Majdal Yaba

As early as the second century BCE in the Hasmonean period a Judean settlement called Migdal Afek or Aphek ({{langx|he|מגדל אפק}}) sat on the same hill of Mirabel and Majdal Yaba. משה גלעד, היא חזרה: מצודת היופי הפלאי, גלריה הארץ, 25.3.2021

According to Josephus, during the First Jewish–Roman War (66-70 CE), the Jews of Antipatris 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.Murphy-O'Connor, 2008, p. 187.

File:Migdal-Afek-28-yard-e.jpg

The Crusaders conquered Palestine from the Fatimid Caliphate 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, but eventually fell to Baldwin of Ibelin, who ruled it as a lordship of the Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1162 to 1171.Pringle, 1997, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=-_NbE5obqRMC&pg=PA67 67] 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.Röhricht, 1893, RRH, p. [https://archive.org/stream/regestaregnihie00rhgoog#page/n116/mode/1up 110], No 423; cited Pringle, 1998, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=2Y0tA0xLzwEC&pg=PA105 105]

The Muslim diplomat Usama ibn Munqidh reported that the lord Hugh of Ibelin acted oppressively against the Muslims in the lordship;[http://www.attarikh-alarabi.ma/Html/adad11partie7.htm#_ftn51] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121014233738/http://www.attarikh-alarabi.ma/Html/adad11partie7.htm#_ftn51|date=2012-10-14}} Ibn Tulun القلائد الجوهرية في تاريخ الصالحية.[http://www.1eman.com/vb/archive/index.php/t-11196.html] Usama Ibn Munqidh.{{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20130418100403/http://hem.passagen.se/kiffri2010/Salahaddin%20judges%20to%20isolate%20the%20Shiites%20after%20the%20fall%20of%20the%20Fatimid%20state%20directly%20and%20was%20appointed%20Sheikh%20Abdullah%20Bin%20Abdel-Shafei%20Derbas%20as%20Chief%20Justice%20Scientific%20life%20in%20Egypt%20and%20the%20Levant%20.html]}} Usama Ibn Munqidh. in 1156, he imposed heavy taxes on the Muslims, requiring them to pay four times as much as the local Christians.[http://www.attarikh-alarabi.ma/Html/adad11partie7.htm#_ftn30] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121014233738/http://www.attarikh-alarabi.ma/Html/adad11partie7.htm#_ftn30|date=2012-10-14}} Ibn Tulun. The inhabitants of eight villages, including the Ibn Qudamah family, left their homes in 1156 and migrated to Damascus, where they founded the Salihiyah suburb.

In 1177, the Muslim army under Saladin, sultan of the Egypt-based Ayyubid Sultanate, marched from south of Palestine northwards past Ascalon to Mirabel Castle, which was being used to defend the road between Jaffa and Jerusalem.Conder, 1897, p. [https://archive.org/stream/latinkingdomjer00condgoog#page/n149/mode/1up 137] In July 1187, Saladin's younger brother, al-Adil I, 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.Pringle, 1998, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=2Y0tA0xLzwEC&pg=PA29 29] Chronicler Baha ad-Din ibn Shaddad 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.Conder, 1897, p. [https://archive.org/stream/latinkingdomjer00condgoog#page/n291/mode/1up 279] While under Ayyubid rule in 1226, the geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi mentions it as Majdal Yafa or 'Tower of Jaffa', probably due to its proximity to the town of Jaffa. 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, brother of the King Henry III of England and brother-in-law of Emperor Frederick II. Al-Salih Ayyub, the Ayyubid sultan of Egypt, offered Richard a new treaty to be complementary to the earlier one signed with Theobald IV, Count of Champagne. 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, including Bethlehem and Majdal Yaba, in addition to Tiberias, Safed, Mount Tabor and the castles of Belvoir, were all included in the Kingdom of Jerusalem.{{sfn|Khamisy|Pringle|2019}}

In 1266, after the fall of Jaffa to the Mamluks, Sultan Baybars sent chiefs from Deir Ghassaneh to protect Majdal Yaba's castle.Deir Ghassaneh. {{in lang|ar}} In the late 13th century, the castle at Majdal Yafa was abandoned.

