Majdal Yaba () was a
Palestinian Arab village in the
Ramle Subdistrict, northeast of
Ramla
Ramla (), also known as Ramle (, ), is a city in the Central District of Israel. Ramle is one of Israel's mixed cities, with significant numbers of both Jews and Arabs.
The city was founded in the early 8th century CE by the Umayyad caliph S ...
and east of
Jaffa
Jaffa (, ; , ), also called Japho, Joppa or Joppe in English, is an ancient Levantine Sea, Levantine port city which is part of Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel, located in its southern part. The city sits atop a naturally elevated outcrop on ...
. A walled Jewish settlement name Migdal Aphek (;
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
: ''Αφεχού πύργος''
) stood at the same site as early as the second century BCE, and it was later destroyed by the
Romans during the
First Jewish–Roman War
The First Jewish–Roman War (66–74 CE), also known as the Great Jewish Revolt, the First Jewish Revolt, the War of Destruction, or the Jewish War, was the first of three major Jewish rebellions against the Roman Empire. Fought in the prov ...
in 67 CE. In the
Crusader period, a fort named Mirabel was built at the site. Muslim
13th-century
The 13th century was the century which lasted from January 1, 1201 (represented by the Roman numerals MCCI) through December 31, 1300 (MCCC) in accordance with the Julian calendar.
The Mongol Empire was founded by Genghis Khan, which stretched ...
sources mention it as Majdal Yaba. For a short time under
Ottoman rule, its name was changed from Majdal Yaba to Majdal Sadiq and then back again.
Incorporated into
Mandatory Palestine
Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine.
After ...
in 1922, Majdal Yaba was captured by Israeli forces during the
1948 Arab–Israeli war
The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, also known as the First Arab–Israeli War, followed the 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine, civil war in Mandatory Palestine as the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. The civil war becam ...
on July 12, 1948. The town was depopulated as a result of the military assault. The number of
refugees
A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...
from Majdal Yaba was estimated at 1,763.
[Welcome to Majdal Yaba]
Palestine Remembered. The Israeli locality of
Rosh HaAyin
Rosh HaAyin (; ) is a city in the Central District of Israel. It is located in the eastern ravine of the Sharon River, opposite the Samaria Mountains. The city is named after its location at the source of the Yarkon River (“Ras” meaning sou ...
was established on the village lands in 1950, followed by the
kibbutz
A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...
Givat HaShlosha
Givat HaShlosha (, ''lit.'' Hill of the three) is a kibbutz in central Israel. Located about 4 km east of Petah Tikva, near the Yarkon river, it falls under the jurisdiction of Drom Hasharon Regional Council. In it had a population of .
...
in 1953.
History
Antiquity
As early as the second century BCE in
the Hasmonean period a Judean settlement called Migdal Afek or Aphek () sat on the same hill of Mirabel and Majdal Yaba.
According to
Josephus
Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...
, during the
First Jewish–Roman War
The First Jewish–Roman War (66–74 CE), also known as the Great Jewish Revolt, the First Jewish Revolt, the War of Destruction, or the Jewish War, was the first of three major Jewish rebellions against the Roman Empire. Fought in the prov ...
(66-70 CE), the Jews of
Antipatris
Antipatris (, ) was a city built during the first century BC by Herod the Great, who named it in honour of his father, Antipater. The site, now a national park in central Israel, was inhabited from the Chalcolithic period to the Late Ro ...
fled to Migdal Aphek on the approach of
Cestius Gallius.
The settlement was destroyed in the revolt and did not recover until the 2nd century CE, and in 363 an earthquake leveled the city.
Crusader/Ayyubid and Mamluk periods

The Crusaders conquered
Palestine
Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...
from the
Fatimid Caliphate
The Fatimid Caliphate (; ), also known as the Fatimid Empire, was a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries CE under the rule of the Fatimids, an Isma'ili Shi'a dynasty. Spanning a large area of North Africa and West Asia, i ...
in 1099, and built a fortress on the former site of Migdal Afek and the future site of Majdal Yaba in 1152, naming it 'Mirabel'. The fort was held by
Manasses of Hierges
Manasses of Hierges (''c''. 1110-1177) was a minor lord from the southern Low Countries who is best known for his ten year career (1142-1152) in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, where he became constable and Lordship of Ramla#Lords/officials of Ramla, lor ...
