Zayta
Encyclopedia
Zayta was a Palestinian
Arab
village in the District of Hebron
in Mandate Palestine
. During Crusader rule in Palestine
, the village is mentioned as forming part of the landholdings of the Order of St. John. At the time of the rule of the Ottoman Empire
, according to the 1596 census, Zayta had a population of 165. Mentioned by Western travellers to the region in the 19th century, it is described by one as, "a picturesque Arab village"; by 1945, its population was 330 inhabitants.
Zayta was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
between July 17–18, 1948. Its inhabitants became refugees, ending up the West Bank
and Gaza Strip
. All that remains of the village structures is the well that served as its main water source.
. Wadi Zayta ("Zayta Valley"), known in biblical times as Zephathah, was located 1 km to the south.
During the British Mandate in Palestine, the village moved 1.5 km to the north, leaving the original site (known as Khirbat Zayta al-Kharab) on the southern bank of the wadi
, as it was too close to waters that had become stagnant, breeding insects and disease.
, the fortress of Bethgibelin
and ten villages in the area around Hebron
were granted to the Order of St. John by Hugh of Hebron at the request of King Fulk. The King also bequeathed four additional villages to the grant assigned to the Order, one of which was Zayta. Crusader rule over Zayta and the surrounding area came to an end after Saladin
's defeat of Crusader forces in 1192.
In 1596, Zayta formed part of the Ottoman Empire
, a village in the nahiya (subdistrict) of Gaza
under the liwa'
("district") of Gaza
, with a population of 165. Villagers paid taxes on a number of crops, including wheat
and barley
, as well as on goats and beehives.
During the 1834 Arab revolt in Palestine
, Ibrahim Pasha
, the Egyptian leader, personally led his troops to suppress the uprising, and upon encountering a group of rebelling peasants at Zayta, his forces killed 90 men there, and gave chase to the remainder. James Finn
, the British Consul to the Ottoman Empire in the 1850s, recounts passing by Zayta while travelling between Gaza
and Hebron in the spring of 1853. Finn relates that the peasants there had erected a breastwork
into which armed men rushed, who had to be, "parleyed before they would allow us to pass on."
A description of Zeita from the mid-19th century travels of James Turner Barclay notes that it is, "[...] a picturesque Arab village, situated on a conical hill." Writing at length of the well at the foot of the hill where he and his travel companions were directed after inquiring for water, he relates:
In the late 19th century, Zayta was described as a small hamlet
built of adobe
brick, on the edge of the wadi
, flanked on two sides by low hills.
During the period of the British Mandate in Palestine, according to a 1930 report, the water supply system at Zayta was improved, as it had been "insanitary and malarious." The villagers moved 1.5 km north during this period, to a new village which was laid out in a northeast-southeast direction. The houses were built of mud, wood, and cane. Artesian wells
dug between the wadi
and the village served as the main source of drinking water, while another well lay to the north.
The villagers, who were Muslim
, worked mainly in rainfed agriculture and stock raising, specializing in goats and sheep. They cultivated grain on large part of their land, and utilized the rest as grazing land for their animals.
In the 1940s, an Arab landowner who owned 1200 dunams (1,200,000 m²) in Zeita, part of which was mortgaged to the bank, contacted Jewish purchasers to sell, as he was fearful of losing his holdings in other areas. By 1945, of the 10490 dunams (10,490,000 m²) that made up the village of Zayta, 1273 dunams (1,273,000 m²) were owned by Jews, 3127 dunams (3,127,000 m²) were owned by Arabs, and the remaining 6090 dunams (6,090,000 m²) were public lands held by the village in common. At this time, the village population was estimated at 330 Arabs.
as a result of a military assault by Israel
i forces carried out between July 17–18. Givati
´s fifty-first platoon raided several Arab villages in the vicinity of Kfar Menahem
, including Zayta. It was reported that they had "expelled their inhabitants, [and] blew up and burned down a number of houses; the area is now clear [naki] of Arabs." Zayta was one of many Palestinian villages depopulated by Givati
troops. Most of the villagers uprooted in these operations fled to the Hebron Hills, with a small minority going to the Gaza Strip
.
