Abu Ghosh
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  Abu Ghosh Location within Israel Show map of Jerusalem District Abu Ghosh Abu Ghosh (Israel) Show map of Israel | |
| Coordinates:31°48′17″N35°6′39″E / 31.80472°N 35.11083°E /31.80472; 35.11083 | |
| Grid position | 160/134PAL |
| Country |  Israel |
| District | Jerusalem District |
| Founded | 7000 BCE(earliest settlement) 16th century(Abu Ghosh clan arrives) |
| Area | |
• Total | 2,500dunams (2.5 km2; 0.97 sq mi) |
| Population (2023)[1] | |
• Total | 8,793 |
| • Density | 3,500/km2 (9,100/sq mi) |
Abu Ghosh (Arabic:أبو غوش;Hebrew:אבו גוש) is anArab-Israelilocal council inIsrael, located 10 kilometers (6 mi) west ofJerusalem on theTel Aviv–Jerusalem highway. It is situated 610–720 meters above sea level. It takes its current name from the dominant clan inhabiting the town, while the older Arabic name used to beQaryat al-'Inab (Arabic:قرية العنب,lit. 'Grape Village').[2]
Abu Ghosh is located in one of the earliest areas of human habitation inIsrael.[2] Archaeological excavations have revealed threeNeolithic settlement phases, the middle phase is dated to the 7th millennium BCE.[3]
The old Arabic name of Abu Ghosh, Qaryat al-'Inab (Arabic:قرية العنب,lit. 'Village of the Grapes'), has led to its identification with the biblical site ofKiryat Ye'arim (Hebrew meaning: "Village of Woods"),[2] the town to which theArk of the Covenant was taken after it had leftBeth-shemesh (1 Samuel 6:1–7:2).[4]Edward Robinson was the first modern scholar to suggest that Qaryat al-'Inab was the biblical Kiriath-jearim.[5] The team excavating the hilltop site of Deir al-'Azar, around the Monastery of Our Lady of the Covenant, lists a wide range of arguments in favour of identifying the site with Kiriath-jearim.[6]
In the 19th century,C. R. Conder of thePalestine Exploration Fund (PEF) thought that the old site of Kiriath-jearim should be identified with Kh. 'Erma, a ruin 2.2 miles (3.5 km) south ofKasla, 4 miles (6.4 km) fromBeit Shemesh.[7] Elsewhere, Conder and Kitchener, citing a "late tradition," noted that Abu Ghosh was, by some, thought to beAnathoth, the birthplace of the prophetJeremiah,[8] a tradition which has since been debunked.
From theHellenistic period through the later phases of theFirst Jewish–Roman War (66–70/73 CE), a Jewish village existed just south of modern-day Abu Ghosh, at the archaeological site ofHorbat Mazruq.[9] The area's inhabitants seem to have abandoned their homes due to the advancing Roman forces, who were marching fromEmmaus toward Jerusalem during the revolt.[9]
By 71/72 CE,[9] theLegio X Fretensis established a station house in Abu Ghosh, where it remained until the end of the 3rd century CE.[2] This legion controlled the Roman road passing through the area.[9]
In 1047,Nasir Khusraw passed through the village while travelling fromRamla toJerusalem. He noted: "By the wayside I noticed, in quantities, plants ofrue (Sadab), which grows here of its own accord on these hills, and in the desert places. In the village of Kariat-al-'Anab there is a fine spring of sweet water gushing out from under a stone, and they have placed all aroundtroughs, with small buildings contiguous (for the shelter of travellers)."[10][11]
TheCrusaders, who called the village Fontenoid, believed it was the site ofEmmaus mentioned in theGospel of Luke and builta church there.[12] They later abandoned the identification in favour ofEmmaus Nicopolis (seeEmmaus#Historical identification).