, but eventually fell to
Baldwin of Ibelin
Baldwin of Ibelin, also known as Baldwin II of Ramla ( French: ''Baudouin d'Ibelin'', early 1130s – c. 1187 or 1186/1188), was an important noble of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and was lord of Ramla from 1169–1186. He ...
, who ruled it as a lordship of the
Kingdom of Jerusalem
The Kingdom of Jerusalem, also known as the Crusader Kingdom, was one of the Crusader states established in the Levant immediately after the First Crusade. It lasted for almost two hundred years, from the accession of Godfrey of Bouillon in 1 ...
from 1162 to 1171.
[Pringle, 1997, p]
67
/ref> In 1166, lands belonging to the fortress and the harvest of its fields were given to the Church of St. John the Baptist in Nablus
Nablus ( ; , ) is a State of Palestine, Palestinian city in the West Bank, located approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 156,906. Located between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a ...
.[Röhricht, 1893, RRH, p]
110
No 423; cited Pringle, 1998, p
105
/ref>
The Muslim diplomat Usama ibn Munqidh
Majd ad-Dīn Usāma ibn Murshid ibn ʿAlī ibn Munqidh al-Kināni al-Kalbī (also Usamah, Ousama, etc.; ) (4 July 1095 – 17 November 1188) or Ibn Munqidh was a medieval Arab Muslim poet, author, '' faris'' (knight), and diplomat from the Ban ...
reported that the lord Hugh of Ibelin
Hugh of Ibelin (c. 1132 – 1169/1171) was an important noble in the Kingdom of Jerusalem and was Lord of Ramla from 1152-1169.
Hugh was the eldest son of Barisan of Ibelin and Helvis of Ramla. He was old enough to witness charters in 1148 ...
acted oppressively against the Muslims in the lordship;
Ibn Tulun القلائد الجوهرية في تاريخ الصالحية.
Usama Ibn Munqidh.[ Usama Ibn Munqidh.] in 1156, he imposed heavy taxes on the Muslims, requiring them to pay four times as much as the local Christians.
Ibn Tulun. The inhabitants of eight villages, including the Ibn Qudamah
Ibn Qudama (January/February 11477 July 1223) was an ulama, Islamic scholar and aqidah, theologian of the Hanbali, Hanbali school of Sunni Islam. Born in the Palestine (region), Palestine region, Ibn Qudama authored many important treatises on fi ...
family, left their homes in 1156 and migrated to Damascus, where they founded the Salihiyah suburb.
In 1177, the Muslim army under Saladin
Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known as Saladin, was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from a Kurdish family, he was the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria. An important figure of the Third Crusade, h ...
, sultan of the Egypt-based Ayyubid Sultanate
The Ayyubid dynasty (), also known as the Ayyubid Sultanate, was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultan of Egypt, Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid Caliphate of Egyp ...
, marched from south of Palestine northwards past Ascalon
Ascalon or Ashkelon was an ancient Near East port city on the Mediterranean coast of the southern Levant of high historical and archaeological significance. Its remains are located in the archaeological site of Tel Ashkelon, within the city limi ...
to Mirabel Castle, which was being used to defend the road between Jaffa and Jerusalem.[Conder, 1897, p]
137
/ref> In July 1187, Saladin's younger brother, al-Adil I
Al-Adil I (, in full al-Malik al-Adil Sayf ad-Din Abu-Bakr Ahmed ibn Najm ad-Din Ayyub, , "Ahmed, son of Najm ad-Din Ayyub, father of Bakr, the Just King, Sword of the Faith"; 1145 – 31 August 1218) was the fourth Sultan of Egypt and Syr ...
, conquered Mirabel, but did not destroy the castle.[ According to E.G. Rey, there existed among the ruins 'the remains of a fine church of the 12th century', a claim repeated by ]T. A. Archer
Thomas Andrew Archer, M.A.Oxon. (1853– 1905) was an English historian of the Crusades.
