Bani Zeid al-Gharbia

In Beit Rima, sherds from the Iron Age I and IA II, Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Crusader/Ayyubid, Mamluk and Early Ottoman remains have been found.[3]

In Deir Ghassaneh, sherds from all of the same periods, except Persian, have also been found.[4] Small fragments of a marble column were found in Deir Ghassaneh.[5]

According to Sharon, there is no mention of Deir Ghassaneh or Beit Rima[6] in early Arabic sources.

Deir Ghassaneh has been identified as the ancient Saredah (also spelled Zeredah), hometown of Jeroboam. According to some sources, it was settled by the Ghassanids, an Arab Christian tribal confederation, after it was abandoned by the Israelites.[7]

In the compendium of Jewish oral law known as the Mishnah (compiled in 189 CE), Beit Rima is mentioned as a place where they formerly produced a high-quality grape wine, and which was brought as an oblation (contribution) to the Temple in Jerusalem.[8]

English orientalist Edward Henry Palmer (1840–1882) thought the name meant "The monastery of the Ghassaneh",[9] better known today as Ghassanids. However, according to Moshe Sharon (b. 1937), Israeli professor of Islamic history and civilisation, this claim has been dismissed by a number of researchers since the Ghassanids did not have a history of settlement in Samaria, the modern-day northern West Bank.[7] Sharon suggests that the name of the village is related to the Arabic word ghassaneh, which means "very handsome" or suggests "youth and beauty".[7] Casanowicz argues for its identification with Arimathea (Greek: Αριμαθεα) or Arimathaea (Ἀριμαθαία, Arimathaía), the reported home of Joseph of Arimathea, although others identify it with Ramla.

Byzantine ceramics have been found in Deir Ghassaneh,[5] and on the north side of Beit Rima.[10]

The modern town of Bani Zeid receives its name from the Arab tribe of Bani Zeid, who settled in Palestine during the Ayyubid period in the late 12th century. They formed part of the Bedouin units of Saladin's army that hailed from the Hejaz. After the siege of Jerusalem in 1187, Saladin's forces captured the city and the Ayyubid army was garrisoned there.[2] The Bani Zeid temporarily resided in Jerusalem and a street, located near the present-day al-Sa'idia Street, was named after them, but has since been renamed.[11]

In order for Saladin to persuade the Hejazi Arab tribes that joined his army to remain in Palestine, he offered each tribe a cluster of villages captured from the Crusaders as iqta' (fiefs) to settle in and control. The Bani Zeid were granted the villages of Deir Ghassaneh and Beit Rima, as well as the nearby towns of Kafr Ein and Qarawa. However, the Bani Zeid tribe only settled there after another century.[2]

It was not until 1293, after the Bahri Mamluks under Sultan Baibars conquered the coastal strip of Palestine and expelled the last of the Crusaders, that the Bani Zeid tribe settled in the villages offered to them a century earlier by Saladin.[2]

It is known that Deir Ghassaneh was inhabited during the Mamluk period due to the many houses there that have preserved elements of Mamluk architecture. Specific examples include the use of the ablaq technique of alternating stones of different colors, particularly red and white, that decorate the facades and gates of some houses.[7]

A Mamluk-era (1260–1516) stone inscription belonging to an unidentified building in Deir Ghassaneh dating from 1330 describes a two-story "felicitous palace" with a garden. The palace was apparently an asset of the Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad and was inspected by Isa Muhammad al-Qaymari, a low-ranking emir from the Mosul region in charge of overseeing the personal assets of the sultan.[12] In 1480 Deir Ghassaneh-based tribesmen from the Bani Zeid attacked Jerusalem as retaliation for the governor's execution of some of its members who had been accused of revolting against the Burji Mamluk authorities.[11]

During the Ottoman era in Palestine, the area where the Bani Zeid tribe settled became the nahiya (subdistrict) of Bani Zeid, part of the larger sanjak (district) of Quds (Jerusalem). The nahiya contained over 20 towns and villages and had jurisdiction over a part of Salfit.[13] While these villages were registered and organized like other villages in the Jerusalem Sanjak, they were also treated as a group. Each village was led by a ra'is (local chief) and the entire Bani Zeid Nahiya was headed by a sheikh (paramount chief).[14] The Bani Zeid sheikdom would serve as a political-administrative unit for the purposes of tax collection and army mobilization.[15]

