Qastina ( ar, قسطينة) was a
Palestinian
Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
village, located 38 kilometers northeast of
Gaza City. It was depopulated during the
1948 Arab-Israeli war.
Location
Qastina was situated on an elevated spot in a generally flat area on the coastal plain, on the highway between
al-Majdal and the
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
-
Jaffa highway. A
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
military camp, Beer Tuvia, was 3 km. southwest of the village.
[Khalidi, 1992, pp. 130-131]
History
Ottoman period
Qastina was incorporated into the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
in 1517 with the rest of
Palestine, and by the 1596
tax records, it was a village in the ''
nahiya
A nāḥiyah ( ar, , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level division w ...
'' (subdistrict) of
Gaza under the ''
liwa'
Sanjaks (liwāʾ) (plural form: alwiyāʾ)
* Armenian: նահանգ (''nahang''; meaning "province")
* Bulgarian: окръг (''okrǔg''; meaning "county", "province", or "region")
* el, Διοίκησις (''dioikēsis'', meaning "province" ...
'' (district) of
Gaza, with a population of 55 households and 15 bachelors, an estimated 385 persons. All the villagers were
Muslim. They paid a fixed tax rate of 33,3% on a number of crops, including
wheat
Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...
,
barley
Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley p ...
and sesame, and fruits, as well as goats, beehives and vineyards; a total of 13,100
akçe. 5/6 of the revenue went to a
Muslim charitable endowment.
The Syrian
Sufi teacher and traveller Mustafa al-Bakri al-Siddiqi (1688-1748/9) reported travelling through the village in the first half of the eighteenth century, on his way to
al-Masmiyya al-Kabira.
In 1838,
Edward Robinson saw ''el-Kustineh'' located northwest of
Tell es-Safi
Tell es-Safi ( ar, تل الصافي, Tall aṣ-Ṣāfī, "White hill"; he, תל צפית, ''Tel Tzafit'') was an Arab Palestinian village, located on the southern banks of Wadi 'Ajjur, northwest of Hebron which had its Arab population expelled ...
, where he was staying, and noted it as a Muslim village located in the Gaza district.
In 1863, the French explorer
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 Min ...
visited the village, called ''Kasthineh''. He found it had four hundred inhabitants. Near the mouth of a
well
A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...
were the remains of an antique gray-white
marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...
column, while two palm trees and three acacia mimosas shaded the cemetery.
An Ottoman village list of about 1870 showed that Qastina had 152 houses and a population of 469, though the population count included men only.
[Socin, 1879, p]
156
Also noted it in the Gaza district In 1882, the
PEF's ''
Survey of Western Palestine
The PEF Survey of Palestine was a series of surveys carried out by the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF) between 1872 and 1877 for the Survey of Western Palestine and in 1880 for the Survey of Eastern Palestine. The survey was carried out after the ...
'' described Qastina as a village laid out in a northwest–southeast direction on flat ground. It had
adobe brick structures, a well, and gardens.
British Mandate period
In the
1922 census of Palestine conducted by the
British Mandate authorities, the village had a population of 406 inhabitants, all
Muslims,
[Barron, 1923, Table V, Sub-district of Gaza, p]
9
/ref> increasing in the 1931 census when it had an all-Muslim population of 593 in 147 houses.[Mills, 1932, p]
5
/ref>
The villagers had a mosque
A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...
, and in 1936 an elementary school was started, which was shared with the neighbouring village of Tall al-Turmus
Tall al-Turmus ( ar, تل الترمس) was a Palestinian Arab village in the Gaza Subdistrict, located on a low hill on the coastal plain of Palestine, northeast of Gaza. In 1945, it had a population of 760 and a land area of 11,508 dunams. ...
. By the mid-1940s the school had 161 students.
In 1939 Kfar Warburg was established on what was traditionally village land, 3 km southwest of the village site.[Khalidi, 1992, p. 131]
By the 1945 statistics the population was 890, all Muslims,[ with a total of 12,019 dunams of land.][ The villagers lived mostly of agriculture. In addition, villagers raised animals and poultry, and worked in the British military camp (Beer Tuvia) nearby.]
In 1944–45 a total of 235 dunums was used for citrus
''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. The genus ''Citrus'' is native to ...
and bananas, 7,317 dunums used for cereals, 770 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards,[Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p]
88
/ref> while 37 dunams were built-up, urban, land.
1948 war
Qastina was in the territory allotted to the Arab state under the 1947 UN Partition Plan
The United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine was a proposal by the United Nations, which recommended a partition of Mandatory Palestine at the end of the British Mandate. On 29 November 1947, the UN General Assembly adopted the Plan as R ...
