Al-Khalasa

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

al-Khalasa
Arabic	الخلصة
District	Beersheba
Population	(1945)
Jurisdiction	dunams
Date of depopulation	October 1948
Cause(s) of depopulation	Military assault by Jewish forces
Current localities

Al-Khalasa (Arabic: الخلصة) was a Palestinian village, located 23 kilometers southwest of the city of Beersheba. The village was originally founded by the Nabateans under the name of Elusa. They built what was, until its destruction by Israeli forces in 1948, the largest church in the Negev Desert.

[edit] History

Al-Khalasa was founded by the Arab Nabateans in the early 4th century BCE as al-Khalus. Roman historian Ptolemy identifies it as a town in Idumea west of the Jordan River. After the Roman conquest, al-Khalus was renamed Elusa. In the late Roman period it grew to become the principal town of the Arabia Petraea province. It was the birthplace of Libanius, a prominent preacher in the province. Elusa became one of the first Negev towns to have a large Christian population, and Christians and pagans lived side-by-side.

After the Islamic conquest of Palestine, its Arabic name was restored with slight alterations to become al-Khalasa. It retained its prominence during the early Arab period until the late 7th century.^[1]

During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the village was defended by the Egyptian Army and local militia volunteers. The Arab forces were defeated by Israel's Negev Brigade during Operation Yoav in the last days of October 1948. All of its inhabitants became refugees.^[2]