In 1556 the sheikdom was led by Sheikh Abu Rayyan bin Sheikh Manna, who was succeeded by Sheikh Muhammad Abu Rabban in 1560. Olive oil was the primary commodity that Bani Zeid Nahiya produced and the product was sold to local Ottoman officials and soap factories in Nablus. The Ottomans imposed taxes on olive oil, wheat and barley, and the sheikh was responsible for paying the revenues of collected taxes to the Ottoman authorities. In addition, Bani Zeid was required to finance a waqf (religious endowment) to the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron.[14] In 1596 both Deir Ghassaneh and Beit Rima appeared in Ottoman tax registers and both villages paid taxes on wheat, barley, olive trees, fruit trees, vineyards, goats and/or beehives.[16] Deir Ghassaneh had a population of 76 households, all Muslim,[17] while Beit Rima had 54 Muslim households and 14 Christian households.[18] During the course of the 16th century, most of Beit Rima's Christian inhabitants had emigrated from the village to Jerusalem, Ramla and Gaza, although the Christian population that remained continued to grow.[19]

In the 19th century Bani Zeid was one of 21 sheikdoms in the central highlands of Palestine. While its exact borders varied from time to time, it was generally marked by the Wadi al-Dilb stream to the south, which separated it from the Bani Harith al-Shamali sheikdom, and the Wadi Nattif stream to the north that separated it from Bilad Jamma'in. The Bani Zeid sheikdom contained the highest slopes and the largest concentration of mountain faults of all the highland sheikdoms. About two-thirds of its villages were situated on relatively wide hilltops while the remainder were built along slopes. None were located in the valleys or the foothills.[20] In 1838 English biblical scholars Edward Robinson and Eli Smith noted that the Bani Zeid Nahiya consisted of 18 inhabited localities and four khirbas (abandoned or ruined villages). They classified Deir Ghassaneh and Beit Rima as inhabited by Muslims.[21]

In the early 19th century, the paramount sheikhs of Bani Zeid were Sheikh Marif al-Barghouti and Sheikh 'Asi al-Rabbah Barghouti.[22] They belonged to the wealthy noble family of al-Barghouti, a sub-clan of the Bani Zeid tribe that traditionally provided the leaders of the sheikdom.[23][24] Its members were generally referred to as Baraghithah and the clan consisted of nine branches whose collective power extended beyond the Bani Zeid sheikdom to the coastal plain of Palestine.[25] During the period of Khedivate Egyptian rule in the Levant (1832–1840), Sheikh 'Abd al-Jabir al-Barghouti, a nephew of Sheikh Marif,[22] served as the chief of the Bani Zeid.[22][26] Sheikh 'Abd al-Jabir belonged to the al-Zahir branch of the family which was based in Deir Ghassaneh.[25] Deir Ghassaneh served as the sheikdom's qaryat al-kursi (throne village or capital).[20][23] During the early part of Egyptian rule, Governor Ibrahim Pasha had Sheikh 'Abd al-Jabir executed.[22][26] He was succeeded by Sheikh Ali al-Rabbah, another leading Barghouti sheikh and a son of Sheikh Asi. The latter was also subsequently executed on the orders of Ibrahim Pasha.[22] Both sheikhs and their peasant fighters had fought against Egyptian rule during the 1834 Peasants' Revolt that spread throughout Palestine.[27] During the last years of Egyptian control, Sheikh Musa Ahmad al-Sahwil of Abwein became the paramount sheikh of the Bani Zeid and continued to exercise great influence over the sheikdom when the Egyptian military withdrew from Palestine in 1841.[22][26]

In the second half of the 19th century Bani Zeid was officially ruled by Sheikh Salih al-Barghouti,[24] although he struggled to maintain full authority over the sheikdom, having to contend with his Abwein-based rival Sheikh Musa and his family, al-Sahwil.[26][28] The latter controlled seven villages in the eastern part of the sheikdom, while the Barghouti maintained control over twelve villages in the western part. The two domains were separated by a wadi (seasonal stream).[26] Nonetheless, Sheikh Salih enjoyed high political and social status, holding the official title of sheikh al-nahiya (chief of the subdistrict) and was also referred to locally as sheikh al-mashayikh (chief of the chieftains).[28] The title ceased to be recognized by the Istanbul-based central government in 1864, but locally the title continued to demonstrate the guise of official authority.[25] As sheikh al-nahiya, Sheikh Salih was tasked with the nomination and dismissal of makhatir (village headmen) and maintaining order through local custom.[28] He also served as the multazim (tax collector) of the Bani Zeid sheikdom on behalf of the Ottoman authorities, despite the ban on tax-farming in 1853. This role in particular enabled the Barghouti clan to acquire vast wealth and property either forcefully or through legal transfer.[25] During previous inter-family disputes, members of the clan had begun to settle in the surrounding villages of Beit Rima, Kobar and Deir Nidham.[22]