Majdal Yaba had become repopulated when Palestine was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in the early 16th century, and by the 1596 tax records, it was a small village in the nahiya ("subdistrict") of Jabal Qubal, part of Sanjak Nablus. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 33.3% on wheat, barley, beehives and goats; a total of 900 akçe. All of the revenue went to a waqf. The population consisted of 8 Muslim 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, Marda and Kifl Haris in the east, this area served, according to historian Roy Marom, "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 tribes and the constant competition among local clans for the right to collect taxes on behalf of the Ottoman authorities."{{Cite journal |last=Marom |first=Roy |date=2022-11-01 |title=Jindās: A History of Lydda's Rural Hinterland in the 15th to the 20th Centuries CE |url=https://www.academia.edu/90931976 |journal=Lod, Lydda, Diospolis |volume=1 |pages=17 |archive-date=2023-10-04 |access-date=2023-05-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231004105353/https://www.academia.edu/90931976 |url-status=live }}

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, to watch enemy movements, and to prepare for the army to march to Acre. He instructed General Lannes), on 6 March, to undertake a reconnaissance in the mountains inhabited by the people of Jabal Nablus, 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. 6Bourrienne, 1891, p. 175

File:Sheikh al-Sadiq Tomb.jpg) of Burraz al-Din, 2007]]

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 in the 17th century. According to Eli Smith, in 1843, the fortress (known as the "Rayyan Fortress") in the village was in ruins.Robinson and Smith, 1856, p. [https://archive.org/stream/laterbiblicalre01smitgoog#page/n189/mode/1up 140]

File:Finn's sketch of doorway+Greek inscription at Castle in Mejdal Yaba in 1850.PNG inscription at the castle in Mejdal Yaba, which reads: ΜΑΡΤΥΡΙΟΝ ΤΟΥ ΑΓΙΟΥ ΚΗΡΥΚΟΥ, Martyr shrine (martyrion) of Saint Kyriko.Nowakowski, Paweł (2017). [https://doi.org/10.25446/oxford.13836455.v1 E03550: Greek building inscription for a shrine dedicated to Kyrikos (child martyr of Tarsus, S00007). Found at Medjdel-Yaba near Ras el-Ain, to the north of Diospolis/Lydda (Samaria, Roman province of Palaestina I). Probably 5th-7th c.], University of Oxford, online resource. Based on Clermont-Ganneau (1896), p. 340. It refers to Kyrikos/Cyricus, child martyr of Tarsus (son of Ioulitta/Julitta). Retrieved 6 Nov 2024.]]

On 7 November 1850 James Finn, 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. [https://archive.org/stream/byewaysinpalesti00finniala#page/128/mode/1up 128]-132 but Clermont-Ganneau later translated as Martyr shrine (martyrion) 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.

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 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 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 (SWP), the Rayyan family were "ruined by the Turkish Government."Conder and Kitchener (1882), SWP II, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp02conduoft#page/379/mode/1up 379]; cited in Schölch (1993), p. 227 Victor Guérin visited in 1870.Guérin (1875), pp. [https://archive.org/stream/descriptiongogr04gugoog#page/n156/mode/1up 131]-3

In 1870/1871, an Ottoman census listed the village in the nahiya of Jamma'in al-Thani, subordinate to Nablus.{{Cite book |last=Grossman |first=David |title=Arab Demography and Early Jewish Settlement in Palestine |publisher=Magnes Press |year=2004 |location=Jerusalem |pages=252}} 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".Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp02conduoft#page/360/mode/1up 360]- [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp02conduoft#page/361/mode/1up 361] 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.Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp02conduoft#page/286/mode/1up 286] In 1888, a school was founded in Majdal Yaba.

Majdal Yaba was captured by British troops on 9 November 1917.{{Cite web|title=EL MEJDEL, JAFFA AND WEST COUNTRY TROOPS [Main Title]|url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060022570|access-date=2021-05-01|archive-date=2021-05-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210501225412/https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060022570|url-status=live}} In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, there were 726 inhabitants: 723 Muslims and 3 Jews,Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Ramleh, p. [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n24/mode/1up 22] rising to 966, all Muslim, in a total of 227 houses in the 1931 census.Mills, 1932, p. [https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas 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 [the home of the oppressors is ruined]," said peasants when they passed by their kursis (seats of power).Jaussen, J. A. Naplouse et Son District, (Paris, 1927) p. 138, p.141. Cited in Schölch, 1993, p.227. 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 wells 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. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20I/al-Ramla/Page-067.jpg 67] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180906111453/http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20I/al-Ramla/Page-067.jpg |date=2018-09-06 }} Of this, a total of 2,481 dunums of village land was used for citrus and bananas, 110 dunams were plantations or irrigable land, 13,906 dunums were used for cereals,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20II/al-Ramla/Page-116.jpg 116] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924152437/http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20II/al-Ramla/Page-116.jpg |date=2015-09-24 }} while 59 dunams were classified as built-up urban areas.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20III/al-Ramla/Page-166.jpg 166] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924153744/http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20III/al-Ramla/Page-166.jpg |date=2015-09-24 }}

