Al Qastal, Palestine
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 al-Qastal
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| Arabic | القسطل |
| Name Meaning | "castle" |
| Sub-district | Jerusalem |
| Coordinates | 31°47′44″N 35°8′39″E / 31.79556°N 35.14417°ECoordinates: 31°47′44″N 35°8′39″E / 31.79556°N 35.14417°E |
| Population | (1945) |
| Area | 1,446 dunums
1.4 km² |
| Date of depopulation | April 3, 1948[1] |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Military assault by Yishuv forces |
Al-Qastal (Arabic: القسطل was a Palestinian village located eight kilometers west of Jerusalem. Used as a military base by the Arab Liberation Army, it was depopulated during the 1948 Palestine war.[2] Al-Qastal was named for the ruins of a Crusader castle located on the hilltop.
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[edit] History
Called Belveer or Beauverium, the castle was built by the Crusaders around 1168 CE. It is listed amongst the castles destroyed by al-Adil I in 1191–2 CE. [3]In 1883, al Qastal was described as "a small stone village in a conspicuous position on a rocky hill-top" with springs to the east.[4]
The 1931 census of Palestine counted 14 houses with a population of 55 Muslims and 4 Christians.[5]In 1944/45, the village, with a population of 90 Muslims, had a total of 42 dunums of land allocated to cereals. 169 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards, including 50 dunams of olive trees.[2][6]
[edit] Events of 1948
In 1948, al-Qastal was a key position on the Jaffa-Jerusalem road that was used by Arab forces to besiege the Jews of Jerusalem.[7]It was occupied by the Arab Liberation Army led by Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni, the Arab Jerusalem Hills sector commander.[8]
The village was assaulted by the Palmach's Harel Brigade during Operation Nachshon.[2] Its inhabitants fled as a result of the assault.[9]
Forces under Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni recaptured al-Qastal from the Palmach on April 8, 1948. During this operation, 18 Palmach members killed, along with Al-Husayni himself.[10] Al-Husayni's death is said to have been a factor in the loss of morale among his forces.[11]Many left their positions to attend al-Husayni's funeral at the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Friday, April 9. The Jewish forces retreated to the Jewish settlement of Motza.[12]Palmach troops retook the village on the night of April 8-9th; they blew up most of the houses and made the hill a command post.[13][14]That same day, the Castel fell to the Israeli forces, virtually unopposed.[15]
Mevaseret Zion is located on the former lands of Al-Qastal.[2]
[edit] See also
- Castel National Park
- List of Arab towns and villages depopulated during the 1948 Palestinian exodus
- List of villages depopulated during the Arab-Israeli conflict
[edit] References
- ^ Morris, 2004, p. xx, village #356. Also gives cause of depopulation.
- ^ a b c d Khalidi, 1992, p.311
- ^ Pringle, 1997, p.118
- ^ Conder and Kitchener, 1883, III:18. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p.310
- ^ E. Mills, ed. (1932). Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas. Jerusalem: Government of Palestine. p. 32.
- ^ Hadawi, 1970, p.58, p.103
- ^ War for the Jerusalem Road, Time, Apr. 19, 1948.
- ^ Morris, 2008, p. 123
- ^ "Welcome to Al-Qastal". Palestine Remembered. http://www.palestineremembered.com/Jerusalem/al-Qastal. Retrieved 2007-12-03.
- ^ Morris, 2003, p. 234.
- ^ Morris, 2008, p. 125
- ^ Dana Adams Schmidt, 'Arabs Win Kastel But Chief is Slain', New York Times, 9 April, 1948, p. 8 (A brief biography and account of the battle).
- ^ Benveniśtî, 2002, p.111.
- ^ Morris, 2003, p. 235.
- ^ Institute of Jerusalem Studies
[edit] Bibliography
- Conder, Claude Reignier; Kitchener, H. H. (1883). The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology. 3. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund. http://www.archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp03conduoft.
- Benvenisti, Meron (2002). Sacred Landscape: The Buried History of the Holy Land Since 1948. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-23422-2. http://books.google.com/?id=7itq6zYtSJwC&printsec=frontcover.
- Morris, Benny (2004), The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited, Cambridge University Press ISBN 0-521-00967-7
- Morris, Benny (2008), 1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War, Yale University Press ISBN 0-300-15112-8
- Pringle, Denys (1997). Secular buildings in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: an archaeological Gazetter. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-46010-1. http://books.google.ca/books?id=-_NbE5obqRMC
[edit] External links
- Welcome To al-Qastal
- Al-Qastal from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center
- Al-Qastal, Palestine Family.net
