Sheikh Bureik ( ar, الشيخ بريك او الشيخ اِبريق), locally called Sheikh Abreik or Sheikh Ibreik in recent times,
[Sharon, 2004, p.]
xxxvii
/ref> was a Palestinian Arab
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 southeast of Haifa
Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...
.[Negev and Gibson, 2001]
pp. 86–87
Situated at an ancient site that shows evidence of habitation as early as the Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
, it was known as Beit She'arayim in the Roman and Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
periods and became an important center of Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
learning in the 2nd century, with habitation continuing during the Early Islamic period and limited signs of activity from the Crusader period.[
The village appears under the name Sheikh Bureik in 16th century Ottoman archives. Named for a local Muslim saint to whom a shrine was dedicated that remains standing to this day, it was a small village whose inhabitants were primarily agriculturalists. Rendered tenant farmers in the late 19th century after the Ottoman authorities sold the village lands to the ]Sursuk family
The Sursock family (also spelled Sursuq) is a Greek Orthodox Christian family from Lebanon, and used to be one of the most important families of Beirut. Having originated in Constantinople during the Byzantine Empire, the family has lived in Bei ...
of 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 ...
, the village was depopulated in the 1920s after this family of absentee landlords in turn sold the lands to the Jewish National Fund
Jewish National Fund ( he, קֶרֶן קַיֶּימֶת לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, ''Keren Kayemet LeYisrael'', previously , ''Ha Fund HaLeumi'') was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Syria (later Mandatory Palestine, and subseq ...
.
A new Jewish settlement, also named Sheikh Abreik, was established there in 1925. Excavations at the site in 1936 revealed the ancient city, known in Greek as Besara and identified as Beth Shearim by Benjamin Mazar
Benjamin Mazar ( he, בנימין מזר; born Binyamin Zeev Maisler, June 28, 1906 – September 9, 1995) was a pioneering Israeli historian, recognized as the "dean" of biblical archaeologists. He shared the national passion for the archaeology ...
. The excavated part of the ancient town has become the Beit She'arim National Park
Beit She'arim ( he, בֵּית שְׁעָרִים, "House of Gates") is the currently used name for the ancient Jewish town of Bet She'arayim (, "House of Two Gates") or ''Kfar She'arayim'' (, "Village of Two Gates"),Sharon (2004), p.XXXVII ...
, which is managed by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority
The Israel Nature and Parks Authority ( he, רשות הטבע והגנים ''Rashut Hateva Vehaganim''; ar, سلطة الطبيعة والحدائق) is an Israeli government organization that manages nature reserves and national parks in Israel, ...
.
Name
The site is first mentioned in the writings of Josephus
Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for ''The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly d ...
, the 1st-century Jewish historian under the name ''Besara''.[ The Arab village was named for a Muslim saint (]wali
A wali (''wali'' ar, وَلِيّ, '; plural , '), the Arabic word which has been variously translated "master", "authority", "custodian", "protector", is most commonly used by Muslims to indicate an Islamic saint, otherwise referred to by the ...
) known as Sheikh Abreik for whom a two-domed shrine was erected which is still a site of pilgrimage (ziyara
In Islam, ''ziyara(h)'' ( ar, زِيَارَة ''ziyārah'', "visit") or ''ziyarat'' ( fa, , ''ziyārat'', "pilgrimage") is a form of pilgrimage to sites associated with Muhammad, his family members and descendants (including the Shī'ī Imā ...
).[ The name translates from ]Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
into English as "the sheikh of the small pitcher".[Mazar, 1976]
p. 34
It has also been suggested that the name ''Abreik'' recalls the name of ''Barak
Barak ( or ; he, בָּרָק; Tiberian Hebrew: '' Bārāq''; ar, البُراق ''al-Burāq'' "lightning") was a ruler of Ancient Israel. As military commander in the biblical Book of Judges, Barak, with Deborah, from the Tribe of Ephraim, ...
'', the military general mentioned in the Bible
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 ...
's Book of Judges
The Book of Judges (, ') is the seventh book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. In the narrative of the Hebrew Bible, it covers the time between the conquest described in the Book of Joshua and the establishment of a kingdom i ...
as the son of Abinoam Abinoam (a-bin'-o-am, ab-i-no'-am), from Kedesh-naphtali, was the father of Barak who defeated Jabin's army, led by Sisera. He is mentioned only in Judges 4:6, 4:12 and 5:12.