In the earlyOttomancensus of 16th century, it was noted asInab, a village located in thenahiya ofQuds.[14]
There are several versions on the origins of the Abu Gosh clan: According to one version, Abu Ghosh is the name of an Arab family who settled at the location in the early 16th century.[2] According to the Abu Gosh family tradition, they were ofCircassian descent, and their founder fought withSelim I.[15] In the 18th century, they lived in a village nearBayt Nuba, from which they ruled the surrounding region.[15] However, according to the tradition, theBanu 'Amir tribesmen and the villagers ofBeit Liqya rose against them and slaughtered the entire Abu Ghosh clan except for one woman and her baby, who continued the Abu Ghosh name.[15] Some, however, assert that the Abu Gosh are indeed ofNorth Caucasian traditional descent is correct, but the family is ofIngush origin and that "Abu Gosh" is in fact a corruption of "Abu Ingush".[16]
The Abu Gosh family controlled the pilgrimage route fromJaffa to Jerusalem, and imposed tolls on all pilgrims passing through.[2] They were given this privilege during the sultanate ofSuleiman the Magnificent (1494–1566).[17] The churches in Jerusalem also paid a tax to the Abu Ghosh clan.[2][18] In 1834, duringEgyptian rule in Palestine, the Egyptian governorIbrahim Pasha abolished the Abu Ghosh's right to exact tolls from the pilgrimage route and imprisoned the clan's chief, Ibrahim Abu Ghosh, leading to the clan's temporary participation in the countrywidePeasants' Revolt.[19] As a result, their village was attacked by Egyptian military forces.
In 1838, it was noted as a Muslim village, namedKuryet el'-Enab, located in theBeni Malik district.[20]
It was attacked again in 1853 during a civil war between feudal families under Ahmad Abu Ghosh who ordered his nephew Mustafa to go to battle. A third attack on Abu Ghosh, carried out by the Ottoman military forces, helped and executed[clarification needed] by British forces, took place during the military expedition against the feudal families in the 1860s. The Abu Ghoshes were among the well-known feudal families in Palestine. They governed 22 villages.[21] Thesheikh of Abu Ghosh lived in an impressive house described by pilgrims and tourists as a "true palace ... a castle ... a protective fortress ..."[22]
An Ottoman village list of about 1870 showed thatAbu Ghosh had 148 houses and a population of 579, though the population count included men only.[23][24]
In the 19th century, the village was also referred to asKuryet el' Enab.[25]
In 1896 the population of Abu Ghosh was estimated to be about 1,200 persons.[26]
At the beginning of the 20th century Qariat el-'Inab functioned as a 'throne village', or local seat of power.[27]
Kiryat Anavim, the firstkibbutz in the Judean Hills, was founded near Abu Ghosh in 1914, on land purchased from the Abu Ghosh family.[28]
In the1922 census of Palestine conducted by theBritish Mandate authorities,Enab had a population 475, 450 Muslims and 25 Christians,[29] increasing in the1931 census to 601; 576 Muslims and 25 Christians, in 138 houses.[30]
WhenChaim Weizmann, later the firstpresident of the State of Israel, visited Palestine in the spring of 1920, he was hosted by the residents of Abu Ghosh.[28] From the early 20th century, the leaders of Abu Ghosh worked together and were on friendly terms with the Zionist leaders,[31] and local Jews.[32]
In the1945 Village Statistics the population ofQaryat el 'Inab (Abu Ghosh) was 860; 820 Muslims and 40 Christians,[33] with a total of 7,590dunams of land according to an official land and population survey.[33][34] Of this, a total of 1,517 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 3,274 for cereals,[33][35] while 21 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[33][36]
During the1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine and into the1948 Arab-Israeli War, the road to Jerusalemwas blocked for Jews, as passage through the hills surrounding Jerusalem was crucial for getting supplies to the Jewish parts of the besieged city. Of the 36 Arab Muslim villages in these hills, Abu Ghosh was the only one that remained neutral, and in many cases helped to keep the road open for Jewish convoys. "From here it is possible to open and close the gates to Jerusalem," said former PresidentYitzhak Navon.[37] Many in Abu Ghosh helped Israel[dubious –discuss] with supplies.[38]
DuringOperation Nachshon theHaganah reconsidered an attack on Abu Ghosh due to opposition of theLehi, whose local commanders were on good terms with themukhtar (village chief).[39]
During the1948 Arab–Israeli War, theHar'el Brigade headquarters were located in Abu-Ghosh.[40] Many of the villagers left Abu Ghosh during the heavy fighting in 1948, but most returned home in the following months.
