View source for Eilabun

{{Infobox settlement
| name                   = Eilabun
| native_name            = {{Hlist
| {{Lang|he|{{Script/Hebrew|עֵילַבּוּן}}|rtl=yes}}
| {{Lang|ar|{{lang|ar|عيلبون}}|rtl=yes}}
}}
| settlement_type        = [[Local council (Israel)|Local council]] (from 1973)
| translit_lang1         = Hebrew
| translit_lang1_type1   = [[ISO 259]]
| translit_lang1_info1   = Eilaboun
| translit_lang1_type3   = Also spelled
| translit_lang1_info3   = {{br separated entries|Illabun (official)| Eilaboun, Ailabun (unofficial) }}
| image_skyline          = Eilabun.jpg
| pushpin_map_alt        =
| pushpin_map            = Israel northeast#Israel
| pushpin_mapsize        =
| pushpin_label_position = bottom
| pushpin_map_caption    =
| coordinates            = {{coord|32|50|18|N|35|24|03|E|region:IL|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| grid_name              = Grid&nbsp;position
| grid_position          = 187/249 [[Palestine grid|PAL]]
| subdivision_type       = [[List of sovereign states|Country]]
| subdivision_name       = {{flag|Israel}}
| subdivision_type1      =
| subdivision_name1      =
| subdivision_type2      = [[Districts of Israel|District]]
| subdivision_name2      = [[Northern District (Israel)|Northern]]
| unit_pref              = dunam
| area_total_dunam       = {{formatnum:4835|R}}
| population_footnotes   = {{Israel populations|reference}}
| population_total       = {{Israel populations|Eilabun}}
| population_as_of       = {{Israel populations|Year}}
| population_density_km2 = auto
| demographics_type1     = Ethnicity
| demographics1_footnotes  = {{Israel populations|reference}}
|  demographics1_title1    = [[Arab citizens of Israel|Arabs]]
|  demographics1_info1     = 99.5%
|  demographics1_title2    = [[Israeli Jews|Jews and others]]
|  demographics1_info2     = 0.5%
}}
'''Eilabun''' ({{langx|ar|عيلبون}} ''Ailabun'', {{langx|he|עַילַבּוּן}}, {{Script/Hebrew|עֵילַבּוּ}}) is an [[Arab Christians|Arab Christian]] village located in the [[Beit Netofa Valley]] around {{convert|15|km|0|abbr=off}} south-west of [[Safed]] in northern [[Galilee]] between [[Nazareth]] and the [[Sea of Galilee]]. It had a population of {{Israel populations|Eilabun}} in {{Israel populations|Year}},{{Israel populations|reference}} which is predominantly [[Arab Christians|Christian]] (70.5%).<ref>[http://www.cbs.gov.il/publications16/local_authorities14_1642/pdf/804_0530.pdf עיילבון 2014]</ref> In 1973, Eilabun was granted [[local council (Israel)|local council]] status by the Israeli government.<ref name="Gutterman">[http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/il-lcelb.html Eilabun (Israel)] Dov Gutterman, FOTW</ref>
==Etymology==
According to the [[PEF Survey of Palestine|Survey of Western Palestine]], the name Eilabun comes from [[Arabic language|Arabic]], meaning "hard, rocky ground."<ref>Palmer,  1881, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp00conduoft#page/121/mode/1up 121]</ref> According to some scholars, Eilabun was built on the ancient site of "Ailabu" ({{langx|he|עַיְלַבּוּ}}), a possible variation of the name Ein Levon.<ref>HaReuveni, 1999, p. 739</ref>
==History==
===Bronze Age to Mamluk period===
Pottery remains from the [[Bronze Age#Near East timeline|Middle Bronze Age]], [[Iron Age#Near East timeline|Iron Age II]], [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian]], early [[Roman Empire|Roman]] and from the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] era have been excavated.<ref>Feig, 2011, [http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=1633&mag_id=118 'Elabbon, Final report]</ref> Rock-cut [[sarcophagus|sarcophagi]] have been found to the west of the village.<ref>Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp01conduoft#page/381/mode/1up 381]</ref>
Eilabun is mentioned as one of the cities associated with one of the twenty-four [[priestly divisions]], the residence of the priestly clan known as Haqoṣ. A stone inscription mentioning the town was [[DJE 23|discovered in Yemen]] by orientalist, [[Walter W. Muller]], in 1970, and is believed to have been part of a ruined [[synagogue]], now turned mosque.<ref>[[Ephraim Urbach|Urbach]] (1973), pp. 304–327; Degen (1973), pp. 302–303</ref>
In 2013, excavations were conducted in Eilabun by Gilad Cinamon on behalf of the [[Israel Antiquities Authority]] (IAA), during which time remains from the [[Mamluk Egypt|Mamluk]] era were discovered.<ref name="Gosker2013">Gosker, 2013, [http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=2219&mag_id=120 'Elabbon]</ref><ref name="Cinamon2015">Cinamon, 2013, [http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=24819&mag_id=122 'Elabbon ]</ref><ref>[[Israel Antiquities Authority]], [http://www.antiquities.org.il/m_digs_eng.aspx?shana=2013 Excavators and Excavations Permit for Year 2013], Survey Permit # A-6783</ref>
===Ottoman period===
====16th century====
In 1517, the village was incorporated into the [[Ottoman Empire]] with the rest of [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]], and in 1596 it appeared in the Ottoman [[Defter|tax registers]] as being in the ''[[nahiya]]'' ("Subdistrict") of [[Tabariyya]], part of [[Safad Sanjak]],  with a population of 13 [[Muslim]] households. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 25% on various agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, cotton, goats and bee hives, in addition to occasional revenues and a tax for a press for olive oil press or grape syrup; a total of 4,500 [[akçe]].<ref>Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977,  p. 189</ref><ref>Note that Rhode, 1979, p. [https://www.academia.edu/2026845/The_Administration_and_Population_of_the_Sancak_of_Safed_in_the_Sixteenth_Century 6] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190420031504/https://www.academia.edu/2026845/The_Administration_and_Population_of_the_Sancak_of_Safed_in_the_Sixteenth_Century |date=2019-04-20 }} writes that the register that Hütteroth and Abdulfattah studied was not from 1595/6, but from 1548/9</ref>
