Al-Qastal, Jerusalem

Al-Qastal ("Kastel", Arabic: القسطل‎) was a Palestinian village located eight kilometers west of Jerusalem named for a Crusader castle located on the hilltop. Used as a military base by the Army of the Holy War, the village was captured by the Palmach in the lead up to the Arab-Israeli War and depopulated of its residents.

al-Qastal

القسطل
al-Qastal hill
Etymology: "castellum" or castale[1]
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Al-Qastal, Jerusalem (click the buttons)
al-Qastal
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 31°47′44″N 35°8′39″E
Palestine grid163/133
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictJerusalem
Date of depopulation3 April 1948[2]
Area
 • Total1,446 dunams (1.4 km2 or 0.5 sq mi)
Population
 (1945)
 • Total90[3]
Cause(s) of depopulationMilitary assault by Yishuv forces
Current LocalitiesMevaseret Zion[4] Castel National Park

History

Crusader period

A Crusader castle called Belveer or Beauverium was built there around 1168 CE. It is listed among the castles destroyed by Sultan al-Adil I in 1191–92 CE. No trace remains today of the castle.[5] Belveer is mentioned in a letter from Eraclius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, dated September 1187, in which he describes the slaughter of Christians "by the sword of Mafumetus the Unbeliever and his evil worshipper Saladin" and the Arab conquest of the town, which was renamed Qastal.[6]

Ottoman period

In 1838 el-Kustul was noted as a Muslim village, part of Beni Malik area, located west of Jerusalem.[7][8]

In 1863, Victor Guérin found modern buildings on ancient ruins. He noted that the village belonged to the Abu Ghosh clan.[9] An Ottoman village list from about 1870 found that Kastal had a population of 10, in 5 houses; the population count included only men.[10][11]

In 1883, in the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine, al-Qastal was described as "a small stone village in a conspicuous position on a rocky hill-top" with springs to the east.[12]

In 1896 the population of El-kastal was estimated to be about 39 persons.[13]

British Mandate period

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Qastal had a population 43, all Muslims,[14] increasing in the 1931 census to 59; 55 Muslims and 4 Christians, in a total of 14 houses.[15]

In the 1945 statistics, the village, with a population of 90 Muslims,[3] had a total of 42 dunums of land allocated to cereals. 169 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards, including 50 dunams of olive trees.[4][16]

1948, aftermath

In 1948, al-Qastal was a key position on the Jaffa-Jerusalem road and was used by Arab forces to attack Jewish relief convoys so as to prevent them from reaching the besieged Jewish parts of Jerusalem.[17] For this purpose it was occupied by the Army of the Holy War led by Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni, the commander of the Jerusalem Hills sector.[18]

The village was assaulted by the Palmach's Harel Brigade and two squads of the Haganah during Operation Nachshon, after a previous minor clash had already caused most civilian inhabitants to flee.[4][19] Palmach troops occupied the village on April 3, but its commander was refused permission to blow up the houses.[19]

Forces under Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni attacked and besieged the Haganah-held village on 7 April 1948. During the following, foggy night Al-Husayni himself was killed by a Haganah sentinel in a bizarre incident. On April 8, armed Arabs from the entire area, motivated by the disappearance of their leader, attacked and recaptured al-Qastal.[19] However, Al-Husayni's death is said to have led to a loss of morale among his forces.[20] Most fighters left their positions to attend al-Husayni's funeral at the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Friday, April 9. Palmach troops retook the almost fully deserted village on the night of April 8-9th; they blew up most of the houses and made the hill a command post, which they managed to hold on to.[19][21]

Parts of the Israeli town of Mevaseret Zion are located on the former lands of Al-Qastal.[4]

  • View of Qastal before Operation Nachshon
  • View of the road from Qastal
  • Palestinian irregulars moving to counterattack Haganah positions in Al-Qastal, 7–8 April 1948
  • Approach to Qastal from the air, 1948
  • Harel Brigade mortar in action during battle for Qastal
  • Castel fortress, 2006
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gollark: Because it is! It mostly works fine!

See also

References
  1. Palmer, 1881, p. 322
  2. Morris, 2004, p. xx, village #356. Also gives cause of depopulation.
  3. Village Statistics, Government of Palestine. 1945, p. 25
  4. Khalidi, 1992, p.311
  5. Pringle, 1997, p. 118: Qastal (R15): "No trace of any Frankish structures, despite contrary claims"
  6. Letters from the East: Crusaders, Pilgrims and Settlers in the 12th-13th Centuries, Keith Bate, Malcolm Barber, A.K. Bate
  7. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. 123
  8. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 2, p. 328
  9. Guérin, 1868, p. 264
  10. Socin, 1879, p. 156
  11. Hartmann, 1883, p. 118, also noted 5 houses
  12. Conder and Kitchener, 1883, III:18. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p.310
  13. Schick, 1896, p. 125
  14. Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Jerusalem, p. 14
  15. Mills, 1932, p. 32
  16. Village Statistics, Government of Palestine. 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, pp. 58 Archived 3 November 2018 at the Wayback Machine, 103 Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  17. War for the Jerusalem Road, Time, Apr. 19, 1948.
  18. Morris, 2008, p. 123
  19. Morris, 2004, pp. 234–235.
  20. Morris, 2008, p. 125
  21. Benveniśtî, 2002, p. 111

Bibliography
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