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

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.{{Cite web|title=Map of UN Partition Plan |publisher=United Nations |access-date=2009-02-09 |url=http://domino.un.org/maps/m0103_1b.gif |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090124212115/http://domino.un.org/maps/m0103_1b.gif |archive-date=2009-01-24 }} During the war, it was occupied by the Second Battalion of the Alexandroni Brigade on July 12, 1948, in Operation Danny, after wresting it from the Iraqi Army who were defending the village during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The nearby village of Ras al-Ein, deserted in the 1920s, was also captured. The New York Times 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 ({{langx|ar|نهر العوجا}}). On August 28, 1948, The Iraqi forces attempted to recapture the village, but were asked to abandon the operation[http://www.ahewar.org/debat/show.art.asp?aid=25359#Statistics Akeel] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716165129/http://www.ahewar.org/debat/show.art.asp?aid=25359#Statistics |date=2011-07-16 }}Abdul Karim Qassim.

The Israeli town of Rosh HaAyin — which today is a city – was built on village lands in 1950, and in 1953, the Jewish kibbutz of Givat HaShlosha was established on village lands. According to Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi, 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.

• Depopulated Palestinian locations in Israel
• Migdal Afek, Israeli national park centered around the ruins of Mirabel Castle
• Vassals of the Kingdom of Jerusalem of the Crusader period

{{reflist|25em}}

{{refbegin}}

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• {{cite book|title=The Churches of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: L-Z (excluding Tyre)|volume=II|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Y0tA0xLzwEC|last=Pringle|first=D.|author-link=Denys Pringle|year=1998|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-39037-0}}
• {{cite book|last=Rey|first=E.G.|author-link=:fr:Emmanuel Guillaume-Rey|title=Les colonies franques de Syrie aux XIIme et XIIIme siècles|url=https://archive.org/details/lescoloniesfran00reygoog|year=1883|publisher=A. Picard|location=Paris|language=fr}} (pp. [https://archive.org/stream/lescoloniesfran00reygoog#page/n439/mode/1up 412]-413)
• {{cite book|last1=Robinson|first1=E.|author-link1=Edward Robinson (scholar)|last2=Smith|first2=E.|author-link2=Eli Smith|year=1856|url=https://archive.org/details/laterbiblicalre01smitgoog|title=Later Biblical Researches in Palestine and adjacent regions: A Journal of Travels in the year 1852|location=London|publisher=John Murray}}
• {{cite book|last=Röhricht|first=R.|author-link=Reinhold Röhricht|title=(RRH) Regesta regni Hierosolymitani (MXCVII-MCCXCI)|url=https://archive.org/details/regestaregnihie00rhgoog|year=1893|publisher=Libraria Academica Wageriana|location=Berlin|language=la}}
• Schölch, Alexander (1986): Palästina im Umbruch 1856–1882. Wiesbaden and Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag.
• {{cite book|title=Palestine in Transformation, 1856–1882: Studies in Social, Economic, and Political Development|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cMVtAAAAMAAJ&q=Majdal+Yaba|first1=Alexander|last1=Schölch|year=1993|publisher=Institute for Palestine Studies|isbn=0-88728-234-2}}
• {{cite book|last=van de Velde|first=C.W.M.|author-link=Charles William Meredith van de Velde|year=1858|url=https://archive.org/details/memoirtoaccompa00veldgoog|title=Memoir to Accompany the Map of the Holy Land|location=Gotha|publisher=Justus Perthes}}

{{refend}}

• [http://www.palestineremembered.com/al-Ramla/Majdal-Yaba/index.html Welcome To Majdal Yaba]
• [https://www.zochrot.org/en/village/49254 Majdal Yaba\ al-Sadiq], Zochrot
• Survey of Western Palestine, Map 14: [https://web.archive.org/web/20180928072721/http://www.iaa-archives.org.il/zoom/zoom.aspx?folder_id=93&type_id=6&id=8376 IAA], [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Survey_of_Western_Palestine_1880.14.jpg Wikimedia commons]

{{Palestinian Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Palestine War}}

Category:Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War

Category:District of Ramla

Category:Crusader castles

Category:Populated places established in the 4th millennium BC

Category:Throne villages