The village of Caesarea belongs to the Haifa district, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea to the west, and it contains the first port of Palestine. It was built by King Herod I and he named it Caesarea after the Roman Caesar Augustus. It was the first village that Haganah gangs entered and from it began the plan to expel the Arabs from the Mediterranean coast in 1948, and then Israel occupied it. .
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It is located southwest of Haifa, about 37 kilometers away, and 25 meters above sea level. It has strategic importance due to its view of the Mediterranean Sea.
Caesarea was previously built on an area of about 28 dunums out of a total area of approximately 31,786 dunums, and it was located in the middle of several villages and towns, as it is bordered by the village of Jisr al-Zarqa to the north, the village of Khirbet al-Burj to the northeast, the villages of Kabbara, Khirbet al-Shouna, and Hadera to the east, and the Arab al-Nafiat settlements to the south.
Population
The population of the village of Caesarea in 2024 reached about 5,343 people, according to the “Geo Data” website. Its population was estimated at 346 people in 1922, and its number rose in 1945 to 1,120, including 160 Jews and 30 Christians, and its population in 1998 reached 6,839 people.
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Throughout its history, Caesarea was an important Palestinian port on the shore of the Mediterranean, especially because it was adjacent to the villages and towns of Haifa, which made it an important strategic location during the wars and battles that took place in the region.
The people of the village and those around them relied on its port, boats, and ships to move between Haifa, Jaffa, Gaza, Beirut, and others, and also for trade, export, and import.
It is one of the oldest areas inhabited by humans in history. It was built by the Canaanites and they called it the “Strato Tower,” then it was called “Caesarea” (meaning Caesarea) after the Roman Caesar Augustus. The name later changed, influenced by the Palestinian colloquial dialect, so it became known as “Caesarea.”
Its port flourished during the Roman era, and remained flourishing under the rule of the Byzantines, and in the third century AD it became a center for Christian scholars, such as the theologian Origen and the historian and theological writer known as the “Father of Church History,” Eusebius of Caesarea, who wrote the first list of the names of the cities of Palestine and was one of its bishops.
Islamic rule
At the beginning of approximately the year 640 AD, Caesarea came under Islamic rule, and it received special care and great attention. The Arab historian Ahmed Al-Yaqoubi says that it was the last city opened during the Islamic conquest.
Its star declined when the Crusaders reoccupied it, plundered it and made it the seat of the archbishop, until the Mamluk Sultan al-Zahir Baybars expelled them from it in 1265 and demolished its military fortifications.
It was annexed to the Ottoman Empire in 1517 AD, during which the Bosniaks were settled by the Ottomans, who were Muslims who came there from Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878 to escape the Austrians. They repopulated it and restored its activity and vitality. Orientalist Edward Oliphant says that the Bosniaks built about 20 stone houses, storehouses for supplies, and stone cellars.
Occupation
The British occupied Caesarea along with the rest of Palestine in 1917, and at that time it was administratively part of the city of Haifa.
In 1948, Israel occupied it and immediately destroyed its homes. The Palmach unit of the Haganah gangs committed a massacre against its residents as part of an operation called “cleaning the coastal plain of Arabs” on February 15 of the same year.
20 Palestinian residents of Caesarea insisted on not leaving it and staying in their homes as the Jews entered it, so the decision to demolish it came to those inside it on February 20 during a meeting of the Haganah General Staff.
Following its occupation, the Israelis built several settlements on its lands, including the “Sdot Yam” settlement, inhabited by European Jews, the “Moshav” and “Kesaria” settlements, in addition to a cement factory and others.
Tensions
The families of Israeli detainees held by the Islamic Resistance in Gaza staged a sit-in in front of the home of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Caesarea in January 2024, in an attempt to pressure him to conclude an exchange deal with the resistance.
The Islamic Resistance in Gaza announced the launch of the “Al-Aqsa Flood” battle on October 7, 2023, on the settlements surrounding Gaza, and revealed that it had captured more than 200 Israelis, including officers and soldiers.
On October 19, 2024, a drone launched from Lebanon struck Netanyahu’s house in Caesarea, causing a large explosion and directly hitting the house, despite it being chased by Israeli military helicopters.
Economy
Before their displacement, the people of Caesarea relied on agriculture, and allocated 18 dunums for growing bananas and citrus fruits and 1,020 dunums for grains, in addition to 108 dunums for irrigation and orchards.
Landmarks
The Canaanite village is full of many Roman areas and monuments, including a statue of the Roman Caesar Augustus, a number of walls, a port, a Roman theater, and a temple.
In addition to Byzantine, Islamic, and Crusader monuments, many of which still maintain their historical splendor, Israel deliberately distorted and demolished some of the Islamic and Arab monuments, even turning a mosque there into a bar, a cemetery, and public toilets.
Caesarea Umayyad Mosque
One of the most prominent Islamic landmarks in Caesarea is its Umayyad Mosque, which the occupation turned into a restaurant and bar, and was controlled by the “Caesarea Development” company, which prevents Muslims from performing prayers even near the place, and treats it as a historical edifice and not a holy place.
The call to prayer was heard in the mosque for the first time since the 1948 Nakba on January 7, 1993, after the Al-Aqsa Foundation organized a Friday prayer in which the preacher was the head of the Islamic Movement in the 1948 territories, Raed Salah.