Beit Kahil

History

Victor Guérin noted that the place was apparently ancient, and suggested that Beit Kahil was to be identified with the Roman-period city known in Latin as Cela (Greek: Κηλά), described by Eusebius in his Onomasticon, rather than with the Biblical Keilah (Greek: Κεειλά), which was already a ruin in Guérin's time.

Oral tradition suggests that Beit Kahil was founded after the 16th century.

Ottoman era

In the 16th century, Beit Kahil functioned as a mazra'a (farm). It became inhabited with people from Bayt Jibrin, likely as a result of local conflicts. Bedouin settlers, possibly from Jamrura, also took residence there. The establishment of a permanent village dates back to around the mid-19th century.

Ben-Zvi wrote that the local inhabitants were originally Christians and converted to Islam around 150 years prior to his writing in the 1920s.

In the Ottoman census no. 289, (961 AH/1553-1554 CE) p. 209; Bayt Khalil was located in the nahiya of Halil, and noted as Mazra’a (cultivated) land.

In 1863 Victor Guérin found that it had thirty houses,

In 1883 the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Beit Kahel as “a small village on a ridge, built of stone, with a well to the south. Apparently an ancient place, with rock-cut tombs.”

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Beit Kahil had a population of 336 inhabitants, all Muslims, increasing in the 1931 census to 452, still entirely Muslim, in 90 inhabited houses. In the latter census it was counted with Kh. Beit Kanun, Kh. Hawala and Kh. Tawas.

In the 1945 statistics the population of Beit Kahil was 570 Muslims, and the total land area was 5,795 dunams of land according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 1,359 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 1,785 were for cereals, while 26 dunams were built-up (urban) land.

File:Kahil 1945.jpg|Beit Kahil, British Mandate map, 1:20,000 File:Dawayima 1945.jpg|Beit Kahil 1945 1:250,000

1948-1967

In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Beit Kahil came under Jordanian rule.

The Jordanian census of 1961 found 704 inhabitants in Beit Kahil.

Post-1967

Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Beit Kahil has been under Israeli occupation. Since 1995, it has been governed by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) as part of Area B of the West Bank.

According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Beit Kahil had a population of approximately 6,526 inhabitants in 2007. The population is made up of several clans, including al-Attawna, al-Assafra, al-Zuhoor, al-Judi, Barham and al-Khateeb. The village's total land area is 5,795 dunams.

Detention of residents

In August, 2019, Israeli authorities detained two individuals from Beit Kahil who were accused in the murder of Dvir Sorek; a 19-year-old Israeli settler. In October the detainees were indicted, and in November the IDF demolished the homes of the families of the two detainees, alongside those of two others charged in connection with the murder, in Beit Kahil. The criminal case was resolved two and a half years later, in May 2022, when all four men, together with a fifth, were convicted by military court.

In September, 2019, the deputy mayor and his son in addition to two other people from Beit Kahil were detained in mass arrest over the West Bank.

References

Bibliography

References

1. (February 2018). "Preliminary Results of the Population, Housing and Establishments Census, 2017". [[State of Palestine]].
2. Palmer, 1881, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp00conduoft#page/388/mode/1up 388]
3. In the words of Guérin, 1869, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/descriptiongogr06gugoog#page/n355/mode/1up 342]-343: "Je décrirai bientôt une autre localité, appellee Beit-Kahel, nom dans lequel on pourrait être tenté de reconnaître pareillement celui de Ke'ilah. Mais Beit-Kahel se trouve dans le district montagneux de Juda, et est, par conséquent, distinct de Ke'ilah, qui, bien que sur une colline, faisait néanmoins partie de la Chéphélah. [...] Quant au village de Κηλά, qu’Eusèbe place à dix-sept milles d’Éleuthéropolis, sur la route d’Hébron, et saint Jérôme à huit milles, il répond à l’emplacement de Beit-Kahel."
   '''Translation:'''
   "I shall soon describe another locality called Beit-Kahil, in which one might be tempted to recognize the name of Ke'ilah. But Beit-Kahil is in the [[Judaean Mountains. mountainous district of Judah]], and is therefore distinct from [[Ke'ilah]], which, though on a hill, was nevertheless part of the ''[[shefelah]]'' (the lowlands).[...] As to the village of Κηλά, which Eusebius places at seventeen miles from Eleutheropolis ([[Bayt Jibrin. Beit Gubrin]]), on the road to Hebron, and St. [[Jerome]] at eight miles, it answers to the site of Beit-Kahil.”
4. Guérin, 1869, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/descriptiongogr06gugoog#page/n363/mode/1up 350]-351
5. Grossman, D. "The expansion of the settlement frontier of Hebron's western and southern fringes". ''[[Geography Research Forum]]'', 5, 1982, p. 62.
6. Grossman, D. (1986). "Oscillations in the Rural Settlement of Samaria and Judaea in the Ottoman Period". in '''Shomron studies'''. Dar, S., Safrai, S., (eds). Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishing House. p. 367
7. Ben-Zvi, Itzhak. (1967). "שאר ישוב: מאמרים ופרקים בדברי ימי הישוב העברי בא"י ובחקר המולדת". none.
8. Toledano, 1984, pp. 303-304, has ''Bayt Khalil'' at location 35°03′45″E 31°34′15″N.
9. while an [[Ottoman Empire. Ottoman]] village list from about 1870 counted 8 houses and a population of 22, though the population count included men only.Socin, 1879, p. [https://archive.org/stream/zeitschriftdesde01deut#page/146/mode/1up 146]
10. Hartmann, 1883, p. [https://archive.org/stream/bub_gb_BZobAQAAIAAJ#page/n950/mode/1up 142]
11. Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp03conduoft#page/303/mode/1up 303]
12. Barron, 1923, Table V, Sub-district of Hebron, p. [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n12/mode/1up 10]
13. Mills, 1932, p. [https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas 28]
14. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. [http://users.cecs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/yabber/census/VSpages/VS1945_p23.jpg 23]
15. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20I/Hebron/Page-050.jpg 50]
16. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20II/Hebron/Page-093.jpg 93]
17. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20III/Hebron/Page-143.jpg 143]
18. Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. [http://users.cecs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/yabber/census/JordanCensusPages/JordanCensus1961-p22.pdf 22]
19. [http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/Portals/_PCBS/Downloads/book1487.pdf 2007 PCBS Census] [[Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics]]. p.118.
20. link. (July 14, 2009 1 June 2008.)
21. [[Staff writer]]. (8 August 2019). "At scene of terror attack, Netanyahu vows Israel will 'settle the score'". [[The Times of Israel]].
22. (10 August 2019). "IDF, Shin Bet catch Dvir Sorek's killers".
23. Gross, Judah Ari. (28 November 2019). "IDF razes West Bank homes of suspects in killing of Dvir Sorek". Times of Israel.
24. (28 November 2019). "IDF demolishes houses of terrorists who killed Dvir Sorek". Jerusalem Post.
25. Bob, Yonah Jeremy. (31 May 2022). "Terrorists responsible for Dvir Sorek murder given life sentence". Jerusalem Post.
26. [https://archive.today/20190919210441/http://english.wafa.ps/page.aspx?id=0nDxtTa111572100684a0nDxtT Israeli forces detain 19 Palestinians from the West Bank], 2019/09/16, [[Wafa]]