Al-Aaishiyah () is a municipality in the

Jezzine District The Jezzine District () is a district in the South Governorate of Lebanon. The capital is Jezzine. Municipalities The following 56 municipalities are all located in the Jezzine District: * Al-Aaishiyah * Aaramta * Aaray * Aazour * Ain al ...

Southern Lebanon Southern Lebanon () is the area of Lebanon comprising the South Governorate and the Nabatiye Governorate. The two entities were divided from the same province in the early 1990s. The Rashaya and Western Beqaa districts, the southernmost distr ...

. It is located 82 kilometers far from

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

and on an altitude of 750 meters. The village is accessible by the roads of

Nabatieh Nabatieh (, ', Syriac-Aramaic: ܐܠܢܒܛܝܥ), or Nabatîyé (), is a city of the Nabatieh Governorate, in southern Lebanon. History Nabateans The most accepted theory is related to the Nabateans (spelled النبطي), an ancient Arab ...

-Jezzine and

Marjayoun Marjayoun or Jdeidet Marjayoun (: Lebanese pronunciation ), also Marj 'Ayoun, Marjuyun or Marjeyoun (lit. "meadow of springs") which reflects the area's lush landscape and abundant water resources and Jdeideh / Jdeida / Jdeidet Marjeyoun, is a m ...

-Jezzine. Its population is approximately 4000 people as of 2008.

Etymology

The name "aïchiye" (''العيشية )'' goes back to the word "live", which is the symbol of comfortable living and the surrounding pine trees and nature.

Religious sites

There are two churches in Al-Aaishiyah: Mar Antonios (مار انطونيوس) Church, and the Church of the Lady (السيدة العذراء). They were built prior to the Lebanese Civil war (1975-1990) and were both renovated at the conclusion of the conflict.

Agriculture and nature

Aichiyeh is part of south Lebanon's agricultural region with rich and fertile soil, which makes its inhabitants dependent on raising livestock, bees, chickens, and growing olives and fruits such as

grapes A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began approximately 8,0 ...

peaches The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and cultivated in China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and the glossy-skinned, non-fuzzy varieties called nectarines. Peac ...

and

apricots An apricot (, ) is a fruit, or the tree that bears the fruit, of several species in the genus ''Prunus''. Usually an apricot is from the species '' P. armeniaca'', but the fruits of the other species in ''Prunus'' sect. ''Armeniaca'' are also ...

. The spring provides irrigation of cultivated lands. In the past, the villagers planted

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

, a widespread crop at the time. Aaichiyeh is known for its abundance in oak and pine trees.

History

The history of Al-Aaishiyah dates back to the Phoenician period as vases were discovered. This indicates that there was a previous Phoenician settlement in the area. During the

Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon The Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon lasted for eighteen years, from 1982 until 2000. In June 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon in response to attacks from southern Lebanon by Palestinian militants. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) occupied the ...

, the IDF had an army base in Aichiyeh.

1976 Massacre

In October 1976 the Aishiyeh massacres took place, ending with 70

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

Lebanese citizens murdered. The massacre was done by

Palestinians Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenou ...

belonging to the

Syrian Syrians () are the majority inhabitants of Syria, indigenous to the Levant, most of whom have Arabic, especially its Levantine and Mesopotamian dialects, as a mother tongue. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend ...

backed factions of

Fatah Fatah ( ; ), formally the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (), is a Palestinian nationalist and Arab socialist political party. It is the largest faction of the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and ...

and

As-Sa'iqa As-Sa'iqa (), officially known as Vanguard for the Popular Liberation War – Lightning Forces, () is a Palestinian Ba'athist political and military faction created by Syria. It is linked to the Palestinian branch of the Syrian-led Ba'ath Pa ...

. On October 5th,1977 following the massacre, the village was attacked again by

that murdered 41 Christian citizens. Today, Al-Aaishiyah people strongly support the

Lebanese Armed Forces The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF; ), also known as the Lebanese Army (), is the national military of the Republic of Lebanon. It consists of three branches, the ground forces, the air force, and the navy. The motto of the Lebanese Armed Forces is ...

and good and strong relations between them. On 6 August 1994 two Israeli soldiers were killed by

Hezbollah Hezbollah ( ; , , ) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. I ...

in Al-Aaishiyah.

Demographics

In 2014,

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

made up 86.09% and

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

made up 13.34% of registered voters in Al-Aaishiyah. 78.81% of the voters were

Maronite Catholics The Maronite Church (; ) is an Eastern Catholic ''sui iuris'' particular church in full communion with the pope and the worldwide Catholic Church, with self-governance under the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches. The head of the Maronite ...

and 9.61% were

Shiite Muslims Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood to ...

References

External links

Aaychiyeh
Localiban Populated places in the Israeli security zone 1985–2000 Populated places in Jezzine District Maronite Christian communities in Lebanon {{Lebanon-geo-stub