. Upon Israel's declaration of independence
A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of th ...
on 15 May 1948, the armies of neighbouring Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
states invaded, prompting fresh evacuations of civilians fearful of being caught up in the fighting. The women and children of Qastina were sent away to the village of Tell es-Safi
Tell es-Safi ( ar, تل الصافي, Tall aṣ-Ṣāfī, "White hill"; he, תל צפית, ''Tel Tzafit'') was an Arab Palestinian village, located on the southern banks of Wadi 'Ajjur, northwest of Hebron which had its Arab population expelled ...
by the menfolk at this time, but they returned after discovering there was insufficient water in the host village to meet the newcomers' needs.[Morris, 2004, p]
176
/ref>
A preparatory order for the conquest of Qastina and other neighbouring villages ( Masmiya al Kabira, Masmiya al Saghira, al Tina and Tall al Turmus) was drafted by the Giv'ati Brigade's 51st Battalion and produced on 29 June 1948. According to Benny Morris, the document recommended "the 'liquidation' (''hisul'') of the two Masmiya villages and 'burning' ('' bi'ur'') the rest."[Morris, 2004, p]
436
/ref>
On 9 July 1948, the village and its over 147 houses were completely destroyed by Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
i forces after its inhabitants fled an assault by the Givati Brigade in Operation An-Far
Operation An-Far (short for Anti- Farouk) was a military operation launched by Israel's Givati Brigade on the night of July 8–9 during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Its objectives were to gain control of approaches in southern Judea and block the ...
. Qastina was used as a rallying point by the IDF seventh Battalion of the 8th Armored Brigade after the failed attack on Iraq al-Manshiyya in part of the Israeli drive to open a route to the Negev during Operation Yoav
Operation Yoav (also called ''Operation Ten Plagues'' or ''Operation Yo'av'') was an Israeli military operation carried out from 15–22 October 1948 in the Negev Desert, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Its goal was to drive a wedge between th ...
.
Israel after 1948 war
In early 1949 Quaker relief workers reported that many those living in tents in what became Maghazi refugee camp had come from Qastina.[Gallagher, Nancy (2007) ‘’Quakers in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: The Dilemmas of NGO Humanitarian Activism’’ The American University in Cairo Press. p 75]
Following the war the area was incorporated into the State of Israel and four villages were later established on the lands of Qastina; Arugot and Kfar Ahim were founded in 1949 after the village had been destroyed. They were followed by Avigdor in 1950 and Kiryat Malakhi
Kiryat Malakhi ( he, קִרְיַת מַלְאָכִי, also Qiryat Malakhi or Kiryat Malachi) is a city in the Southern District of Israel, from Ashkelon. In it had a population of . Its jurisdiction is 4,632 dunams (~4.6 km2).
Histor ...
in 1951.[ ]Be'er Tuvia
Be'er Tuvia ( he, בְּאֵר טוֹבִיָּה, ''Be'er Toviya'', "Tuvia's Well") is a moshav in the Southern District of Israel. Located near the city of Kiryat Malakhi, it falls under the jurisdiction of Be'er Tuvia Regional Council. In it ...
, which was also known by the name Qastina after its establishment in 1887, lies adjacent.
In 1992, Walid Khalidi
Walid Khalidi ( ar, وليد خالدي, born 1925 in Jerusalem) is an Oxford University-educated Palestinian historian who has written extensively on the Palestinian exodus. He is a co-founder of the Institute for Palestine Studies, establish ...
notes of Qastina that: "All that remains is the debris of houses strewn across the site. The research team investigating the current status of the depopulated villages visited the site and found it overgrown with bushes and tall grasses that were about 2m high."
Nowadays, ''Qastina'' is the popular name for Malakhi Junction.
See also
* Depopulated Palestinian locations in Israel
* RAF Qastina
References
Bibliography
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External links
Welcome To Qastina
Qastina
Zochrot
Zochrot ( he, זוכרות; "Remembering"; ar, ذاكرات; "Memories") is an Israeli nonprofit organization founded in 2002. Based in Tel Aviv, its aim is to promote awareness of the Palestinian ''Nakba'' ("Catastrophe"), including the 1948 Pa ...
*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 16
IAA
Wikimedia commons
from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center
Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center () is a leading Palestinian arts and culture organization that aims to create a pluralistic, critical liberating culture through research, query, and participation, and that provides an open space for the community ...
{{Palestinian Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Palestine War
District of Gaza
Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War