Bayt Jibrin

Iron Age Maresha

The excavations have revealed no remains older than the Iron Age, a time when the Judahite town of Maresha rose on the tell to the south of Bay Jibrin known in Arabic as Tell Sandahanna and in Hebrew as Tel Maresha.^[25] This corresponds to several Hebrew Bible mentions of Maresha. However, local folklore tells that the former Arab village of Bayt Jibrin was first inhabited by Canaanites.^[10][26] After the destruction of the Kingdom of Judah in 586 BCE, the city of Maresha became part of the Edomite kingdom. In the late Persian period a Sidonian community settled in Maresha, and the city is mentioned three times in the Zenon Papyri (259 BCE).^[27] During the Maccabean Revolt, Maresha was a base for attacks against Judea and suffered retaliation from the Maccabees. In 112 BCE, Maresha was conquered and destroyed by the Hasmonean king, John Hyrcanus I, after which the region of Idumea (the Greek name of Edom) remained under Hasmonean control and Idumeans were forced to convert to Judaism. In 40 BCE, the Parthians devastated completely the "strong city", after which it was never rebuilt. After this date, nearby Beit Guvrin succeeded Maresha as the chief center of the area.^{[citation needed]}

Roman and Byzantine periods

In the Jewish War (68 CE), Vespasian slaughtered or enslaved the inhabitants of Betaris. According to Josephus: "When he had seized upon two villages, which were in the very midst of Idumea, Betaris [sic] (corrected to read Begabris),^[28] and Caphartobas, he slew above ten thousand of the people, and carried into captivity above a thousand, and drove away the rest of the multitude, and placed no small part of his own forces in them, who overran and laid waste the whole mountainous country."^[29] However, it continued to be a Jewish-inhabited city until the Bar Kokhba revolt (132-135 CE).^[30]

Septimius Severus, Roman Emperor from 193 to 211, granted the city municipal status,^[31] under a new Greek name, Eleutheropolis, meaning "City of the Free", and giving its citizens the ius italicum and exempting them from taxes.^[32][33][34] Coins minted by him, bearing the date 1 January 200, commemorate its founding and the title of polis.^[35] Eleutheropolis, which covered an area of 65 hectares (160 acres) (larger at the time than Aelia Capitolina - the Roman city built over the ruins of Jewish Jerusalem), flourished under the Romans, who built public buildings, military installations, aqueducts and a large amphitheater. Towards the end of the 2nd century CE, Rabbi Judah the Prince ameliorated the condition of its Jewish citizens by releasing the city from the obligations of tithing home-grown produce, and from observing the Seventh Year laws with respect to the same produce, as believing this area of the country was not originally settled by Jews returning from the Babylonian captivity.^[36] The vita^{[clarification needed]} of Epiphanius of Salamis, born into a Christian family near Eleutheropolis, describes the general surroundings in Late Antique Judaea.^[37] The second chapter of the vita describes the details of the important market of Eleutheropolis.^[38] Seven routes met at Eleutheropolis,^[39] and Eusebius, in his Onomasticon, uses the Roman milestones indicating the city as a central point from which the distances of other towns were measured.^[21] The Madaba Map (dated 542-570 CE) shows Eleutheropolis as a walled city with three towers, a curving street with a colonnade in the central part and an important basilica. In the centre is a building with a yellowish-white dome on four columns.^[40] Eleutheropolis was last mentioned in the ancient sources by the near contemporary itinerarium of the Piacenza Pilgrim,^[41] about 570.

In the 1st and 2nd centuries CE, Christianity penetrated the city due to its location on the route between Jerusalem and Gaza. The city's first bishop, Justus, was one of the 70 Disciples. Eleutheropolis was a "City of Excellence" in the fourth century^[42] and a Christian bishopric with the largest territory in Palaestina. In 325 CE, Eleutheropolis was the seat of Bishop Macrinus, who in that year attended the First Council of Nicaea. Epiphanius of Salamis, Bishop of Salamis in Cyprus, was born at Eleutheropolis; at Ad nearby he established a monastery which is often mentioned in the polemics of Jerome with Rufinus and John, Bishop of Jerusalem. Epiphanius also mentions that Akouas, a disciple of Mani, had been the first to spread Manichaeism in Eleutheropolis and the rest of Palestine during the reign of Aurelian (270-275 AD).^[43]