The name means "the (divine) father is pleasantness or Father of Kindne ...
.[Sharon, 2004, p]
xxxviii
/ref>
Following excavations in 1936 of an ancient city located on the hill upon which the village had been located, Benjamin Mazar
Benjamin Mazar ( he, בנימין מזר; born Binyamin Zeev Maisler, June 28, 1906 – September 9, 1995) was a pioneering Israeli historian, recognized as the "dean" of biblical archaeologists. He shared the national passion for the archaeology ...
identified the site as Beth Shearim
Beit She'arim ( / / Bet Sharei) or Besara ( gr, Βήσαρα) was a Roman-era Jewish village from the 1st century BCE until the 3rd century CE which, at one time, was the seat of the Sanhedrin.
In the mid-2nd century, the village briefly becam ...
, and this has been the official name of the site ever since, although the more accurate ancient name had been Bet She'arayim.[ Prior to Mazar's identification, it was thought that Sheikh Abreik was the ancient Geba, near ]Carmel
Carmel may refer to:
* Carmel (biblical settlement), an ancient Israelite town in Judea
* Mount Carmel, a coastal mountain range in Israel overlooking the Mediterranean Sea
* Carmelites, a Roman Catholic mendicant religious order
Carmel may also ...
.
Sheikh Abreik shrine
A small double-domed ''Maqam (shrine)
A Maqām ( ar, مقام) is a shrine built on the site associated with a religious figure or saint, typical to the regions of Palestine and Syria. It is usually a funeral construction, commonly cubic-shaped and topped with a dome.
Maqams are as ...
'' holding the tomb of a Muslim saint, Sheikh Abreik or Ibreik, stands on the ridge of the hill and is still a site of ''ziyārah
In Islam, ''ziyara(h)'' ( ar, زِيَارَة ''ziyārah'', "visit") or ''ziyarat'' ( fa, , ''ziyārat'', "pilgrimage") is a form of pilgrimage to sites associated with Muhammad, his family members and descendants (including the Shī'ī Imā ...
''-type pilgrimage.[ At the time of the ]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 ...
, its interior was painted red.[Conder, 1887, p]
254
/ref> Gottlieb Schumacher
Gottlieb Schumacher (21 November 1857 – 26 November 1925) was an American-born civil engineer, architect and archaeologist of German descent, who was an important figure in the early archaeological exploration of Palestine.
Early life
Sch ...
noted in the 1890s that: "The shrine of Sheik Abreik is still highly venerated by 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 ...
of the Merj ibn Amir. According to their tradition the Sheikh lived eforethe Prophet
In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...
; it is a fact, that if you take an oath from a Bedawy, and make him swear by Sheikh Abreik, he will not deceive you." Tawfiq Canaan
Tawfiq Canaan ( ar, توفيق كنعان) (24 September 1882 – 15 January 1964) was a pioneering Palestinian physician, medical researcher, ethnographer, and Palestinian nationalist. Born in Beit Jala during the rule of the Ottoman Empire, he s ...
, the Palestinian physician and ethnographer, who wrote about the shrine of Sheikh Abriek in 1927, noted that it was also a site frequented by women seeking to remedy infertility: "After a barren woman has taken a bath in el-Matba'ah she washes herself in Ein Ishaq Spring of Isaac" she goes then to ash-shekh Ibreik to offer a present." Sheikh Abreik is described by Moshe Sharon
Moshe Sharon ( he, משה שָׁרוֹן; born December 18, 1937) is an Israeli historian of Islam.
He is currently Professor Emeritus of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem where he serves as Chair in Bahá ...
as a local saint believed to have bestowed the nearby swamp of al-Matba'ah with healing properties that were said to be useful in treating rheumatism and nervous disorders.[Sharon, 2004, p]
xxxix
/ref> Sharon sees the possibility that an Abbasid-period poem found written on the wall of a nearby catacomb might mark the beginning of the ''maqām'' of Shaykh Abreik.[
]
History
Iron Age
Pottery shards discovered at the site indicate that a first settlement there dates back to the Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
.[
]
Roman and Byzantine periods
Beit She'arayim was founded at the end of the 1st century BCE, during the reign of King Herod.[Benjamin Mazar, ''Beth She'arim : Report on the Excavations during 1936–1940'', Vol. I, p19.] The Roman Jewish historian Josephus Flavius
Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for ''The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly d ...