The Israeli government, subsequently on peaceful terms with the village, invested in improving the infrastructure of the village.[41]
Abu Ghosh mayor Salim Jaber attributed in 2007 the good relations with Israel to the great importance attached to being hospitable: "We welcome anybody, regardless of religion or race."[42] According to a village elder interviewed byThe Globe and Mail: "Perhaps because of the history of feuding with the Arabs around us we allied ourselves with the Jews ... against the British. We did not join the Arabs from the other villages bombarding Jewish vehicles in 1947. ThePalmach fought many villages around us. But there was an order to leave us alone. The other Arabs never thought there would be a Jewish government here. ... During the first truce of the War of Independence, I was on my way to Ramallah to see my father and uncles, and I was captured by Jordanian soldiers. They accused me of being a traitor and tortured me for six days."[42]
During the early years of the State ofIsrael the village was subjected to repeated searches by the army and anyone who had not registered as resident in November 1948 could be expelled. One case attracted a lot of public criticism. In June 1950, theIDF and police deported 105 men and women believed to be "infiltrators" toJordan. In an open letter to theKnesset, the inhabitants of Abu Ghosh claimed that the army had "surrounded our village, and taken our women, children and old folk, and thrown them over the border and into theNegev Desert, and many of them died in consequence, when they were shot [trying to make their way back across] the borders."[43] The letter further stated that they woke up to "shouts blaring over the loudspeaker announcing that the village was surrounded and anyone trying to get out would be shot. ... The police and military forces then began to enter the houses and conduct meticulous searches, but no contraband was found. In the end, using force and blows, they gathered up our women, and old folk and children, the sick and the blind and pregnant women. These shouted for help but there was no saviour. And we looked on and were powerless to do anything save beg for mercy. Alas, our pleas were of no avail... They then took the prisoners, who were weeping and screaming, to an unknown place, and we still do not know what befell them."[43]
Knesset memberMoshe Erem accused the army of excessive force, a charge that Prime MinisterBen-Gurion denied. He also defended the policy of expulsions. Foreign MinisterMoshe Sharett, concerned about international reaction, argued that there should be more searches with fewer people being deported at one time and then only adult males. One of the issues causing concern in this case was that some of those expelled had been resident in Abu Ghosh for over a year. In the wake of public pressure, the vast majority of villagers were allowed to return.[43] In July 1952, MKBeba Idelson objected to the deportation of an Abu Ghosh woman, who was said to have cancer, and her four children. The police ministerBechor-Shalom Sheetrit rejected the claim that the woman had cancer.[44] The village remained undermartial law until 1966.
In 2017, Abu Ghosh was described as a "model of coexistence."[45]
In 2017 an archaeological dig began at Deir el-'Azar, the site of the convent, led byIsrael Finkelstein ofTel Aviv University and Christophe Nicolle andThomas Römer of theCollege de France.[46] The first season brought to light a huge, 110 by 150 metres stone platform or podium at the top of the hill, with retaining walls 3 m thick, 6 to 7 metres high and perfectly aligned north–south and east–west, which were dated to the first half of the eighth century BCE during theIron IIB period (900–700 BCE).[6][47] Finkelstein attributed the ancient structure to KingJeroboam II of thenorthern Kingdom of Israel, seeing in it a sign of its dominance over the southernKingdom of Judah and its capital, Jerusalem.[48][6][47] He speculated that the platform might have housed an administration compound that included a temple of the Ark, with the aim of enforcing the domination of Israel over Judah.[6]