As members of the Qais tribo-political faction, in opposition to the Yaman faction, the Barghouti aligned themselves with Qaisi-affiliated Bedouin tribes and other prominent families, including the Khalidi clan of Jerusalem, the 'Amr, 'Azza and 'Amla clans of the Hebron area and the Samhan clan of the Bani Harith nahiya to the north.[25] In 1855–1856 tensions between Sheikh Salih and the leading families of Nablus broke out into fierce clashes. Sheikh Salih was eventually able to compel the Ottoman authorities to take the local rulers of Nablus to task.[29] The restive sheikhs of the Jerusalem and Hebron regions were called to Damascus to conclude a lasting peace, but all were condemned to exile in Trabzon, northern Anatolia, with the exception of Sheikh Salih who apparently impressed the governor and was allowed to return to Deir Ghassaneh.[30] The Barghouti clan would later support the Dar Hammad tribe against the Dar Hamid, both of which were engaged in a feud in nearby Silwad. In one day of fighting, 20 men were killed, prompting Sureya Pasha, the governor of Jerusalem, to personally intervene with a detachment of Ottoman troops which forced both factions to withdraw.[29]

French explorer Victor Guérin visited both Deir Ghassaneh and Beit Rima in 1863. He noted that the former had a population of roughly 900 and was built on a mountain overlooking hills filled with "magnificent" olive groves. Beit Rima had a smaller population of 350, and was situated on a high plateau covered with olive and fig groves. The houses of both villages were constructed from red and white stone masonry and the mosque in Deir Ghassaneh, which Guérin regarded as noteworthy, was built from black and white stone. The home of Deir Ghassaneh's sheikh, who maintained a level of sovereignty over about 15 villages and hamlets in the area, and the members of his family, were particularly large and sturdily built.[31] According to Sharon, the sheikh Guérin had referred to was Sheikh Salih.[24] It was around this time, in the late 1860s, that the prominent al-Husayni clan of Jerusalem unsuccessfully attempted to form an alliance with the Barghouti clan, initially through diplomatic means. Afterward, they commissioned their allies in Istanbul to launch a propaganda campaign against the Barghouti clan, accusing them of undermining the sultan. This allegation was evidenced by the disruption of Jerusalem's water supply by the peasant fighters of the Bani Zeid led by Sheikh Salih, who closed off the aqueduct from Solomon's Pools to the south of Bethlehem.[32]

In the 1887 census the Bani Zeid sheikdom consisted of 24 villages with an estimated collective population of 7,700, including 400 Christians. According to the census, Deir Ghassaneh had 1,200 inhabitants living in 196 households, making it significantly larger than the surrounding localities. There were nine elite households, each of whose family head was recognized by the census as a sheikh.[23] The local imam, Muhammad Shams al-Din al-Shaykh Hanafi, was Egyptian and one of five men in Deir Ghassaneh born outside the village.[33] The PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) in the late 19th century stated Deir Ghassaneh was "a village on a ridge, with springs in the valley below. It is of moderate size, built of stone and has olives beneath it."[34][35] The SWP described Beit Rima as "a small village on the summit of a ridge with wells to the west".[34]

Sheikh Salih was succeeded by his son Umar Salih al-Barghouti, who aligned Bani Zeid with the Nashashibi clan of Jerusalem against the al-Husayni clan in the contest for political dominance in Palestine during the British Mandate period.[24] In 1936, during the Arab revolt in Palestine, the British Air Force struck a group of 400 local militiamen gathered outside of Deir Ghassaneh, killing about 130 of the fighters.[36] Later, in September 1938, the local rebel leadership held a meeting in the village where it was decided that Abd al-Rahim al-Hajj Muhammad and Arif Abd al-Raziq would each serve as general commander of the revolt on a rotational basis. Deir Ghassaneh was subsequently attacked by British forces backed by fighter planes when they were informed of the conference. A rebel commander, Muhammad al-Salih, was killed in the ensuing firefight.[37] The British Mandate Antiquities Authority noted in a January 1947 report that Deir Ghassaneh was "built on a medieval site", and on a hill 500 meters (1,600 ft) west of the village was a two-domed shrine dedicated to a Sheikh Khawas.[35]