Biography
Archer was baptised on 18 October 1853 in Shelton, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. He matriculated at the University of Oxford in February 1876 ...
.[Pringle, 1998, p]
29
/ref> Chronicler Baha ad-Din ibn Shaddad
Bahāʾ al-Dīn Abū al-Maḥāsin Yūsuf ibn Rāfiʿ ibn Tamīm (; the honorific title "Bahā' ad-Dīn" means "splendor of the faith"; sometimes known as Bohadin or Boha-Eddyn) (6 March 1145 – 8 November 1234) was a 12th-century Arabic j ...
recorded that in 1191–92, Saladin used the castle as a base for carrying out raids against the Crusaders, although he camped outside of it. Saladin gave orders to dismantle the walls of Mirabel after his defeat at the battle of Arsuf
The Battle of Arsuf took place on 7 September 1191, as part of the Third Crusade. It saw a multi-national force of Crusaders, led by Richard I of England, defeat a significantly larger army of the Ayyubid Sultanate, led by Saladin.
Followi ...
.[Conder, 1897, p]
279
/ref> While under Ayyubid rule in 1226, the geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi
Yāqūt Shihāb al-Dīn ibn-ʿAbdullāh al-Rūmī al-Ḥamawī (1179–1229) () was a Muslim scholar of Byzantine ancestry active during the late Abbasid period (12th–13th centuries). He is known for his , an influential work on geography con ...
mentions it as ''Majdal Yafa'' or 'Tower of Jaffa', probably due to its proximity to the town of Jaffa
Jaffa (, ; , ), also called Japho, Joppa or Joppe in English, is an ancient Levantine Sea, Levantine port city which is part of Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel, located in its southern part. The city sits atop a naturally elevated outcrop on ...
. He says it was a village with a "formidable fort".[Khalidi, 1992, p. 396]
June 1240 marked the arrival of the English crusade led by Richard of Cornwall
Richard (5 January 1209 – 2 April 1272) was an English prince who was King of the Romans from 1257 until his death in 1272. He was the second son of John, King of England, and Isabella, Countess of Angoulême. Richard was nominal Count of ...
, brother of the King Henry III of England
Henry III (1 October 1207 – 16 November 1272), also known as Henry of Winchester, was King of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitaine from 1216 until his death in 1272. The son of King John and Isabella of Angoulême, Henry assume ...
and brother-in-law of Emperor Frederick II
Frederick II (, , , ; 26 December 1194 – 13 December 1250) was King of Sicily from 1198, King of Germany from 1212, King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor from 1220 and King of Jerusalem from 1225. He was the son of Emperor Henry VI of the Ho ...
. Al-Salih Ayyub
Al-Malik as-Salih Najm al-Din Ayyub (5 November 1205 – 22 November 1249), nickname: Abu al-Futuh (), also known as al-Malik al-Salih, was the Ayyubid ruler of Egypt from 1240 to 1249.
Early life
As-Salih was born in 1205, the son of Al-Kamil ...
, the Ayyubid sultan of Egypt, offered Richard a new treaty to be complementary to the earlier one signed with Theobald IV, Count of Champagne
The count of Champagne was the ruler of the County of Champagne from 950 to 1316. Champagne evolved from the County of Troyes in the late eleventh century and Hugh I was the first to officially use the title count of Champagne.
Count Theobal ...
. His offer this time included his readiness to recognize the legitimacy of the concessions made by his uncle and opponent al-Salih Ismail, the Ayyubid emir of Damascus, to the Crusaders, so that Jaffa and Ascalon, and all of Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
, including Bethlehem
Bethlehem is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, located about south of Jerusalem, and the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate. It had a population of people, as of . The city's economy is strongly linked to Tourism in the State of Palesti ...
and Majdal Yaba, in addition to Tiberias
Tiberias ( ; , ; ) is a city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's Four Holy Cities, along with Jerusalem, Heb ...
, Safed
Safed (), also known as Tzfat (), is a city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of up to , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and in Israel.
Safed has been identified with (), a fortif ...
, Mount Tabor
Mount Tabor ( ; ; ), sometimes spelled Mount Thabor, is a large hill of biblical significance in Lower Galilee, Northern District (Israel), northern Israel, at the eastern end of the Jezreel Valley, west of the Sea of Galilee.
