A Palestinian village displaced since the 1948 war, located southwest of the Holy City, was occupied by the Harel Brigade in the context of Operation Hahar (The Mountain) on October 21.
the site
Deir al-Sheikh is located to the west, slightly skewed south of the city of Jerusalem, and is 16 kilometers away from it.
This village was located at the bottom of the northern slope of Mount Sheikh Badr, one of the mountains in western Jerusalem, and its average height above sea level was 475 meters.
From the north-eastern side, it overlooks Wadi al-Sarar, and the Jerusalem railway passes through Jaffa, which the Ottomans established on the village’s lands, and a train station was found on its land called Sheikh Badr Station.
Deir el-Sheikh has paths linking it to neighboring villages, including a road to Jerusalem and another that reaches the Bab al-Wad area, located between Jerusalem and Jaffa.
It is connected by side roads to the villages of Aqour, Deir al-Hawa, Safla, Beit Attab, and Ras Abu Ammar.
Population
The population of Deir al-Sheikh in 1553 AD was estimated at approximately 210 people, and their number increased in 1596 AD to approximately 270 people. In 1871, their number was 196 people, and in 1931 AD it reached 147 people, including 7 Christians and one Jew.
In the year of the Nakba (1948), the population was 255 people, and in 2008 the number of Deir al-Sheikh’s refugee residents registered with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) was 1,204 citizens.
History of Deir al-Sheikh
The oral tradition says that Deir al-Sheikh is the name inherited from the village’s ancestors, and this is also confirmed by Ottoman documents from the 16th century until the year of the Nakba, but it is also rumored that the old name is Dar al-Sheikh, which means “the house of Sultan Badr,” which is Muhammad bin Abi al-Qasim bin Muhammad. Badr al-Din al-Hakari.
Badr al-Din al-Hakari was one of the Muslim knights, and he had notable positions in fighting the Franks. One of the most senior princes of Al-Mu’azzam was King Issa bin Abi Bakr Al-Adil bin Yusuf bin Ayoub, whom he consulted and trusted for his righteousness. He was tolerant, kind, pious, and kind to his family and the poor. He built a school for the Shafi’is in Jerusalem.
Al-Hakari Al-Salti and his sons descended on Jerusalem, coming from the city of Al-Salt, east of Jordan, and formed the “Saltiyah” neighborhood. His descendants assumed the leadership of Al-Aqsa Mosque for many decades and were known as the Imam’s family, and they still reside in the Holy City to this day.
The number of Kurds was large in the city of Jerusalem, as they formed their own neighborhood known as “the Kurds,” which was located west of the Mughrabi Neighborhood, and is known today as “the Neighborhood of Honor.”
Another part of Al-Hakari’s descendants settles in Sharafat, which is one of the old villages in Jerusalem, where the Maqam Al-Badriyah Mosque is located, which is mentioned in the book “Encountering the Galilee from Jerusalem to Hebron.” It is said that a righteous man from the descendants of Ali bin Abi Talib, may God be pleased with him, came to the village with his family, and greeted him. In the hands of some of its Christian residents.
The Badriya Madrasa is attributed to its founder, Badr al-Din Muhammad bin Abi al-Qasim Muhammad al-Hakari. Today, only its gate remains, and in the western part of it is a large stone shrine said to be his grave.
Economy
Agriculture (particularly rain-fed) ranked first on the list of Deir al-Sheikh’s economies, followed by livestock raising. Among its most important crops are grains, including wheat, barley, lentils, beans, chickpeas, turmeric, and fenugreek, which are winter crops that depend on rainwater. As for summer agriculture, corn is one of its priorities.
The area of Deir al-Sheikh’s lands – many of which were communal – was 6,781 dunums (a dunum is equivalent to a thousand square metres), of which 141 dunums were for roads and valleys, 400 dunums were planted with olive trees before 1944, and about 1,316 dunums were for winter crops such as wheat and barley.
The activity of the people of Deir al-Sheikh did not stop at agricultural wealth, but they were also interested in livestock. A large percentage of the village’s lands were known as “communal lands,” which were owned by all residents of the village. The right to dispose of them was vested in the entire population, and they shared the rights to grazing, harvesting wood, and water. Therefore, A large proportion of the territory of Deir al-Sheikh was used as pasture for animals.
Deir el-Sheikh landmarks
There was one old mosque in the village called the “Sultan” Mosque, and attached to it was a large double-domed shrine with a prayer room for women and a tomb for Sultan Badr, as well as a large tomb for the Sultan’s family.
This mosque is considered one of the main important landmarks in Deir al-Sheikh, due to its antiquity and the beauty of its construction. It is the only one in the village, and Friday, congregational, and Eid prayers are held in it. It was also a place for receiving education before schools were built.
Occupying the village and displacing its residents
Israeli forces occupied the Jerusalem corridor just south of the road leading to the coast, with the end of the second armistice on October 15, 1948.
The Harel Brigade occupied Deir al-Sheikh in the context of this operation, known as Operation Hahar, on October 21, 1948.
Settlements on the lands of Deir al-Sheikh
There are no settlements on the village lands, but one kilometer away from it to the southwest is the Nes Harim settlement, which was built in 1950 and is located on land belonging to the village of Beit Atab.
After displacement
The village houses were demolished, except for the shrine of Sheikh Sultan Badr, which is a beautiful white building with two domes that currently sits in the middle of a forest of red-barked arbutus trees for which the village land is famous, so much so that the area was known as Arbutus Valley.
The lands of Deir al-Sheikh are traversed by walking and hiking trails after it was declared a nature reserve by the Israeli nature authorities, but on the ruins of abandoned homes.
Wild grasses cover the scattered rubble of stones, and there are also cacti and many olive trees, and the ruins of houses scattered throughout the site are still clearly visible.