By August 20, 1948, Zayta was one (of 32) depopulated Palestinian villages proposed by Ben-Gurion
and the rest of the "Settlement executives" as suitable for the construction of new Jewish settlements. According to Benny Morris
, for the land of Zayta, the settlement proposed was kibbutz
Gal On
. According to Walid Khalidi
, this settlement was already in place on land traditionally belonging to the village of Ra'na
, 2 km east of the village site.
Khalidi notes that of the remaining structures of the village, "There are no traces of houses; only a well, still in use, is left."
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
village in the District of Hebron
District of Hebron
The District of Hebron was an administrative district, situated in the British Mandate of Palestine around the city of Hebron. After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the district disintegrated.-Depopulated settlements:...
in Mandate Palestine
Mandate Palestine
Mandate Palestine existed while the British Mandate for Palestine, which formally began in September 1923 and terminated in May 1948, was in effect...
. During Crusader rule in Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
, the village is mentioned as forming part of the landholdings of the Order of St. John. At the time of the rule of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
, according to the 1596 census, Zayta had a population of 165. Mentioned by Western travellers to the region in the 19th century, it is described by one as, "a picturesque Arab village"; by 1945, its population was 330 inhabitants.
Zayta was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
1948 Arab-Israeli War
The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, known to Israelis as the War of Independence or War of Liberation The war commenced after the termination of the British Mandate for Palestine and the creation of an independent Israel at midnight on 14 May 1948 when, following a period of civil war, Arab armies invaded...
between July 17–18, 1948. Its inhabitants became refugees, ending up the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
and Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
. All that remains of the village structures is the well that served as its main water source.
Location
Zayta was situated on a hill between Beit Jibrin and JusayrJusayr
Jusayr was a Palestinian Arab village in the District of Gaza. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War on July 17, 1948 under Operation Barak or Operation Yo'av. It was located 35 km northeast of Gaza....
. Wadi Zayta ("Zayta Valley"), known in biblical times as Zephathah, was located 1 km to the south.
During the British Mandate in Palestine, the village moved 1.5 km to the north, leaving the original site (known as Khirbat Zayta al-Kharab) on the southern bank of the wadi
Wadi
Wadi is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some cases, it may refer to a dry riverbed that contains water only during times of heavy rain or simply an intermittent stream.-Variant names:...
, as it was too close to waters that had become stagnant, breeding insects and disease.
History
In 1136, at the time of the CrusadesCrusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...
, the fortress of Bethgibelin
Bayt Jibrin
Bayt Jibrin was a Palestinian Arab village located northwest of the city of Hebron. The village had a total land area of 56,185 dunams or , of which were built-up while the rest remained farmland.The early inhabitants of Bayt Jibrin are the Canaanites...
and ten villages in the area around Hebron
Hebron
Hebron , is located in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judean Mountains, it lies 930 meters above sea level. It is the largest city in the West Bank and home to around 165,000 Palestinians, and over 500 Jewish settlers concentrated in and around the old quarter...
were granted to the Order of St. John by Hugh of Hebron at the request of King Fulk. The King also bequeathed four additional villages to the grant assigned to the Order, one of which was Zayta. Crusader rule over Zayta and the surrounding area came to an end after Saladin
Saladin
Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb , better known in the Western world as Saladin, was an Arabized Kurdish Muslim, who became the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria, and founded the Ayyubid dynasty. He led Muslim and Arab opposition to the Franks and other European Crusaders in the Levant...
's defeat of Crusader forces in 1192.
In 1596, Zayta formed part of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
, a village in the nahiya (subdistrict) of Gaza
Gaza
Gaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...
under the liwa'
Liwa (arabic)
Liwa or Liwa is an Arabic term meaning district, banner, or flag, a type of administrative division. It was interchangeable with the Turkish term "Sanjak" in the time of the Ottoman Empire. After the fall of the empire, the term was used in the Arab countries formerly under Ottoman rule...
("district") of Gaza
Gaza
Gaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...
, with a population of 165. Villagers paid taxes on a number of crops, including wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
and barley
Barley
Barley is a major cereal grain, a member of the grass family. It serves as a major animal fodder, as a base malt for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods...
, as well as on goats and beehives.
During the 1834 Arab revolt in Palestine
1834 Arab revolt in Palestine
The 1834 Arab revolt in Palestine was a reaction to conscription into the Egyptian army by the Wāli Muhammad Ali. Ali, as a part of a modernisation policy, began the conscription of ordinary subjects. Traditionally, soldiers were recruited from freebooters, loot-seekers, mercenaries, slaves or...