In the Hebrew Bi ...
and the castles of Belvoir, were all included in the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
In 1266, after the fall of Jaffa to the Mamluks
Mamluk or Mamaluk (; (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural); translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave") were non-Arab, ethnically diverse (mostly Turkic, Caucasian, Eastern and Southeastern European) enslaved mercenaries, slave-sold ...
, Sultan Baybars
Al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Bunduqdari (; 1223/1228 – 1 July 1277), commonly known as Baibars or Baybars () and nicknamed Abu al-Futuh (, ), was the fourth Mamluk sultan of Egypt and Syria, of Turkic Kipchak origin, in the Ba ...
sent chiefs from Deir Ghassaneh to protect Majdal Yaba's castle.[ Deir Ghassaneh. ] In the late 13th century, the castle at Majdal Yafa was abandoned.[
]
Ottoman period
Majdal Yaba had become repopulated when Palestine was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
in the early 16th century, and by the 1596 tax records, it was a small village in the ''nahiya
A nāḥiyah ( , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiyeh, 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 divisi ...
'' ("subdistrict") of Jabal Qubal, part of Sanjak Nablus
The Nablus Sanjak (; ) was an administrative area that existed throughout Ottoman rule in the Levant (1517–1917). It was administratively part of the Damascus Eyalet until 1864 when it became part of Syria Vilayet and then the Beirut Vilayet ...
. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 33.3% on wheat, barley, beehives and goats; a total of 900 akçe
The ''akçe'' or ''akça'' (anglicized as ''akche'', ''akcheh'' or ''aqcha''; ; , , in Europe known as '' asper'') was a silver coin mainly known for being the chief monetary unit of the Ottoman Empire. It was also used in other states includi ...
. All of the revenue went to a waqf
A (; , plural ), also called a (, plural or ), or ''mortmain'' property, is an Alienation (property law), inalienable charitable financial endowment, endowment under Sharia, Islamic law. It typically involves donating a building, plot ...
. The population consisted of 8 Muslim
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 ...
families,[Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 137] an estimated total population of 44.[ The castle in Majdal Yaba was rebuilt in the 18th and 19th centuries.][
In the 18th and 19th centuries, Majdal Yaba formed the westernmost village of the highland region known as Jurat 'Amra or Bilad Jamma'īn. Situated between Deir Ghassaneh in the south and the present Route 5 in the north, and between Majdal Yaba in the west and ]Jamma'in
Jamma'in () is a Palestinian town in the Nablus Governorate of the State of Palestine, in the northern West Bank, located southwest of Nablus, northwest of Salfit and north of Ramallah. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics ...
, Marda and Kifl Haris
Kifl Haris () is a Palestinian village in the northern West Bank, located six kilometers west of Salfit and 18 kilometers south of Nablus, in the Salfit Governorate of the State of Palestine; it is located northwest of the Israeli settlement of ...
in the east, this area served, according to historian Roy Marom
Roy Marom (, ) is an Israeli historian and historical geographer. Marom is the curator of the Palestinian Rural History Project, which specializes in the history of the Palestinian countryside during the Ottoman and British Mandate periods.
...
, "as a buffer zone between the political-economic-social units of the Jerusalem and the Nablus regions. On the political level, it suffered from instability due to the migration of the Bedouin
The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...
tribes and the constant competition among local clans for the right to collect taxes on behalf of the Ottoman authorities."
On 3 March 1799, General Kléber, commander-in-chief of the invading French forces, received the order to push detachments after having taken up position to the south of the Auja River
The Yarkon River, also Yarqon River or Jarkon River (, ''Nahal HaYarkon''; , ''Nahr al-Auja''), is a river in central Israel. The source of the Yarkon ("Greenish" in Hebrew) is at Tel Afek (Antipatris), north of Petah Tikva. It flows west throu ...
, to watch enemy movements, and to prepare for the army to march to Acre
The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...
