Sha'ab, Israel

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Sha'ab
Hebrew transcription(s)
 • Hebrew שַׁעַבּ
 • ISO 259 Šaˁḅ
 • Also spelled Sha'av (unofficial)
Arabic transcription(s)
 • Arabic شعب
Sha'ab
Coordinates: 32°53′28.16″N 35°14′27.2″E / 32.8911556°N 35.240889°E / 32.8911556; 35.240889Coordinates: 32°53′28.16″N 35°14′27.2″E / 32.8911556°N 35.240889°E / 32.8911556; 35.240889
District North
Government
 • Type Local council
Area
 • Total 5,442 dunams (5.442 km2 or 2.101 sq mi)
Population (2006)
 • Total 6,000

Sha'ab (Arabic: شعب‎; Hebrew: שַׁעַבּ; meaning "The spur")[1] is an Arab town (a local council) in the North District of Israel. It has an area of 5,442 dunams (6.4 km2 (2.5 sq mi)) of land under its jurisdiction and in 2006 had a population of 6,000.

History

French scholar Victor Guérin associated Sha'ab with Saab, a place mentioned by 1st-century writer Josephus.[2][3] In the 14th century, the tax income from the village was given to the wakf of the madrasah and mausoleum of the Shafi'i Manjaq, Egypt.[4]

In 1517, Sha'ab was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire along with the rest of Palestine. In 1573 (981 H) Sha'ab was one of several villages in Galilee which rebelled against the Ottomans.[5] In 1596, the village appeared in Ottoman tax registers as being in the Nahiya of Acre, with a population of 139 Muslim households. It paid taxes on wheat, barley, fruit trees,"occasional revenues", and "goats and bees".[6]

According to local tradition, the village started to flourish under anti-Ottoman rebel Daher el-Omar (ca. 1768).[7] In 1859, the population was estimated to be 1,500. Some were Catholic, the majority Muslim. The cultivated fields were estimated to be 80 feddans.[8] Guérin visited in the 1870s, and wrote that the village of Sh'aib consisted of four quarters. The inhabitants, he wrote, were for the most part Muslim, about 800, and some 20 "Schismatic Greek" families. The Muslims had two Mosques and two walis.[9][10] In 1881, Sha'ab was described as being in a valley with fine olive groves, while part of the hill behind it was cultivated in corn.[8]

At the time of the 1931 census, Sha'ab had 284 occupied houses and a population of 1,277 Muslims, 19 Christians and 1 Jew.[11] By 1945, Sha'ab had 1,740 inhabitants, all classified as Arabs. They owned a total of 17,870 dunams of land, while 121 dunams were public.[12]

Sha'ab was captured by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on July 19, 1948 during the First Arab-Israeli War. The villagers surrendered without a fight,[13] and their village was subsequently depopulated in the Palestinian exodus. Still, Sha'ab was found by the IDF's Ninth Brigade still to be inhabited in December 1948, and the residents were expelled on foot.[14] The locality was later repopulated by the Israelis with Arabs expelled from elsewhere, to prevent its inhabitants from returning.[15]

Notable buildings

Mosque

The mosque of Zahir al-Umar is situated in the centre of the old village. In 1933 it was inspected by Na'im Makhouly from the Palestine Antiquities Museum, who found that the mosque dated from the time of Zahir al-Umar. In 1933 the mosque was in disrepair. Pictures from the time show two arcades: one had four arches connected with the side wall, with two columns in the centre. A reused Ionic capital could be seen, and above the doorway was a reused Roman lintel (first noticed by Guérin in the 1870s).[7][16]

Andrew Petersen, an archaeologist specializing in Islamic architecture, surveyed the mosque in 1994. He found that the present mosque, built in the 1980s, encased the old building. The old part is the prayer hall, has an entrance to the north. This hall is square, covered with a dome. The dome rests on large squinches, which are supported by corbels. According to Petersen, the domed prayer hall is consistent with an 18th-century construction date.[16]

Shayk's tomb

The Maqam Shaykh Alami is situated south of the mosque, within its enclosure. It is built at a slope, where the ground rises to the south. On the east side there are two entrances; to the maqam, and to an underground cistern.[16]

The building is rectangular, 10 x 20 m, with an interior divided into two. The southern part contains a mihrab and is covered with a barrel vault. The northern end is covered with a dome, and has two large cenotaphs. According to Petersen, the buildings appear medieval.[16]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Palmer, 1881, p.116
  2. ↑ Josephus, III, § 21, cited in Guérin, 1880, p. 434-435, cited in Petersen, 2002, p. 275
  3. ↑ TIR, p. 218, cited in Petersen, 2002, p. 275
  4. ↑ MPF, 71, No. 53. Cited in Petersen, 2002, p. 275
  5. ↑ Heyd, 1960, p. 84-85. Cited in Petersen, 2002, p. 275
  6. ↑ Wolf-Dieter Hütteroth and Kamal Abdulfattah (1977). Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century. Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft. p. 193. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Petersen, 2002, p. 275
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP, p. 271
  9. ↑ Guérin, 1880, p. 434-435
  10. ↑ Conder & Kitchener, 1881, p 339
  11. ↑ E. Mills, ed. (1932). Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas. Jerusalem: Government of Palestine. p. 102. 
  12. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in S. Hadawi, Village Statistics, 1945. PLO Research Center, 1970, p. 41
  13. ↑ Morris 2004, p. 423
  14. ↑ Morris 2004, p. 514
  15. ↑ Morris 2004, p. 536
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 Petersen, 2002, p. 276

Bibliography

External links

North District of Israel
Cities
Local councils
Regional councils
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