, in his ''Vita'', referred to the city in Greek as Besara, the administrative center of the estates of Queen Berenice in the Jezreel Valley
The Jezreel Valley (from the he, עמק יזרעאל, translit. ''ʿĒmeq Yīzrəʿēʿl''), or Marj Ibn Amir ( ar, مرج ابن عامر), also known as the Valley of Megiddo, is a large fertile plain and inland valley in the Northern Distr ...
.
After the destruction of the Second Temple
The Second Temple (, , ), later known as Herod's Temple, was the reconstructed Temple in Jerusalem between and 70 CE. It replaced Solomon's Temple, which had been built at the same location in the United Kingdom of Israel before being inherited ...
in 70 CE, the Sanhedrin
The Sanhedrin (Hebrew and Aramaic: סַנְהֶדְרִין; Greek: , ''synedrion'', 'sitting together,' hence 'assembly' or 'council') was an assembly of either 23 or 71 elders (known as "rabbis" after the destruction of the Second Temple), ap ...
(Jewish legislature and supreme council) moved to Beit She'arayim. The town is mentioned in rabbinical literature as an important center of Jewish learning during the 2nd century.[ Rabbi ]Judah the Prince
Judah ha-Nasi ( he, יְהוּדָה הַנָּשִׂיא, ''Yəhūḏā hanNāsīʾ''; Yehudah HaNasi or Judah the Prince) or Judah I, was a second-century rabbi (a tanna of the fifth generation) and chief redactor and editor of the ''Mis ...
(Yehudah HaNasi), head of the Sanhedrin and compiler of the Mishna
The Mishnah or the Mishna (; he, מִשְׁנָה, "study by repetition", from the verb ''shanah'' , or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions which is known as the Oral Torah ...
, lived there and was buried there, as were many other Jews from all over the country and from the Jewish diaspora
The Jewish diaspora ( he, תְּפוּצָה, təfūṣā) or exile (Hebrew: ; Yiddish: ) is the dispersion of Israelites or Jews out of their ancient ancestral homeland (the Land of Israel) and their subsequent settlement in other parts of t ...
from nearby Phoenicia
Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their histor ...
[ to far away ]Himyar
The Himyarite Kingdom ( ar, مملكة حِمْيَر, Mamlakat Ḥimyar, he, ממלכת חִמְיָר), or Himyar ( ar, حِمْيَر, ''Ḥimyar'', / 𐩹𐩧𐩺𐩵𐩬) ( fl. 110 BCE–520s CE), historically referred to as the Homerit ...
in Yemen
Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...
.[H.Z. Hirschberg, ''Yisrā’ēl ba-'Arāb'', Tel Aviv 1946, pp. 53–57, 148, 283–284 (Hebrew)]
While it was originally thought that Bet She'arayim was destroyed during the Jewish revolt against Gallus
The Jewish revolt against Constantius Gallus erupted during the Roman civil war of 350–353, upon destabilization across the Roman Empire. In 351–352 the Jews of Roman Palaestina revolted against the rule of Constantius Gallus, brother-in-la ...
in the mid-4th century, recent research has revealed the destruction to be far less extensive.[ An earthquake in 386 caused some damage, but the town recovered and enjoyed prosperity during the era of Byzantine rule.][ Almost 300 inscriptions primarily in ]Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
, but also in Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
, Aramaic
The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...
, and Palmyrene were found on the walls of the catacombs containing numerous sarcophagi.[
]
Early Islamic period
From the beginning of the Early Islamic period (7th century), settlement was sparse. The site shows signs of industrial activity from the Early Islamic Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...
and Abbasid
The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
periods.[ Excavations uncovered 75 lamps dating to the period of ]Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...