The hilltop shows signs of intensive settlement activity during the Iron IIC period (700–586 BCE), when the rectangular podium at the summit was reconstructed.[6] Renewed reconstruction of the podium took place in the lateHellenistic period, possibly as part of the fortification works undertaken by theSeleucidgeneral Bacchides.[6] In the first century CE it seems that the flat hilltop was used as a Roman camp by theXth Roman legion, Fretensis, for which reason the Romans extended the platform to create a perfectly square, 150 by 150 metres base for their fortified camp.[6] From the Byzantine period remains of a basilica were discovered, possibly dating to the 5th century.[6] The Arabic nameDeir el-ʿAzar, lit. "Monastery of el-ʿAzar" may be a corruption of Eleazar, leading to the theory that it was named after the high priest who was charge of the Ark while it was at Kiriath-jearim (1 Sam 7:1).[6] This monastery seems to have functioned to the end of the Byzantine and maybe into the beginning of the Early Islamic period, since very few potterysherds were found from a later period.[6]
Abu Ghosh is governed by alocal council, and is part of theJerusalem District. The current mayor of Abu Ghosh is Kazem Ibrahim. According to theIsrael Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Abu Ghosh had a population of 8,793 in 2023.[1]
The Crusader church at the historical entrance to the village, now at the centre of theBenedictine Monastery, is one of the best preserved Crusader remains in the country. TheHospitallers had built this lateRomanesque/earlyGothic[49]church in 1140[50] and it was partially destroyed in 1187. It was acquired by theFrench government in 1899 and placed under guardianship of the FrenchBenedictine Fathers. Since 1956, it has been run by theLazarist Fathers. Today adouble community of nuns and brothers continue the worship in the church and offer hospitality, reflecting the ancient story of the couple on the Jerusalem–Emmaus road.[50]Edward Robinson (1838) described it as "obviously from the time of the crusades, and [...] more perfectly preserved than any other ancient church in Palestine." Excavations carried out in 1944 confirm that the Crusaders identified the site as the biblicalEmmaus. The church is now known as bothChurch of the Resurrection and Emmaus of the Crusaders.[51]
The Church of Notre Dame de l'Arche d'Alliance (Our Lady of the Ark of the Covenant Church), built in 1924, is said to occupy the site of the house ofAbinadab, where theArk of the Covenant rested for twenty years untilKing David took it to Jerusalem. It is built on the site of a fifth-centuryByzantine church,[52] from which a 5th-century mosaic floor was preserved. The church is recognizable by the roof-top statue of Mary carrying theinfant Jesus in her arms.
Abu Ghosh's historic mosque is in the town center, near the Crusader church, and is dedicated to Uzair-biblicalEzra (Quran 9:30).[53] The newAkhmad Kadyrov Mosque, completed in 2014, is the largest mosque in Israel and was built with money donated by theChechen government.[54]
TheAbu Gosh Music Festival is held twice a year, in the fall and late spring, with musical ensembles and choirs from Israel and abroad performing in and around the churches in Abu Ghosh.[55] The monks believe that holding concerts on the grounds of their churches is a "fine symbol of friendship and welcome. Jews coming to a Muslim community to hear music in a Christian church...is a small, white pebble in the path that we want."[56]
Abu Ghosh is popular among Palestinians and Israelis for its Middle Eastern restaurants andhummus.[57]
In 2007, Abu Ghosh was described as the "hummus capital of Israel."[58] In January 2010, Abu Ghosh secured the Guinness World Record for preparing the largest dish of hummus in the world.Jawdat Ibrahim, owner of Abu Ghosh hummus restaurant, organized the event, which brought together 50 Jewish and Israeli-Arab chefs. The winning 20-foot (6.1 m) dish weighed 4,087.5 kilograms (8992.5 pounds), about twice as much as the previous record set by Lebanon in October 2009.[59][60][61] In May 2010, Lebanon regained the Guinness World Record, more than doubling Abu Ghosh's January 2010 total.[62]
Since 1997, Jaaber Hussein, a Muslim Arab-Israeli hotel food manager from Abu Ghosh, has signed an agreement withIsrael's Chief Rabbis to purchase all of the state'schametz, theleavened products notkosher for the Jewish holiday ofPassover. This contractually binding deal allows the state to respect religious edicts without wastefully destroying massive quantities of food. In 2009, Hussein put down a cash deposit of $4,800 (about 20,000 shekels) for $150 million worth of chametz, acquired from state companies, the prison service and the national stock of emergency supplies. At the end of Passover each year, the deposit is returned to Hussein and the State of Israel buys back all the food products.[63][42]
David Roberts ' lithograph purporting to be of beautiful church of St George in which the place of his Lydda is evidently of Abu Ghosh
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