Beit Guvrin is mentioned in the Talmud in the 3rd and 4th centuries, indicating a revival of the Jewish community around that time.^[30] The tanna Judah b. Jacob and the amora Jonathan (referred to in the Talmud as "Yonatan me-Bet Guvrin" or Jonathan of Bet Guvrin) were residents of the city. The Talmudic region known as Darom was within the area of Eleutheropolis ("Beit Guvrin"),^[44] later known by its Arabic corruption ad-Dārūm.^[45] Excavations at Eleutheropolis show a prosperous city, and confirm the presence of Jews and Christians in the area. It was described as one of Palestine's five "Cities of Excellence" by 4th-century Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus.^[31] During the Roman-Byzantine era, water was brought into Beit Gubrin (Bayt Jibrin) via an aqueduct that passed through Wādi el-ʻUnqur, a watercourse that originates from a natural spring to the south-west of Hebron, and running in a north-westerly direction, bypassing Idhna on the north, for a total distance of about 25 kilometres (16 mi).^[46] Remnants of the aqueduct are still extant. The territory under the administration of Eleutheropolis encompassed most of Idumea, with the districts of Bethletepha, western Edom and Hebron up to Ein Gedi, and included over 100 villages.^[44]

Bayt Jibrin is mentioned in the Talmud (redacted 5th–6th century CE) under the name Beit Gubrin. In the Peutinger Tables (393 CE), the place is called Beto Gabra, and shown as 16 Roman miles from Ascalon.^[47] The true distance is 20 English miles.^[47]

The Midrash Rabba (Genesis Rabba, section 67) mentions Beit Gubrin in relation to Esau and his descendants (Idumaeans) who settled the region, and which region was renowned for its fertile ground and productivity.^{[citation needed]}

Early Islamic period

The 9th-century historian al-Baladhuri mentions Bayt Jibrin (the name given to it by the Arabs following the Muslim conquest) as one of ten towns in Jund Filastin (military district of Palestine) conquered by the Muslims under Amr ibn al-As during the mid-630s' Muslim conquest. Amr enclosed a domain to Bayt Jibrin, which he named Ajlan, after one of his freemen.^[48] The 1904 Analecta Bollandiana recounts that in 638 the Muslim army beheaded fifty soldiers in Bayt Jibrin from the Byzantine garrison of Gaza who refused to abandon Christianity and who were then buried in a church built in their honor.^[49] In the beginning of the power struggle between Ali and Mu'awiya for the position of caliph, Amr left Medina in the Hejaz and took up residence at his estate called Ajlan in Bayt Jibrin with his sons Muhammad and Abdallah. The latter died there. The Umayyad prince and governor of Palestine, Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik, received the news of his becoming caliph in 715 during his stay in Bayt Jibrin.^[50]

In 750 Palestine came under Abbasid rule. Bayt Jibrin may have already been devastated in 788,^[51] but in any event, in 796, it was destroyed by Bedouin tribesmen in an effort to combat Christian influence in the region during a civil war between the Arab tribal federations of the area. According to a monk named Stephen, "it was laid waste, and its inhabitants carried off into captivity".^[52] However, by 985, Bayt Jibrin seemed to have recovered, judging by the writings of the Jerusalemite geographer al-Muqaddasi:

"[Bayt Jibrin] is a city partly in the hill country, partly in the plain. Its territory has the name of Ad Darum (the ancient Daroma and the modern Dairan), and there are here marble [sic] quarries. The district sends its produce to the capital (Ar Ramlah). It is an emporium for the neighbouring country, and a land of riches and plenty, possessing fine domains. The population, however, is now on the decrease...."^[53][54]

There is no marble quarry anywhere in Israel/Palestine, but al-Muqaddasi probably referred to the underground chalkstone quarries known today as "bell caves". Surface nari (local name for caliche) is harder than chalk.^{[citation needed]}

