Qalunya قالونيا Qaluniya, Colonia, Kolonia, Kulόnieh | |
|---|---|
 Qalunya, before 1949 | |
| Etymology: from the LatinColonia[1] | |
.jpg) 1870s map.jpg) 1940s map.jpg) modern map.jpg) 1940s with modern overlay mapA series of historical maps of the area around Qalunya (click the buttons) | |
  Qalunya Location withinMandatory Palestine | |
| Coordinates:31°47′49″N35°9′46″E / 31.79694°N 35.16278°E /31.79694; 35.16278 | |
| Palestine grid | 165/133 |
| Geopolitical entity | Mandatory Palestine |
| Subdistrict | Jerusalem |
| Date of depopulation | early April, 1948,[4] |
| Area | |
• Total | 4,844dunams (4.844 km2; 1.870 sq mi) |
| Population (1945) | |
• Total | 900[2][3] |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Military assault byYishuv forces |
| Current Localities | Mevaseret Zion |
Qalunya (Arabic:قالونيا, alsotransliteratedQaluniya) was aPalestinian village located 6 kilometers (3.7 mi) west ofJerusalem.[5] Prior to the village's destruction in 1948, with the exception of 166dunams, Qalunya's land was privately owned: 3,594 dunams were owned by Arabs, while 1,084 dunams were owned byJews.[2][3]
Qalunya stood on a mountain slope, facing southwest;Wadi Qalunya passed through its eastern edge. The village lay on the Jerusalem-Jaffa highway, and a dirt path linked it to its neighboring villages.[6] Qalunya was located where theIsraelite and Jewish town ofMotza was believed to have been. The Modern Motza is now an outlying neighborhood of Jerusalem, and ruins of demolished buildings from Qalunya are present near Motza, covered in vegetation, just off the main highway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The town ofMevaseret Zion today is expanding upon some of the territory of former Qalunya.
Qalunya preserves the name ofColonia Amosa orColonia Emmaus, aRoman colony established at the site of the Jewish village ofMotza, which was destroyed during theFirst Jewish–Roman War.[6][7] After 71 CE, EmperorVespasian settled 800 Roman soldiers in the town,[6] as part of a post-war policy of land confiscation and veteran settlement, which aimed to reward soldiers and establish a loyal population in the province.[7] The settlers came from throughout theRoman Empire, and "might have been, at least partially, of non-Semitic" origins.[8]
The wordcolonia produced theByzantine-period Greek name, Koloneia, for the site. The status of the site in the early Islamic period has not been established, but the name was preserved inCrusader times as Qalonie or Qalunia and in Arabic as Qalunya.Mujir al-Din al-Hanbali reported that in 1192 it was a village near Jerusalem.[9]
It has also been suggested that Qalunya wasEmmaus of theNew Testament.[10] The site is at more or less the correct distance from Jerusalem to match the story told in theGospel of Luke (Luke 24:13–35). The village where Vespasian settled the 800 veterans was known as Emmaus at that time.[citation needed] The new military colony completely eclipsed the title town and its name was lost to history. During the Byzantine period the name Emmaus was not in use, so the Byzantine Christians did not know of it. The tradition of Emmaus was attached toEmmaus-Nicopolis instead.[11] Excavations in 2001-2003 headed by ProfessorCarsten Peter Thiede let him conclude that Khirbet Mizza/Tel Moza was the only credible candidate for biblical Emmaus.[12]
In the 1596tax registers, Qalunya was a village in theOttoman Empire,nahiya (subdistrict) ofJerusalem under theliwa' (district) ofJerusalem, and it had a population of 19 Muslim households, an estimated 110 persons. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 33,3% on a number of crops, includingwheat,barley andolives, as well as ongoats,beehives andmolasses; a total of 6,450akçe. All of the revenue went toWaqf.[14]
In 1838,Kulonieh was noted as a Muslim village in theBeni Malik district, west of Jerusalem.[15][16]
In 1863Victor Guérin found it to be a village of 500 inhabitants,[17] while an Ottoman village list from about 1870 found thatKalonije had a population of 120, in 43 houses, though the population count included men, only.[18][19]
In 1883, thePEF'sSurvey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Qalunya as being a moderate-sized village perched on the slope of a hill, 300 feet (91 m) above a valley. Travelers reported that it had a "modern" restaurant. The villagers tendedorange andlemon trees that were planted around a spring in the valley.[20] To the west of the restaurant were ruins, possible of Byzantine origin.[21]
In the 1890s, Jews purchased some of Qalunya's farmlands, and established the village ofMotza, the first Jewish settlement outside Jerusalem.[22]
In 1896 the population ofKalonije was estimated to be about 312 persons.[23]
In the1922 census of Palestine, conducted by theBritish Mandate authorities, Qalunieh (Qalonia) had a population 549; 456 Muslims, 88 Jews and 5 Orthodox Christians,[24][25] increasing in the1931 census to 632, 632 Muslims and 10 Christians; in a total of 156 houses.[26]
During the1929 Palestine riots, several residents of Qalunya attacked an outlying house inMotza belonging to the Maklef family, killing the father, mother, son, two daughters, and their two guests. Three children survived by escaping out a second-story window; one,Mordechai Maklef, later becameChief of Staff of the Israeli Army. The attackers included the lone police officer and armed man in the area, as well as a shepherd employed by the Maklef family. The village was subsequently abandoned by Jews for a year's time.[27]
In the1945 statistics, Qalunya had a population of 900 Muslims and 10 Christians, whileMotza had a population of 350 Jews.[2] The total land area was 4,844 dunams.[3] A total of 1,224dunums of land were irrigated or used for plantations, 955 were used forcereals;[28] while 227 dunams were classified as built-up areas.[29]
Qalunya was situated just east of the battlefield ofCastel and part of theArab siege on Jerusalem.[30] As a result on 11 April 1948, as part ofOperation Nachshon,Hagana forces entered the village and blew up 50 houses[31] - after "the inhabitants had been evacuated."[32] According toIlan Pappe, Qalunya was one of four villages that were systematically destroyed by Hagana units in this fashion in the immediate wake of theDeir Yassin massacre; the others being,Beit Surik,Biddu andSaris.[31]
According to theIsrael Antiquities Authority (IAA), the earliest archaeological finds of Qaluniya date back to theEarly Bronze Age, Early Bronze Age I,Iron Age II, followed by artefacts retrieved from theHellenistic-Roman,Byzantine,Early Islamic, andCrusade period.[33] The remains of a Byzantine Church were discovered on the site.
In 2012 Israeli archaeologists discovered theTel Motza temple, anIsraelite cultic building dating to the monarchic period (Iron Age IIA).[34]
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