(7th–8th centuries) and Abbasid
The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
(8th–13th centuries) rule over Palestine.[
]
Glassmaking industry
In 1956, a bulldozer working at the site unearthed an enormous rectangular slab, 11×6.5×1.5 feet, weighing 9 tons. Initially, it was paved over, but it was eventually studied and found to be a gigantic piece of glass. A glassmaking
Glass production involves two main methods – the float glass process that produces sheet glass, and glassblowing that produces bottles and other containers. It has been done in a variety of ways during the history of glass.
Glass container ...
furnace was located here in the 9th century during the Abbasid period
The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
, which produced great batches of molten glass that were cooled and later broken into small pieces for crafting glass vessels.[
]
Poem from Abbasid period
An elegy
An elegy is a poem of serious reflection, and in English literature usually a lament for the dead. However, according to ''The Oxford Handbook of the Elegy'', "for all of its pervasiveness ... the 'elegy' remains remarkably ill defined: sometime ...
written in Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
script typical of the 9–10th century and containing the date AH 287 or 289 (CE 900 or 902) was found in the ''Magharat al-Jahannam'' ("Cave of Hell") catacomb during excavations conducted there in 1956. Composed by the previously unknown poet Umm al-Qasim, whose name is given in acrostic
An acrostic is a poem or other word composition in which the ''first'' letter (or syllable, or word) of each new line (or paragraph, or other recurring feature in the text) spells out a word, message or the alphabet. The term comes from the Fre ...
in the poem, it reads as follows:[Sharon, 2004, p]
xli
/ref>
I lament the defender (who passed away)
::::While desire within his breast is still afire.
:::His generosity was not very manifest to the eye,
::::So that the envious ones neglect desiring him.
:::Yearning (for him) has made his resting place
::::(a site of) wakefulness and a shrine where people stay.
:::The blessing of beauty he enjoyed. Can any thing equal them
::::in the worlds? Nothing to match them can be found.
:::Closer come the Ages, but distance they cause;
::::for nearness they aspire, but friends they keep afar.
:::Were Desire to cause blame (to a person), (still) it could not subdue (him);
::::And if man's fortune does not ascend, he (too will) not rise.
:::Ask about it, and the experienced ones will tell thee
::::That Time combines both blame and praise:
:::As long as limpid it remains, life is happy, blissful
::::But once it turbid turns, miserable is life and painful
:::And wrote Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Bishr b. Abu Dulaf al-Abdi, and in these verses is a name. Take from the beginning of each verse one letter and you should comprehend it. And it was written in the month of Rabi II in the year 287 (or 289).
Moshe Sharon
Moshe Sharon ( he, משה שָׁרוֹן; born December 18, 1937) is an Israeli historian of Islam.
He is currently Professor Emeritus of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem where he serves as Chair in Bahá ...
speculates that this poem might be marking the beginning of the practice of treating this site as the sanctuary of Shaykh Abreik and suggests the site was used for burial at this time and possibly later as well.[Sharon, 2004, p]
xlii
/ref> He further notes that the cave within which the inscription was found forms part of a vast area of ancient ruins which constituted a natural place for the emergence of a local shrine. Drawing on the work of Tawfiq Canaan, Sharon cites his observation that 32% of the sacred sites he visited in Palestine were located in the vicinity of ancient ruins.[
]
Crusader period
There is some evidence of activity in the former city area and necropolis dating to the Crusader period (12th century), probably connected to travellers and temporary settlement.[
]
Village under Ottoman rule
Sheikh Bureik, like the rest of Palestine
__NOTOC__
Palestine may refer to:
* State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia
* Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia
* Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
, fell under the rule of 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) ...
between the 16th and 20th centuries. The village appears under the name '' Sheikh Bureik'' in 16th century Ottoman archives. In the imperial daftar
A ''defter'' (plural: ''defterler'') was a type of tax register and land cadastre in the Ottoman Empire.
Description
The information collected could vary, but ''tahrir defterleri'' typically included details of villages, dwellings, household ...
for 1596, it is recorded as a village of 22 Muslim families located 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 ...
'' of Shafa in the '' liwa'' of Lajjun
Lajjun ( ar, اللجّون, ''al-Lajjūn'') was a large Palestinian Arab village in Mandatory Palestine, located northwest of Jenin and south of the remains of the biblical city of Megiddo. The Israeli kibbutz of Megiddo, Israel was built o ...