Crusader and Mamluk eras

In 1099, Crusaders invaded Palestine and established the Kingdom of Jerusalem. In 1135, King Fulk of Jerusalem erected a castle on the lands of Bayt Jibrin, the first of a series of Crusader fortifications built at this time to ensure control over the ports of Caesarea and Jaffa.^[22][10] In 1136, King Fulk donated the castle to the Knights Hospitallers. In 1168, the Hospitallers were granted a charter to establish a Frankish colony, which they named "Bethgibelin".^[55] Christian settlers in Beit Jibrin were promised a share of property looted from the Muslims.^[56] It was on the itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela, who found three Jews living there when he visited the country.^[57] The Ayyubid army under Saladin sacked Bethgibelin in 1187, after most of the Kingdom of Jerusalem came under Muslim control as a consequence of his victory at the Battle of Hittin. Soon after its capture Saladin ordered the demolition of the Crusader castle. From 1191 to 1192, the town was held in probate by Henry of Champagne, as lord of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, while Saladin and Richard the Lionheart negotiated a ceasefire.^[58]

However, the Crusaders remained in control of Bethgibelin until 1244, when the Ayyubids reconquered it under Sultan as-Salih Ayyub. By 1283, the Mamluks had taken control and it was listed as a domain of Sultan Qalawun.^[59] The city prospered under the Egypt-based Mamluk Sultanate and served as a postal station.^[10] During Mamluk rule, Bayt Jibrin administratively belonged to Hebron and was under the jurisdiction of the Shafi'i (a school of law in Sunni Islam) qadi (head judge) of that city.^[59]

Ottoman rule and the 'Azza family

Bayt Jibrin and all of Palestine was conquered by the Ottomans after their victory over the Mamluks during the 1516 Battle of Marj Dabiq. Bayt Jibrin subsequently became part of the nahiya (subdistrict) of Hebron (al-Khalīl), which was part of the sanjak ("district") of Gaza. An Ottoman fiscal source from c. 1525-1528 mentions Beit Jibrin as one of the villages whose peasants had deserted.^[60]

The Ottomans did not exercise strict control over their territories and tended to keep local leaders in their traditional positions as long as they complied with the higher authorities and paid imperial taxes.^[10]

During Suleiman the Magnificent's reign, in 1552, the destroyed Crusader castle in Bayt Jibrin was partially rebuilt in order to protect the main road between Gaza and Jerusalem.^[59] In 1596, the inhabitants of Bayt Jibrin, consisting of 50 Muslim families, paid taxes on wheat, barley and sesame seeds, as well as goats and beehives.^[61]

In the 17th century, Bayt Jibrin may have absorbed residents from Khursa, whose village had been destroyed in an attack by the people of Dura.^[62]

In the 19th century, Bayt Jibrin was the seat of the 'Azza family, who had ruled the area since migrating to Palestine from Egypt.^[63] In the 1840s, after the Ottomans attempted to crush local leaders in the Hebron Hills for their refusal to pay taxes, the 'Azza family joined a revolt against Ottoman rule. They had aligned themselves to the 'Amr clan of the Hebron-area village of Dura. Between 1840 and 1846, hostilities were raging between the Qays and Yaman tribo-political factions in southern Palestine. The 'Azza and 'Amr families, part of the Qays confederation, were constantly clashing with the Yaman-aligned Abu Ghosh clan, who were based in the vicinity of Jerusalem.^[64] In 1846, the shaykh (chief) of Bayt Jibrin, Muslih al-'Azza (known as the "giant of Bayt Jibrin"), the leader of the 'Amr clan, and other local leaders were exiled, but were allowed to return in the early 1850s.^[65]

In 1855, the newly appointed Ottoman pasha ("governor") of the sanjak ("district") of Jerusalem, Kamil Pasha, attempted to subdue the rebellion in the Hebron region. Kamil Pasha marched towards Hebron with his army in July 1855, and after crushing the opposition, he ordered the local shaykhs to summon to his camp.^[66] Several of the shaykhs, including the leader of the 'Amr clan and Muslih al-'Azza, did not obey the summons. Kamil Pasha then requested that the British consul in Jerusalem, James Finn, serve as an envoy and arrange a meeting with Muslih. Finn sent his vice-consul to assure Muslih of his safety in Hebron and convinced him to meet with Kamil Pasha. Muslih was well received in Hebron and returned to Bayt Jibrin escorted by twenty of the governor's men. Soon after, the Kamil Pasha paid a visit to Bayt Jibrin to settle affairs and collect the town's overdue taxes.^[66][67] Kamil Pasha took an oath of loyalty from all the local shaykhs in the Hebron region, including those under the rule of Muslih al-'Azza.^[66]

