجا). On August 28, 1948, The Iraqi forces attempted to recapture the village, but were asked to abandon the operation[Akeel](_blank)
bdul Karim Qassim.
The Israeli town of Rosh HaAyin — which today is a city — was built on village lands in 1950, and in 1953, the Jewish kibbutz
A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming h ...
of Givat HaShlosha
Givat HaShlosha ( he, גִּבְעַת הַשְּׁלֹשָׁה, ''lit.'' Hill of the three) is a kibbutz in central Israel. Located about 4 km east of Petah Tikva, near the Yarkon river, it falls under the jurisdiction of Drom Hasharon R ...
was established on village lands. According to Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi, the Rayyan Fortress still "crowns the site" in addition to the tomb of Sheikh Muhammad Al-Sadiq, and a part of the village cemetery still remains. In 1992 the fortress was "slowly crumbling" and the dome of the tomb was severely cracked.[Khalidi, 1992, p. 397] The ruins of Mirabel Castle have been recently restored and made accessible as part of the Israeli national park of Migdal Afek.
See also
* Depopulated Palestinian locations in Israel
*Migdal Afek Migdal ( he, מִגְדָּל) is a Hebrew word for tower. It may refer to:
People
* Alexander Migdal (born 1945), Soviet, Russian and American physicist, son of Arkady Migdal
* Arkady Migdal (1911–1991), Soviet physicist
* Ted Migdal (1918–1 ...
, Israeli national park centered around the ruins of Mirabel Castle
* Vassals of the Kingdom of Jerusalem of the Crusader period
References
Bibliography
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*Schölch, Alexander (1986): ''Palästina im Umbruch 1856-1882.'' Wiesbaden and Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag.
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External links
Majdal Yaba\ al-Sadiq
Zochrot
*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 14:
IAA
Wikimedia commons
{{Palestinian Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Palestine War
Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War
District of Ramla
Crusader castles
Populated places established in the 4th millennium BC
Populated places disestablished in 1948
4th-millennium BC establishments
Throne villages