====19th century====
According to a local tradition cited by Emanuel Hareuveni, [[Arab Christians]] from the neighbouring Christian village of [[Deir Hanna]] settled in Eilabun during the 19th century.<ref>{{Cite book |last=הראובני |first=עמנואל |title=לקסיקון ארץ ישראל: תקציר מיוחד מתוך ארץ ישראל ושכנותיה - אנציקלופדיה גאוגרפית, ארכאולוגית והיסטורית |publisher=משרד החינוך |year=2010 |location=Israel |pages=739 |language=Hebrew}}</ref>
In 1838, ''Aleibun'' was noted as a Christian village in the ''Esh Shagur'' district, which was located between [[Safad]], [[Acre, Israel|Acca]] and [[Tiberias]].<ref>Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol. 3, 2nd appendix,  p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/133/mode/1up 133]</ref>
In 1875, the French explorer [[Victor Guérin]]  found that the village had a population of about 100 [[Greek Orthodox Church|Greek Christians]], with a "humble" [[chapel]]. He noted an excellent water source, and remains (including [[column]]s) of old buildings.<ref>Guérin, 1880, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/descriptiongogr01unkngoog#page/n372/mode/1up 359]-360</ref>
In 1881, the [[Palestine Exploration Fund|PEF]]'s [[PEF Survey of Palestine|''Survey of Western Palestine'' (SWP)]]  described it as "a stone village, well built, containing about 100 [[Palestinian Christians|Christians]]. It is situated on a ridge, surrounded by brushwood, with arable land in the valley. A good spring exists to the west of the village."<ref>Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp01conduoft#page/364/mode/1up 364]</ref>
A population list from about 1887 showed that ''Ailbun'' had about 210 inhabitants; all Catholic Christians.<ref>Schumacher, 1888, p. [https://archive.org/stream/quarterlystateme19pale#page/n199/mode/1up 174]</ref>
===British Mandate===
In the [[1922 census of Palestine]], conducted by the [[Mandatory Palestine|British Mandate authorities]], ''Ailabun'' had a total population of 319, all Christian,<ref>Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Tiberias, p. [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n41/mode/1up 39]</ref> increasing in the [[1931 census of Palestine|1931 census]] to 404, 32 Muslims and 372 Christians, in a total of 85 houses.<ref name="Census1931">Mills, 1932, p. [https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas 82]</ref>
In the [[Village Statistics, 1945| 1945 statistics]], the population comprised 530 Christians and 20 Muslims,<ref>Government of Palestine, Village Statistics 1945, p. [http://users.cecs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/yabber/census/VSpages/VS1945_p12.jpg 12]</ref> who owned a total of 11,190 [[dunam]]s of land, while 3,522 dunams of land was public.<ref>Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945''. Quoted in Hadawi,  1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20I/Tiberias/Page-072.jpg 72]</ref>  Of this, 1,209 dunams were for plantations and irrigable land,  2,187 for cereals,<ref>Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20II/Tiberias/Page-122.jpg 122]</ref> while 18 dunams were built-up land.<ref>Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20III/Tiberias/Page-172.jpg 172]</ref>
===Israel===
====1948-49 war====
[[Israel]]'s [[Golani Brigade]]'s 12th Battalion captured Eilabun on October 30, 1948, during the [[1948 Arab-Israeli War]], from the [[Arab Liberation Army]] (ALA). After the town's surrender, negotiated by four priests, the commander of the Golani troops selected 13–14 young Arab men of the 'Arab al-Mawasi Bedouin tribe and had them executed, in what became known as the [[Eilabun massacre]], the point being to compel the rest of the tribe to leave.<ref>Motti Golani, Adel Manna, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Bmu_BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA130 ''Two Sides of the Coin: Independence and Nakba 1948,'']{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation, 2011 p.119.</ref> According to historian Benny Morris, those executed were Christians, and the executions were "apparently precipitated by the occupying troops' discovery of the decapitated bodies and one or both heads of two Israeli soldiers captured by ALA troops a month before."<ref>Morris, 2008,</ref>{{page needed|date=October 2018}}    The village was then looted.<ref>Morris, 2004,  pp.  [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA479 479]-480</ref> Most of the town's residents were marched out to the [[Blue Line (Lebanon)|Lebanese border]], while hundreds fled to nearby gullies, caves and villages.<ref name="Morris 2004, p. 480">Morris, 2004, p.  [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA480 480]</ref><ref>Benvenisti, 2000, pp. [https://archive.org/details/sacredlandscapeb00benvrich/page/153 153]-154</ref> As part of an agreement between [[Archbishop Hakim]] and the leader of the "Arab Section" in the Israeli Foreign Ministry, the Eliabun exiles in Lebanon were allowed to return in summer of 1949.<ref name="Morris 2004, p. 480"/> The village remained under [[Martial law#Israel|Martial Law]] until 1966.