In 1838, American archeologist Edward Robinson identified Bayt Jibrin as the site of both ancient Eleutheropolis and ancient Bethgebrim.^[68] He cited William of Tyre's reference to the Arabic name.^[69] Later travelers who visited Bayt Jibrin during that time were very impressed both by the shaykh of Bayt Jibrin, as well as by his "castle" or "manor". At the time, the remains of the Crusader fortress still served for defensive purposes in the village.^[70] According to Bayt Jibrin's shaykh, in 1863, he was in command of 16 villages in the area and pledged "to provide as many as 2,000 men to the government if necessary."^[71] In 1864, however, Muslih's brother told a traveler that Muslih and his property had been seized on "false charges of treason," and that he had been banished to Cyprus and then beheaded.^[72]

Socin found from an official Ottoman village list from about 1870 that Bayt Jibrin had a population of 508, with a total of 147 houses, though the population count included men, only.^[73][74]

Bayt Jibrin's status began to decline throughout the 19th century. According to Western travelers it was "a small and insignificant village". The primary factors that contributed to the decline were the Bedouin raids on Bayt Jibrin's countryside villages, the 'Azza revolt, tribal warfare among the inhabitants of the towns and villages throughout Palestine and epidemics which struck the town and the nearby area.^[64]

In 1896 the population of Bet dschibrin was estimated to be about 1,278 persons.^[75]

British Mandate

After the British Army captured Palestine from the Ottomans in 1917–1918,^[76]

Beit Jibrin stood 21 kilometers (13 mi) northwest of Hebron, the district capital during Mandate times.^[10]

Bayt Jibrin resumed its role as an important town in the District of Hebron. The population was entirely Muslim, and had two schools, a medical clinic, a bus and a police station. The town's inhabitants cultivated grain and fruit, and residents from nearby towns flocked to its weekly market or souk.^[77] During the winter of 1920-1921 there was a severe outbreak of malaria. 157 villagers (one-sixth of the population) died with the mortality rate in the district reaching 68 per 1,000. Crops remained unharvested due to lack of people strong enough to work in the fields. The British authorities began a program of sealing open wells, improving drainage and distributing quinine across Palestine.^[78][79] In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Bayt Jibrin had a population of 1,420, all Muslim,^[80] increasing the 1931 census to 1,804, still all Muslim, in a total of 369 houses.^[81]

On 10 January 1938, during the Palestinian Arab revolt of 1936-1939, J. L. Starkey, a well-known British archaeologist, was killed by a group of armed Arabs on the track leading from Bayt Jibrin to Hebron.^[82]

In the 1945 statistics, Bayt Jibrin had 2,430 Muslim inhabitants,^[2] with a total of 56,185 dunams or 56.1 km² (13,900 acres) of land.^[3] Of this, 2,477 dunams were irrigated or used for plantations, 31,616 dunams used for cereals,^[83] while 287 dunams (0.28 km² (69 acres)) were built-up (urban) areas.^[84] 98% of which was Arab-owned. The town's urban area consisted of 287 m² (0.071 acres), with 33.2 km² (8,200 acres) of cultivable land and 21.6 km² (5,300 acres) of non-cultivable land. 54.8% of the town's land was planted with cereal crops, 6.2% with olives and 4.4% with irrigated crops.^[3][84]

Bayt Jibrin was in the territory allotted to the Arab state under the 1947 UN Partition Plan.^[85]

