Deir Al-Ghusun

Deir al-Ghusun ( ar, دير الغصون) is a Palestinian town in the Tulkarm Governorate, located eight kilometers northeast of the city of Tulkarm in the northern West Bank. The town is near the Green Line (border between Israel and the West Bank). The town had a population of 8,242 in 2007. Its altitude is 200 meters.

History

Pottery remains from the Byzantine, early Muslim and the Middle Ages have been found here.Zertal, 2016, pp
442
443

In 1265, Deir al-Ghusun was mentioned among the estates which Sultan Baibars granted his followers, after he had defeated the Crusaders. The whole of Deir al-Ghusun was given to Emir ''Badr al-Din Muhammad Bi'', son of emir ''Husam al-Din Baraka Khan''.

His father Husam al-Din Baraka Khan was buried in Turba Baraka Khan; a sister was married to Baibars, and became the mother of Al-Said Barakah. A later waqf named the revenues of Deir al-Ghusun and a mosque (masjid), tomb (turba) (presently Khalidi Library), to be given for "the cure of the sick and the preparing of the dead for burial in Jerusalem."

Ottoman era

Deir el-Ghusun may have been the village marked as "El Dair" on Pierre Jacotin's map surveyed during Napoleon's 1799 invasion during the late Ottoman period. In the middle of the 19th century it was known for its cotton production.

During the 1834 Peasants' revolt in Palestine, Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt pursued rebels to nearby Zeita. Ninety rebels were slain there, while the rest fled to Deir al-Ghusun.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, pp
135
��136 At Deir al-Ghusun, many of the inhabitants and rebels heeded a call by Husayn Abd al-Hadi to flee once the Egyptian troops arrived. In response, rebel commander Qasim had several of the defectors among his ranks killed.Macalister and Masterman, 1906, p
39
/ref> Ibrahim Pasha's troops stormed the hill at Deir al-Ghusun and the rebels (mostly members of the Qasim, Jarrar, Jayyusi and Barqawi families) were routed, suffering 300 fatalities.

In 1852, Edward Robinson noted: "From 'Attil we now turned again up the mountain, following the direct road to Nabulus; and taking a guide for Ramin. Leaving the village at 11:15, we descended into the southern basin, and then entered a long shallow valley running up on the right of Deir el-Ghusun and its hill. A string of ten camels, led by donkeys, was slowly climbing the hill to that village. At 11:50 we were at the top of the valley; Deir el-Ghusun bearing north 70°E, half a mile distant. The region is full of olive trees. A valley comes down from the south nearly to the village, and then sweeps round to the west. This we crossed, and then rose upon sloping ground on our left. At 12.05 we came out upon the brow of the deep Valley Mussin, coming from the plain of Fendekumieh; it is said to unite with Wady Abu Nar in the western plain beyond Jett. We reached the bottom of the valley at 12.20; and noticed its deep water-channel, now dry.—The road thus far from 'Attil was evidently very old; but we saw no appearance of pavement. Whether this was the ancient way from Caesarea to Sebaste may be doubted; since a more feasible route exists from the plain along the great Wady Sha'ir, which comes down from Nabulus, and is the next valley south of Wady Mussin."

In 1863, Victor Guérin passed by and noted the village south of Attil. He described it as large, and occupying a hilltop. In 1882, the PEF's '' Survey of Western Palestine'' (SWP) described it as "a village of moderate size, on a hill, with a well to the west. On the north is open low ground. It is surrounded with magnificent groves of olives, occupying an area of about three square miles towards the south."Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p
152
/ref>

In the early 20th century, residents of Deir el-Ghusun established agricultural hamlets known as khirba, used mainly during the plowing and harvesting seasons, on the outskirts of the village. From the 1920s onwards, six of them became independent villages.

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Deir al Ghusun had a population of 1,410, all Muslims,Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Tulkarem, p
27
/ref> increasing by the 1931 census to 2,060, still all Muslim, in 451 houses.Mills, 1932, p
54
/ref>

In the 1945 statistics, Deir al-Ghusun was counted with the villages which later made up Zemer, and together they had a population of 2,860 Muslims,Government of Palestine Department of Statistics, 1945, p
20
/ref> with a total of 27,770 dunums of land.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p
74
/ref> Of this, a total of 183 dunams were used for citrus and bananas, 13,757 were for plantations and irrigated land, 11,585 dunums were for cereals, while 94 dunams were classified as built-up (urban) areas.

The villages of Jarisha and Masqufa are located within Deir al-Ghusun but are governed by independent village councils.

File:Deir el Ghusun 1942.jpg, Deir al-Ghusun 1942 1:20,000
File:Tulkarm 1945 ii.jpg, Deir al-Ghusun 1945 1:250,000

Jordanian era

During 1948 Arab–Israeli War, 14,000 dunams of Deir al-Ghusun land were seized by Israel. After the 1949 Armistice Agreements

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