, Ibrahim Pasha
Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt
Ibrahim Pasha was the eldest son of Muhammad Ali, the Wāli and unrecognised Khedive of Egypt and Sudan. He served as a general in the Egyptian army that his father established during his reign, taking his first command of Egyptian forces was when he was merely a teenager...
, the Egyptian leader, personally led his troops to suppress the uprising, and upon encountering a group of rebelling peasants at Zayta, his forces killed 90 men there, and gave chase to the remainder. James Finn
James Finn
James Finn was a British Consul in Jerusalem, in the then Ottoman Empire . He arrived in 1845 with his wife Elizabeth Anne Finn. Finn was a devout Christian, who belonged to the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews, but who did not engage in missionary work during his years in...
, the British Consul to the Ottoman Empire in the 1850s, recounts passing by Zayta while travelling between Gaza
Gaza
Gaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...
and Hebron in the spring of 1853. Finn relates that the peasants there had erected a breastwork
Breastwork (fortification)
A breastwork is a fortification. The term is usually applied to temporary fortifications, often an earthwork thrown up to breast height to provide protection to defenders firing over it from a standing position...
into which armed men rushed, who had to be, "parleyed before they would allow us to pass on."
A description of Zeita from the mid-19th century travels of James Turner Barclay notes that it is, "[...] a picturesque Arab village, situated on a conical hill." Writing at length of the well at the foot of the hill where he and his travel companions were directed after inquiring for water, he relates:
"[...] arriving there, we found several persons drawing water for themselves, donkeys, horses, and cattle. And notwithstanding the water was rather warm and considerably muddied by a FellahCamping between the well and the millet fields of the village, Barclay describes the expanse of the cultivated fields, as well as the construction and operation of the well in more detail:FellahFellah , also alternatively known as Fallah is a peasant, farmer or agricultural laborer in the Middle East and North Africa...
who was wading about in the deep fountain, or more correctly speaking, shallow well, yet so thirsty were we that we drank it with decided gusto. It was eight or ten feet deep, and four or five yards in diameter, with the usual stone troughs for watering animals ..."
"This Sakieh or well, supplied with machinery for raising water, is plied day and night by camelCamelA camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as humps on its back. There are two species of camels: the dromedary or Arabian camel has a single hump, and the bactrian has two humps. Dromedaries are native to the dry desert areas of West Asia,...
s. A beautiful marble CorinthianCorinthian orderThe Corinthian order is one of the three principal classical orders of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric and Ionic. When classical architecture was revived during the Renaissance, two more orders were added to the canon, the Tuscan order and the Composite order...
capitalCapital (architecture)In architecture the capital forms the topmost member of a column . It mediates between the column and the load thrusting down upon it, broadening the area of the column's supporting surface...
supports the shaft of the main wheel. There are eighty-five stone jars, each containing two or three gallons, fastened at intervals of four feet on the two endless grass ropes going over the large rough pulley wrapped with grass cords. The water, which is incessantly poured out of the jars, is received into a channel cut into a marble pillar laid horizontally, and thus delivered into a reservoirReservoirA reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...
twenty-four feet square, and thence let off into a trough of masonry thirty-six feet long and two and half broad, the outer border of which is made up of marble pillars worked in horizontally, as in other instances. But copious and unremitting as is this supply of water, it would seem totally inadequate to the demand. Herd after herd, and flock after flock, came crowding in about sunset, and the cry was, "still they come", until it was too dark to count them ..."
In the late 19th century, Zayta was described as a small hamlet
Hamlet (place)
A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...
built of adobe
Adobe
Adobe is a natural building material made from sand, clay, water, and some kind of fibrous or organic material , which the builders shape into bricks using frames and dry in the sun. Adobe buildings are similar to cob and mudbrick buildings. Adobe structures are extremely durable, and account for...
brick, on the edge of the wadi
Wadi
Wadi is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some cases, it may refer to a dry riverbed that contains water only during times of heavy rain or simply an intermittent stream.-Variant names:...
, flanked on two sides by low hills.