, whose inhabitants paid taxes on wheat, barley and summer crops. A map by Pierre Jacotin
Pierre Jacotin (1765–1827) was the director of the survey for the ''Carte de l'Égypte (Description de l'Égypte)'', the first triangulation-based map of Egypt, Syria and Palestine.
The maps were surveyed in 1799-1800 during the campaign in Eg ...
from Napoleon's invasion of 1799 showed the place, named as ''Cheik Abrit.''
In 1859, the tillage
Tillage is the agricultural preparation of soil by mechanical agitation of various types, such as digging, stirring, and overturning. Examples of human-powered tilling methods using hand tools include shoveling, picking, mattock work, hoein ...
of the village was 16 feddan
A feddan ( ar, فدّان, faddān) is a unit of area used in Egypt, Sudan, Syria, and the Oman. In Classical Arabic, the word means 'a yoke of oxen', implying the area of ground that could be tilled by oxen in a certain time. In Egypt, the fedda ...
s.[Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p]
273
/ref> In 1872, the Ottoman authorities sold Shayk Abreik (together with a total of 23 villages and some seventy square miles of land) for £20,000 to the Sursuk family
The Sursock family (also spelled Sursuq) is a Greek Orthodox Christian family from Lebanon, and used to be one of the most important families of Beirut. Having originated in Constantinople during the Byzantine Empire, the family has lived in Bei ...
of Lebanon. 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 it to have 350 inhabitants.
In 1881, "The Survey of Western Palestine" describes Sheikh Abreik as a small village situated on a hill with a conspicuous Maqam
MAQAM is a US-based production company specializing in Arabic and Middle Eastern media. The company was established by a small group of Arabic music and culture lovers, later becoming a division of 3B Media Inc. "MAQAM" is an Arabic word meaning a ...
(sanctuary) located to the south. The village houses were made mostly of mud
A MUD (; originally multi-user dungeon, with later variants multi-user dimension and multi-user domain) is a Multiplayer video game, multiplayer Time-keeping systems in games#Real-time, real-time virtual world, usually Text-based game, text-bas ...
, and it belonged to the Sursuk family. The population at this time was estimated to be around 150.[
A population list from about 1887 showed that Sheikh Abreik had about 395 inhabitants; all Muslims.
During ]World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, the "finest oaks" of Sheikh Bureik were "ruthlessly destroyed" by the Turkish Army for use as rail fuel.
Village under British Mandatory rule
During the period of Mandate Palestine
Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 i ...
, in the October 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 ...
, the population of Sheikh Bureik was recorded as 111 Muslims (51 male and 60 female). The villagers were primarily agriculturalists, who were made tenant farmers in the late 19th century after the Ottoman authorities sold the village lands to the Sursuk family
The Sursock family (also spelled Sursuq) is a Greek Orthodox Christian family from Lebanon, and used to be one of the most important families of Beirut. Having originated in Constantinople during the Byzantine Empire, the family has lived in Bei ...
of 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 ...
, who assumed the title of absentee landlord
In economics, an absentee landlord is a person who owns and rents out a profit-earning property, but does not live within the property's local economic region. The term "absentee ownership" was popularised by economist Thorstein Veblen's 1923 book ...
s.
The area was acquired by the Jewish community as part of the Sursock Purchase
The Sursock Purchase of the Jezreel Valley and Haifa Bay, as well as other parts of Mandatory Palestine, was the largest Jewish land purchase in Palestine during the period of early Jewish immigration.
The Jezreel Valley was considered the most f ...
. At some time during the early 1920s, the Sursuk family sold the lands of the village to the Jewish National Fund
Jewish National Fund ( he, קֶרֶן קַיֶּימֶת לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, ''Keren Kayemet LeYisrael'', previously , ''Ha Fund HaLeumi'') was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Syria (later Mandatory Palestine, and subseq ...
, purchased in the name of the "Palestine Land Development Company" via Yehoshua Hankin
Yehoshua Hankin ( he, יהושע חנקין, 1864 – 11 November 1945) was a Zionist activist who was responsible for most of the major land purchases of the Zionist Organization in Ottoman Palestine and Mandatory Palestine – in particular for ...