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  Deir Ghassana, (Beit Rima bottom left), 1943 1:20,000
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  Deir Ghassana 1945 1:250,000

Deir Ghassaneh and Beit Rima were merged and granted municipal status in February 1966 during Jordanian rule, partially due to the efforts of Kassim al-Rimawi, the rural affairs minister at the time and a native of Beit Rima. Its first mayor, Adib Mohammed Rimawi, was appointed by King Hussein.[38] The municipality building is located in Beit Rima.[39]

Mosque of Bani Zeid, 2012

In June 1967 Israel occupied the West Bank after defeating Arab forces in the Six-Day War.[39] In 1972 the first municipal polls were held and Fa'eq Ali Rimawi was elected.[38] In 1978 Bani Zeid was one of several Palestinian localities to append its municipal seal to the Memorandum from the masses and the institutions of the West Bank to the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization in a display of unity with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The memorandum was a rejection of any solution, regardless of its origin, not containing a clear recognition of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and to establishing an independent Palestinian national state.[40] In 2000 Bani Zeid was incorporated into Area A giving the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), the Palestinian governing body established after the Oslo Agreements with Israel in 1993, full control over security and civilian affairs in the town.[41]

In the late night hours of 24 October 2001, during the Second Intifada, the Israeli Army (IDF) launched an incursion into Beit Rima in what became the first major Israeli military raid into Palestinian-controlled territory, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).[42] The IDF stated the intent of the raid was to capture the alleged killers of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze'evi, who was shot dead by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in retaliation for Israel's assassination of the party's leader Mustafa Zibri (Abu Ali Mustafa) in August.[43] About 50 people from Beit Rima were detained and brought to the Israeli settlement of Halamish for interrogation. Most were released before the day's end, but eleven men remained in Israeli custody, two of whom Israel alleged to be directly involved in Ze'evi's assassination. In the course of the raid, Israeli forces killed six Palestinians, including three members of the Palestinian National Security Forces and two officers from the Civil Police, and wounded seven others. The Palestinian authorities in Beit Rima stated they had not received prior warning from the IDF and their slain men had been resting in an olive grove near the local police station,[42] while Israeli military officials stated all those killed had either fired on Israeli forces or approached them threateningly and all were members of various armed groups.[44] The HRW stated that the Red Crescent was prevented from treating the injured men until 7:00 am, a delay that resulted in the death of two of the police officers.[42][43] Israeli forces also demolished three homes in the town, alleging that they belonged to family members of Ze'evi's killers.[44]

Note

One of the notable maqamat close to the modern town of Bani Zeid is Maqam al-Khawwas (var. Khawassi, Khawwas and Kawas), a double-domed building situated on a hilltop 500 meters west of Deir Ghassaneh,[35] in an isolated area.[72] Along with the maqamat of al-Rifa'i or al-Majdoub, Maqam al-Khawwas was a shrine of major importance for the Bani Zeid villages, collectively.[71] The maqam honored what was locally considered to be the meditation site of al-Khawass, believed to be a Sufi holy man (wely) from Egypt who often visited the residents of the area.[72]

It contained a mihrab ("niche indicating direction towards Mecca.")[73] The maqam was noted by Guérin in 1863.[35][74] Its eastern dome was constructed by the residents of Deir Ghassaneh, while local legend holds the western dome was completed by angels. The interior of the domes were simple and typical of most maqamat domes, lacking cross-vault roofing which was a common feature for most of Deir Ghassaneh's buildings.[75] The sanctuary had a two-door entrance on its northern end. The interior walls were whitewashed, reflecting the Muslim tradition of heavenly light and spirit in the color white. A few verses from the Qur'an were written on parts of the walls. The tomb of al-Khawwas was covered in white cloth. A small niche on the western wall was fitted for an oil lamp.[76]

An important feature that distinguished Maqam al-Khawwas from the Deir Ghassaneh mosque was that it acted primarily as a women's domain whereas the mosque had largely been a male domain. In the pre-British Mandate era, it was frequented by women on a daily basis and during a seasonal pilgrimage for women known as mawsim al-banat. During this pilgrimage, which coincided with the Nabi Salih pilgrimage, a largely male affair, large groups of women and children from the villages of Bani Zeid would visit the Khawwas mausoleum to celebrate festivities, socialize with other women and pray.[73] According to Palestinian architecture expert Suad Amiry, Maqam al-Khawwas's isolation and the ritual of having to travel uphill to reach the sanctuary added to the tranquil feeling of the visit.[72]