. He instructed General Lannes), on 6 March, to undertake a reconnaissance in the mountains inhabited by the people of Jabal Nablus
The Nablus Sanjak (; ) was an administrative area that existed throughout Ottoman rule in the Levant (1517–1917). It was administratively part of the Damascus Eyalet until 1864 when it became part of Syria Vilayet and then the Beirut Vilayet ...
, who seemed to be hostile. Turks were firing from behind rocks and down precipices. The small column was obliged to retreat with heavy losses, with sixty French troops killed, more than double the number wounded, and Lannes's arm broken.[Doguereau, 2002, p. 76 footnote no. 6][Bourrienne, 1891, p. 175]
In the 19th century, the village was named 'Majdal al-Sadiq' after Sheikh Muhammad al-Sadiq al-Jamma'ini, the chief of the village who hailed from the prominent Rayyan clan. The Rayyan were a branch of the Arab Bani Ghazi tribe that migrated to Palestine from Transjordan Transjordan may refer to:
* Transjordan (region), an area to the east of the Jordan River
* Oultrejordain, a Crusader lordship (1118–1187), also called Transjordan
* Emirate of Transjordan, British protectorate (1921–1946)
* Hashemite Kingdom o ...
in the 17th century.[ According to ]Eli Smith
Eli Smith (September 13, 1801 – January 11, 1857) was an American Protestant missionary and scholar.
Biography
Smith was born in Northford, Connecticut, to Eli and Polly (née Whitney) Smith. He graduated from Yale College in 1821 and from A ...
, in 1843, the fortress (known as the "Rayyan Fortress") in the village was in ruins.[Robinson and Smith, 1856, p]
140
/ref>
On 7 November 1850 James Finn
James Finn (1806–1872) was a British Consul in Jerusalem, in the then Ottoman Empire (1846–1863). Biography
James Finn arrived in Palestine 1845 with his wife Elizabeth Anne Finn. Finn was a devout Christian who belonged to the London So ...
, future British Consul to Jerusalem and Palestine, visited the village and found it and the castle in a very dilapidated condition. He met Sheikh al-Sadiq's family, and slept in the castle for a night, surveyed the remains of the church at the castle, and saw the Greek inscription upon the lintel, which he translated as meaning ''Martyr Memorial Church of the Holy Herald'',[Finn (1877), pp]
128
132 but Clermont-Ganneau later translated as ''Martyr shrine (martyrion
A ''martyrium'' (Latin) or ''martyrion'' (Greek) (: ''martyria)'', sometimes anglicized martyry (: "martyries"), is a church or shrine built over the tomb of a Christian martyr. It is associated with a specific architectural form, centered on ...
) of Saint Kyriko'', relating Kyrikos/Cyricus, the child martyr of Tarsus.[ On leaving Majdal he descended to Ras al-Ain ("head of the springs") at half an hour's distance, a site which he believed to be identical with the ancient city of ]Antipatris
Antipatris (, ) was a city built during the first century BC by Herod the Great, who named it in honour of his father, Antipater. The site, now a national park in central Israel, was inhabited from the Chalcolithic period to the Late Ro ...
.[
When Edward Robinson visited in 1852, he reported that the fortress had been rebuilt and also served as a palace for the ruling sheikh. Sheikh al-Sadiq, however, had been banished by the Ottomans.][ In the 1850s, the Rayyan controlled 22–25 villages in the '']nahiye
A nāḥiyah ( , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiyeh, 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 divisi ...
'' of Jamma'in West in Sanjak Nablus,[Doumani (1995), p.48. Doumani states that the Rayyan controlled 25 villages, while Schölch states 22.] with Majdal Yaba being their main village, where they maintained a fortress and manor.[Schölch, 1986, pp. 173, 211. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 396] During this time, however, they were embroiled in war with their rival clan, the Qasim, who controlled the Jamma'in East area and also belonged to the Bani Ghazi tribe.[
In 1859, Sulayman Rayyan was in control of Majdal Yaba,][ and by 1860 the Rayyan clan had lost all of their influence in the ]sanjak
A sanjak or sancak (, , "flag, banner") was an administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans also sometimes called the sanjak a liva (, ) from the name's calque in Arabic and Persian.