, a Zionist
Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...
activist who was responsible for most of the major land purchases of the World Zionist Organization
The World Zionist Organization ( he, הַהִסְתַּדְּרוּת הַצִּיּוֹנִית הָעוֹלָמִית; ''HaHistadrut HaTzionit Ha'Olamit''), or WZO, is a non-governmental organization that promotes Zionism. It was founded as the ...
in Ottoman Palestine. The land purchased by the JNF were classified by the Government of Palestine under "miri property," meaning, lands given out for conditional public use, while ultimate ownership lay with the Government; or what is tantamount to private usufruct
Usufruct () is a limited real right (or ''in rem'' right) found in civil-law and mixed jurisdictions that unites the two property interests of ''usus'' and ''fructus'':
* ''Usus'' (''use'') is the right to use or enjoy a thing possessed, directl ...
State land.[Department of Land Settlement, Jerusalem](_blank)
24 May 1946 After the sale, which included lands from the Arab villages of Harithiya, Sheikh Abreik and Harbaj
Kfar Hasidim ( he, כְּפַר חֲסִידִים, ''lit.'' Village of Hasidim), also known as Kfar Hasidim Alef to distinguish it from Kfar Hasidim Bet, is a moshav in northern Israel. Located near Kiryat Ata, it falls under the jurisdiction o ...
, a total of 59 Arab tenants were evicted from the three villages, with 3,314 pounds compensation paid. The Muslim shrine on the site was not sold and fell to the administration of the Government of Palestine.
In 1926-7 an agricultural settlement was established by the Hapoel HaMizrachi
Hapoel HaMizrachi ( he, הַפּוֹעֵל הַמִּזְרָחִי, lit. '' Mizrachi Workers'') was a political party and settlement movement in Israel. It was one of the predecessors of the National Religious Party and the Jewish Home.
History ...
, a Zionist political party and settlement movement; the village continued to be called by its Arabic name ''Sheikh Abreik''. By 1930, the new Jewish settlement had a population of 45 spanning an area of 1,089 dunams. In 1940, the High Commissioner of the British Mandate for Palestine placed the village in Zone B for land transfers, meaning that transfer of land to a person other than a Palestinian Arab was permitted in certain specified circumstances.[Transfers of land restricted, '']Palestine Post
Palestine Post ( ar, البريد الفلسطيني) is the company responsible for postal service in the State of Palestine.
See also
* Postage stamps and postal history of the Palestinian National Authority
* Postage stamps and postal history ...
'', 29 February 1940, pp1-2.
See also
*Al-Khansa
Tumāḍir bint ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith ibn al-Sharīd al-Sulamīyah ( ar, تماضر بنت عمرو بن الحارث بن الشريد السُلمية), usually simply referred to as al-Khansāʾ ( ar, الخنساء, links=no, meaning "snub-n ...
(7th century), the best known female poet in Arabic literature, famous for her elegies
*Beit She'arim National Park
Beit She'arim ( he, בֵּית שְׁעָרִים, "House of Gates") is the currently used name for the ancient Jewish town of Bet She'arayim (, "House of Two Gates") or ''Kfar She'arayim'' (, "Village of Two Gates"),Sharon (2004), p.XXXVII ...
*List of villages depopulated during the Arab–Israeli conflict
Below is a list of villages depopulated or destroyed during the Arab–Israeli conflict.
1880–1946
Arab villages
A number of these villages, those in the Jezreel Valley, were inhabited by tenants of land which was sold by a variety of owners, ...
References
Bibliography
* Abu El Haj, N. (2001): Facts on the Ground: Archaeological Practice and Territorial Self-Fashioning in Israeli Societybr>p.81
.more about Bet Shearim)
*
*
*
* (Sharon
Sharon ( he, שָׁרוֹן ''Šārôn'' "plain") is a given name as well as an Israeli surname.
In English-speaking areas, Sharon is now predominantly a feminine given name. However, historically it was also used as a masculine given name. In I ...
, 2004, mention
p.325
p.345
p. 346
p. 347
p. 348
p.349
p. 350
an
p.351
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* (visited Sheik Abreik and "The Cave of Hell" in 1883; se
p.38
ff.)
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{refend
External links
*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 5
IAA
Wikimedia commons
Arab villages depopulated prior to the 1948 Arab–Israeli War
Islamic shrines in Israel