Shiltah شلتة | |
|---|---|
Village | |
 Members of the Yiftach Brigade in Shiltah during Operation Danny. 1948 | |
| Etymology: Shilta, from personal name[1] | |
.jpg) 1870s map.jpg) 1940s map.jpg) modern map.jpg) 1940s with modern overlay mapA series of historical maps of the area around Shilta (click the buttons) | |
  Shiltah Location withinMandatory Palestine | |
| Coordinates:31°55′04″N35°01′14″E / 31.91778°N 35.02056°E /31.91778; 35.02056 | |
| Palestine grid | 152/147 |
| Geopolitical entity | Mandatory Palestine |
| Subdistrict | Ramle |
| Date of depopulation | July 15–16, 1948[4] |
| Population (1945) | |
• Total | 100[2][3] |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Military assault byYishuv forces |
| Current Localities | Shilat[5]Kfar Ruth[5] |
Shilta was aPalestinian Arab village in theRamle Subdistrict ofMandatory Palestine. Sitting on a hill, It was probably settled in the 19th century.[6] It was depopulated during the1948 Arab–Israeli War on July 18, 1948, by the First Battalion of theYiftach Brigade in theOperation Danny. It was located 15 km east ofRamla.
The name is ofAramaic origins.[7] During the Crusader era the place was calledKefrscilta orCapharscylta.[5][8]
Shards from thePersian,Hellenistic,Roman,Byzantine periods have been found here, and possible shards from theUmayyad,Abbasid and theCrusader periods.[8] Shards from theMamluk period have also been found, though Finkelstein label this find questionable.[8]
The village likely saw settlement during the 19th century, given its absence from the Early Ottomandefter.[6]
In 1870,Victor Guérin visited and noted that the village was "reduced to a few houses, it succeeded an ancient locality, as is proved by severalcisterns dug in the middle of a rocky platform flattened by the man's hand, and a number of stones scattered here and there or embedded inMuslim buildings."[9]
AnOttoman village list from about the same year showed thatSchi’ra had 13 houses and a population of 41, though the population count included men, only. It was noted that it was located east ofJimzu.[10][11]
By the beginning of the20th century, residents fromKharbatha Bani Harith settled the site, establishing it as a dependency - or satellite village - of their home village.[12]
According to acensus conducted in 1931 by theBritish Mandate authorities, Shilta had a population of 22 inhabitants, in 7 houses.[13]
The village had a mosque at the north end of the village, and there was a shrine of Shayk Ahmad al Shiltawi near it.[5]
In the1945 statistics, the village had a population of 100 Muslims,[2] with a total of 5,380dunums of land.[3] Of this, 27 dunams were used for plantations and irrigable land, 2,159 dunums were used for cereals,[14] while 6 dunams were classified as built-up public areas.[15]
Shilta was depopulated after a military assault July 15–16, 1948.[4]
Israel establishedShilat andKfar Ruth on village land in 1977.[5]
In 1992, the village site was described: "The site is overgrown with mountain flora, including long grasses andpomegranate,almond, andcarob trees. Some of thecactus hedges survive, and several wells also are visible. Israeli have built greenhouses for growing flowers, [] Israeli settlement houses have been built on village land."[5]
