| Suba | ||
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Suba
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| Arabic | صوبا | |
| Also Spelled | Soba, Sobetha, Zova | |
| District | Jerusalem | |
| Coordinates | ||
| Population | 620 (1945) | |
| Area | 4,102 dunums | |
| Date of depopulation | 13 July 1948[2] | |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Military assault by Yishuv forces | |
| Current localities | Tzova,[3] Yedida school | |
Suba (Arabic: صوبا) was a Palestinian Arab village west of Jerusalem that was depopulated and destroyed in 1948. The site of the village lies on the summit of a conical hill called Tel Tzova (Hebrew: תל צובה), or Jabal Suba, rising 769 metres above sea level, and it was built on the ruins of a Crusader castle.
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Settlement at the site continued, and was mentioned as "Suba" about 1225 by Arab geographers.[4][5] In 1596, there were 60 Muslim and 7 Christian families living there. The village economy relied on wheat, barley, olives and grapes.[4] In the mid-nineteenth century, the village was controlled by the Abu Ghosh family. The Crusader walls and the fortifications they built in the village were destroyed by Ibrahim Pasha in 1832.[6][7] In 1931, the population consisted of 434 Muslims, rising to 620 in 1945.[8][9]
During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the village saw fierce fighting, due to its key location near the Jerusalem highway. In late 1947 and early 1948, irregular forces of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood stationed in Suba took part in the fighting against Jewish forces, including attacks on Jewish traffic on the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem Road. The village was attacked several times by the Haganah, and finally conquered by the Palmach during the night of July 12–13 as part of Operation Danny. Most of the inhabitants had fled during the fighting, and those who remained were expelled.[10] In October 1948, the "Ameilim" group of Palmach veterans established a kibbutz called Misgav Palmach on village lands 1 km to the south. Later it was renamed Tzova.[6]
Today Tel Tzova is a national park surrounded by the lands of the kibbutz. The ruins of the village are visible along with remains of Belmont Castle.
The history of the village of Suba is the subject of two books, one by Ibrahim ‘Awadallah published in Amman, Jordan in 1996, and another by Muhammad Sa’id Muslih Rumman in the West Bank, published in 2000.[11]
Belmont castle was excavated by archaeologists in 1986-9.[1] Middle Bronze Age cairn-tombs have been excavated in the neighborhood of the ruined Arab village, though the site itself has not yielded artifacts from before the late Iron Age. The place can perhaps be identified with Σωρης mentioned in the Greek version of Josh. 15:59.[1][4] There has also been a tentative identification with the Tzova in 1 Samuel 14:47 and 2 Samuel 23:36.[4] In the later Roman period, the site was mentioned in rabbinical sources as Seboim. Until the mid-19th century, Christian pilgrims mistakenly identified the site with Modi'in, the origin of the Maccabees.[1]
Excavations on a plastered cave on the grounds of Kibbutz Tzova identified as the Cave of John the Baptist began in March 2000.[12]
Sometime before 1169, the Crusaders built a castle there called Belmont, run by the Hospitallers.[4] Today, parts of the northern and western Crusader wall remain, as well as ruins of a tower and other structures. These include large underground cisterns, some pre-dating the Crusader period.[4]
Belmont Castle was taken by Saladin in 1187. According to the chronicles it was destroyed by him in 1191 but no trace of the destruction was located during the archaeological investigation.[1]