Banners were a common organization of nomad ...
after being defeated by the Qasims.[ The Rayyan continued to live in and rule Majdal Yaba, but the village ceased to be a center of power.][ According to the PEF's '']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 completed Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) and in 1880 for the soon abandoned Survey of Eastern Palestine. The ...
'' (SWP), the Rayyan family were "ruined by the Turkish Government." Victor Guérin
Victor Guérin (; 15 September 1821 – 21 September 1890) was a French people, French intellectual, explorer and amateur archaeologist. He published books describing the geography, archeology and history of the areas he explored, which included ...
visited in 1870.
In 1870/1871, an Ottoman census listed the village in the ''nahiya'' of Jamma'in al-Thani, subordinate to Nablus. Members of SWP who visited in 1873 reported a large building of "massive masonry", probably a former church, with a side door inscribed in Greek "Memorial of Saint Cerycus". In 1882, the village was described as "a large and important village, evidently an ancient site, having ancient tombs and remains of a church. It stands on high ground above the plain, and contains a house or palace of large size for the Sheikh; it was the seat of a famous family who ruled the neighbourhood. The water supply is from wells and cisterns. In 1888, a school was founded in Majdal Yaba.[
]
British Mandate
Majdal Yaba was captured by British troops on 9 November 1917. In the 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 divis ...
conducted by the British Mandate authorities, there were 726 inhabitants: 723 Muslims and 3 Jews,[Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Ramleh, p]
22
/ref> rising to 966, all Muslim, in a total of 227 houses in the 1931 census.[Mills, 1932, p]
21
The layout of the village resembled a parallelogram and its houses were clustered together, separated by narrow alleys. They were built of mud and straw or stone and cement. Each neighborhood was inhabited by a single '' hamula'' ('clan') and contained a '' diwan'' for public meetings and receiving guests. The Rayyan family had still not recovered by the beginning of the Mandate Period; it was known to be impoverished, as was the Qasim family. ''"Dar az-zalimin kharab'' he home of the oppressors is ruined" said peasants when they passed by their ''kursis'' (seats of power). In 1935, a mosque was built in Majdal Yaba and the Ottoman-built school had reopened in 1920, enrolling 147 students in the mid-1940s. There was also a clinic in the village. Agriculture was the basis of the economy, with farmers planting wheat, corn, barley, vegetables, and sesame. They also tended fruit orchards, particularly citrus. Artesian well
An artesian well is a well that brings groundwater to the surface without pumping because it is under pressure within a body of rock or sediment known as an aquifer. When trapped water in an aquifer is surrounded by layers of Permeability (ea ...
s irrigated the fields.
In the 1945 statistics Majdal Yaba had a population of 1,520 Muslims,[ with a total of 26,332 dunams of land.][Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p]
67
Of this, a total of 2,481 dunums of village land was used for citrus
''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the family Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, mandarins, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes.
''Citrus'' is nativ ...
and bananas, 110 dunams were plantations or irrigable land, 13,906 dunums were used for cereals, while 59 dunams were classified as built-up urban areas.
File:JaffaJerusalem1799.jpg, Majdal Yaba during French Invasion of 1799
File:Charles William Meredith van de Velde, Map of the Holy Land 2x1.jpg, alt=Charles William Meredith van de Velde, Map of the Holy Land, 1856., Megdel 1856
File:Majdal Yaba 1941.jpg, Majdal Yaba 1941 1:20,000
File:Al Mirr 1945.jpg, Majdal Yaba 1945 1:250,000
File:Majdal Yaba.jpg, Families prior to 1948
1948 war and aftermath
File:Occupation of Majdal Yaba.png, Majdal Yaba, July 1948
File:Justice Tower ii.jpg, Majdal Yaba, February 1949
File:Justice Tower.jpg, Majdal Yada, March 1949
File:Majdal Yaba iii.jpg, Member of Harel Brigade at Majdal Yaba, 1949
File:Tombstone in Majdal Yaba cemetery.jpg, Damra family tomb in Majdal Yaba's Eastern Cemetery
Majdal Yaba was in the territory allotted to the Arab state under the 1947 UN Partition Plan. During the war, it was occupied by the Second Battalion of the Alexandroni Brigade
The 3rd "Alexandroni" Brigade (, ''Hativat Aleksandroni'') is an Israel Defense Forces brigade which has fought in many of Israel's wars.