1948 war

The First Battalion of the Egyptian Army were ordered to take up position in Bayt Jibrin during the second half of May during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. At the same time, The New York Times correspondent reported that thousands of Jaffa's inhabitants had fled inland, including "large numbers" to the Bayt Jibrin area.^[86] In October 1948, the Israeli Army (IDF) launched Operation Yoav, which differed from operations three months earlier, as the IDF was now equipped with aircraft, artillery, and tanks. On October 15–16, the IDF launched bombing and strafing attacks on a number of towns and villages, including Bayt Jibrin.^[87] According to Morris, the towns caught in the fighting were neither psychologically nor defensively prepared for aerial strikes, and Israeli Air Force bombing of Bayt Jibrin on October 19 set off a "panic flight" of residents from the town.^[88]

On October 23, a United Nations-imposed ceasefire went into effect, however, there was an IDF raid on the neighboring police fort on the night of October 24, which resulted in more villagers fleeing Bayt Jibrin.^[89] Israeli troops from the Giv'ati Brigade then occupied Bayt Jibrin and its police fort on October 27.^[89] In 2008, a former resident of the town who was eight months old at the time of the raid, described his family's ordeal as follows:

In the 1948 war, the village was attacked by Israeli military units and bombed by Israeli aircraft. By that time, Beit Jibreen already hosted many refugees from neighboring villages. The fighting and bombing frightened the people. They escaped the fighting and sought shelter in the surrounding hills. [My] family found protection in a cave 5 km east of the village. They had left everything in their home, hoping to return after a few days when the attack would be over. The Israelis, however, did not allow them to return. Several men of Beit Jibreen were killed when they tried to go back.^[90]

The village was located near the 1949 ceasefire line.

• 
  Bayt Jibrin after occupation by Harel Brigade, 1948
• 
  Building on outskirts of Bayt Jibrin, 1948
• 
  Beit Jibrin police station. 1948
• 
  Beit Guvrin Police station. 1948
• 
  Members of the 89th Battalion outside Beit Gurvin, during Operation Yoav, October 1948

State of Israel

In 1949, kibbutz Beit Guvrin, was founded on the former town's lands.^[4] The excavated areas of the successive Judahite, Hellenistic, Roman-Byzantine and Crusader towns have been included in a large Israeli national park with major points of attraction for tourists. There is little focus on any traces of Arab presence within the park, the period from the 7th century onward receiving little attention.^{[citation needed]}

Embroidery

Bayt Jibrin, together with Hebron and the surrounding villages, was known for its fine Palestinian embroidery.^[97] An example is a woman's jillayeh (wedding dress) from Bayt Jibrin, dated about 1900, in the Museum of International Folk Art (MOIFA) collection in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The dress is made of handwoven indigo linen with long, pointed wing-sleeves. The qabbeh ("chest-piece") is embroidered with the qelayed pattern; the maya ("water") motif, el-ferraneh ("the bakers wife") pattern, and the saru ("cypress") motif. The side panels are also covered with cross-stitch embroidery in a variety of traditional patterns.^[98]

Also on show is a late 19th-century shambar (large veil) from Bayt Jibrin worn at weddings and festivals. It is made of embroidered handwoven black silk with a separate heavy red silk fringe.^[99][100] A woman wore the shambar mainly on her wedding day, positioned so that when she covered her face the embroidered end would show. Another item in the collection is a headdress (iraqiyeh) embroidered with cross-stitch and decorated with Ottoman coins minted in AH 1223 (1808), as well as Maria Theresa coins. The iraqiyeh was worn by married women and elaborate pieces were passed down as family heirlooms. Long embroidered headbands made of cotton hanging from both sides were wrapped around the woman's braids to facilitate the bundling of her hair, then secured to the back of the headdress.^[101]

Shrines

In Islamic tradition, Bayt Jibrin is the burial place of the sahaba (companion) of Muhammad, Tamim al-Dari,^[10] who was famously known for his piety and briefly served as the governor of Jerusalem in the late 7th century. Al-Dari and his family were granted trusteeship over the Hebron Hills, including Bayt Jibrin, and were assigned as the supervisors of the Cave of the Patriarchs (Ibrahimi Mosque) in Hebron. His maqam or sanctuary is the most venerated site in Bayt Jibrin, located just northwest of it. Until the present day, al-Dari's sanctuary has been a place of local Muslim pilgrimage.^[103]

Other Islamic holy sites in the village include the maqam of a local shaykh named Mahmud, and the tomb of a shaykha (female religious figure) named Ameina.^[104]