During the period of the British Mandate in Palestine, according to a 1930 report, the water supply system at Zayta was improved, as it had been "insanitary and malarious." The villagers moved 1.5 km north during this period, to a new village which was laid out in a northeast-southeast direction. The houses were built of mud, wood, and cane. Artesian wells
Water well
A water well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, boring or drilling to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The well water is drawn by an electric submersible pump, a trash pump, a vertical turbine pump, a handpump or a mechanical pump...
dug between the wadi
Wadi
Wadi is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some cases, it may refer to a dry riverbed that contains water only during times of heavy rain or simply an intermittent stream.-Variant names:...
and the village served as the main source of drinking water, while another well lay to the north.
The villagers, who were Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
, worked mainly in rainfed agriculture and stock raising, specializing in goats and sheep. They cultivated grain on large part of their land, and utilized the rest as grazing land for their animals.
In the 1940s, an Arab landowner who owned 1200 dunams (1,200,000 m²) in Zeita, part of which was mortgaged to the bank, contacted Jewish purchasers to sell, as he was fearful of losing his holdings in other areas. By 1945, of the 10490 dunams (10,490,000 m²) that made up the village of Zayta, 1273 dunams (1,273,000 m²) were owned by Jews, 3127 dunams (3,127,000 m²) were owned by Arabs, and the remaining 6090 dunams (6,090,000 m²) were public lands held by the village in common. At this time, the village population was estimated at 330 Arabs.
1948, and aftermath
Zayta was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war1948 Arab-Israeli War
The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, known to Israelis as the War of Independence or War of Liberation The war commenced after the termination of the British Mandate for Palestine and the creation of an independent Israel at midnight on 14 May 1948 when, following a period of civil war, Arab armies invaded...
as a result of a military assault by Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i forces carried out between July 17–18. Givati
Givati Brigade
The Givati Brigade is an infantry brigade of the Israel Defense Forces, and serves as its amphibious force. Givati soldiers are designated by purple berets...
´s fifty-first platoon raided several Arab villages in the vicinity of Kfar Menahem
Kfar Menahem
Kfar Menahem is a kibbutz in Israel located about 7 km east of Kiryat Malakhi in south-central Israel. It falls under the jurisdiction of Yoav Regional Council....
, including Zayta. It was reported that they had "expelled their inhabitants, [and] blew up and burned down a number of houses; the area is now clear [naki] of Arabs." Zayta was one of many Palestinian villages depopulated by Givati
Givati Brigade
The Givati Brigade is an infantry brigade of the Israel Defense Forces, and serves as its amphibious force. Givati soldiers are designated by purple berets...
troops. Most of the villagers uprooted in these operations fled to the Hebron Hills, with a small minority going to the Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
.
By August 20, 1948, Zayta was one (of 32) depopulated Palestinian villages proposed by Ben-Gurion
David Ben-Gurion
' was the first Prime Minister of Israel.Ben-Gurion's passion for Zionism, which began early in life, led him to become a major Zionist leader and Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization in 1946...
and the rest of the "Settlement executives" as suitable for the construction of new Jewish settlements. According to Benny Morris
Benny Morris
Benny Morris is professor of History in the Middle East Studies department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in the city of Be'er Sheva, Israel...
, for the land of Zayta, the settlement proposed was kibbutz
Kibbutz
A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...
Gal On
Gal On
Gal On is a kibbutz in Israel's southern lowlands associated with the Hashomer Hatzair movement and its Kibbutz Artzi settlement organisation . Established as part of the 1946 11 points in the Negev settlement drive, it is located approximately ten kilometers north east of Kiryat Gat and two...
. According to Walid Khalidi
Walid Khalidi
Walid Khalidi is an Oxford University-educated Palestinian historian who has written extensively on the Palestinian exodus. He is General Secretary and co-founder of the Institute for Palestine Studies, established in Beirut in December 1963 as an independent research and publishing center...
, this settlement was already in place on land traditionally belonging to the village of Ra'na
Ra'na
Ra'na was a village located approximately 26 km northwest of Hebron. It was occupied by Israeli occupying forces during Operation Yo'av in October 1948...
, 2 km east of the village site.
Khalidi notes that of the remaining structures of the village, "There are no traces of houses; only a well, still in use, is left."
External links
- Welcome To Zayta
- Zayta from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural CenterKhalil Sakakini Cultural CenterKhalil Sakakini Cultural Center is an organization established in 1996. It is located at 4 Raja Street, Ramallah in the West Bank. The traditional manor that houses the centre was the former family home of Khalil Salem Salah, the mayor of Ramallah between 1947/1951, is now owned by the Palestinian...