Organization
* 3rd Infantry Brigade "Alexandroni" (Reserve)
** 7012th Infantry Battalion
** 8101st In ...
on July 12, 1948, in Operation Danny
Operation Dani, also spelled Danny, was an Israeli military offensive launched on July 9–19, 1948 at the end of the first truce of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The objectives were to capture territory east of Tel Aviv and then to push inlan ...
, after wresting it from the Iraqi Army
The Iraqi Ground Forces (Arabic: القوات البرية العراقية), also referred to as the Iraqi Army (Arabic: الجيش العراقي), is the ground force component of the Iraqi Armed Forces. It was formerly known as the Royal Iraq ...
who were defending the village during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
Events January
* January 1
** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated.
** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...
. The nearby village of Ras al-Ein, deserted in the 1920s, was also captured. The ''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' reported that the situation of the surrounded Iraqi troops was "hopeless".[''New York Times'' quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p.397.] The capture of Majdal Yaba also led to the control of the hills lying to the north of the operation zone and the springs of the al-Auja river
The Yarkon River, also Yarqon River or Jarkon River (, ''Nahal HaYarkon''; , ''Nahr al-Auja''), is a river in central Israel. The source of the Yarkon ("Greenish" in Hebrew) is at Antipatris, Tel Afek (Antipatris), north of Petah Tikva. It flows ...
(). On August 28, 1948, The Iraqi forces attempted to recapture the village, but were asked to abandon the operation[Akeel](_blank)
Abdul Karim Qassim.
The Israeli town of Rosh HaAyin
Rosh HaAyin (; ) is a city in the Central District of Israel. It is located in the eastern ravine of the Sharon River, opposite the Samaria Mountains. The city is named after its location at the source of the Yarkon River (“Ras” meaning sou ...
— which today is a city – was built on village lands in 1950, and in 1953, the Jewish kibbutz
A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...
of Givat HaShlosha
Givat HaShlosha (, ''lit.'' Hill of the three) is a kibbutz in central Israel. Located about 4 km east of Petah Tikva, near the Yarkon river, it falls under the jurisdiction of Drom Hasharon Regional Council. In it had a population of .
...
was established on village lands. According to Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi
Walid Khalidi (; born in Jerusalem on July 16, 1925) is a Palestinian historian who has written extensively on the Palestinian exodus. He is a co-founder of the Institute for Palestine Studies, established in Beirut in December 1963 as an inde ...
, the Rayyan Fortress still "crowns the site" in addition to the tomb of Sheikh Muhammad Al-Sadiq, and a part of the village cemetery still remains. In 1992 the fortress was "slowly crumbling" and the dome of the tomb was severely cracked.[Khalidi, 1992, p. 397] The ruins of Mirabel Castle have been recently restored and made accessible as part of the Israeli national park of Migdal Afek.
See also
* Depopulated Palestinian locations in Israel
* Migdal Afek, Israeli national park centered around the ruins of Mirabel Castle
*Vassals of the Kingdom of Jerusalem
The Kingdom of Jerusalem, one of the Crusader states that was created in 1099, was divided into a number of smaller Manorialism, seigneuries. According to the 13th-century jurist John of Ibelin (jurist), John of Ibelin, the four highest crown va ...
of the Crusader period
References
Bibliography
*
*
* (pp
340
341)
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* (pp. 
213
–215.)
*
*
* (pp
412
413)
*
*
*Schölch, Alexander (1986): ''Palästina im Umbruch 1856–1882.'' Wiesbaden and Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag.
*
*
External links
Majdal Yaba\ al-Sadiq
Zochrot
Zochrot (; "Remembering"; ; "Memories") is an Israeli nonprofit organization founded in 2002. Based in Tel Aviv, its aim is to promote awareness of the Nakba, including the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight. The group was co-founded by Eitan ...
*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 14
IAA
Wikimedia commons
{{Palestinian Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Palestine War
Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War
District of Ramla
Crusader castles
Populated places established in the 4th millennium BC
Throne villages