====2000s Christian-Druze conflict====
On 25 April 2008, six people were injured, two of them sustaining serious wounds, in a brawl which broke out between Druze and Christians near Eilabun.<ref name=ynet2504>{{cite news|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3535786,00.html |title=Druze, Christians clash near Galilee village - Israel News, Ynetnews |newspaper=Ynetnews |publisher=Ynetnews.com |date=1995-06-20 |access-date=2013-03-26|last1=Roffe-Ofir |first1=Sharon }}</ref> The sectarian conflict was a part of the long running feud between the communities, which began in 2004 in the city of [[Shefa-'Amr]]. The April 2008 clash began for an unknown reason as members of the Druze community marched towards the [[Shrine of Shu'ayb|grave site of Jethro]], Moses' father-in-law, walking on the main road near the village of Eilabun.<ref name=ynet2504/> The marchers fought with the village residents using guns and stones.<ref name=ynet2504/> The Druze community elders who were present at the scene managed to restore calm.<ref name=ynet2504/> The conflict ended following an official reconciliation between the Druze and Christians in 2009.
==Eilabun in film==
''[[The Sons of Eilaboun]]'' ({{langx|ar|أبناء عيلبون|links=no}}) is a 2007 documentary film by Palestinian artist and film maker [[Hisham Zreiq]], that tells the story of the [[Eilabun massacre]], which was committed by the Israeli army during Operation Hiram in October 1948.
==Notable people==
* [[Hana Sweid]]
==See also==
*[[Arab localities in Israel]]
*[[Arab citizens of Israel]]
*[[Christianity in Israel]]
==References==
{{reflist|25em}}
==Bibliography==
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite book | editor =Barron, J.B. | title =Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922 | url =https://archive.org/details/PalestineCensus1922 | publisher =Government of Palestine | year =1923 }}
*{{cite book|title=Sacred Landscape: The Buried History of the Holy Land Since 1948|url=https://archive.org/details/sacredlandscapeb00benvrich|url-access=registration|first=M.|last=Benvenisti|author-link=Meron Benvenisti|year=2000|publisher=[[University of California Press]]|isbn=0-520-21154-5}}
*{{cite journal|last=Cinamon|first=Gilad|date=2015-11-02|url=http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=24819&mag_id=122|title='Elabbon Final Report|publisher=Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel|number=127}}
*{{cite book
|last1=Conder|first1=C.R.|author-link1=Claude Reignier Conder
|last2=Kitchener|first2=H.H.|author-link2=Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener
|year=1881
|url=https://archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp01conduoft
|title=The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology|location=London|publisher=[[Palestine Exploration Fund|Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund]]|volume=1}}
*{{cite journal
|last=Degen|first=Rainer |title=An Inscription of the Twenty-Four Priestly Courses from the Yemen|journal=Tarbiẕ (A Quarterly for Jewish Studies)|publisher=Mandel Institute for Jewish Studies  |location=Jerusalem |volume=42 |issue=3–4 |year=1973|pages=302–303 |language=he |jstor=23593539 }}
*{{cite journal
|last=Feig |first=Nurit |date=2011-03-06 |url=http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=1633&mag_id=118 |title='Elabbon Final Report |publisher=Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel |number=123 }}
*{{cite book
|title=Village Statistics, April, 1945
|url=http://web.nli.org.il/sites/nli/Hebrew/library/Pages/BookReader.aspx?pid=856390
|author=Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics
|year=1945}}
*{{cite journal |last=Gosker |first=Joppe |date=2013-03-04 |url=http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=2219&mag_id=120 |title='Elabbon Final Report |publisher=Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel |number=125 }}
*{{cite book
|last=Guérin|first=V.|author-link=Victor Guérin
|title=Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine
|url=https://archive.org/details/descriptiongogr01unkngoog
|volume=3: Galilee, pt. 1
|year=1880|publisher=L'Imprimerie Nationale
|location=Paris|language=fr}}
*{{cite book
|title=Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine
|url=http://www.palestineremembered.com/Articles/General-2/Story3150.html
|first=S.|last=Hadawi|author-link=Sami Hadawi
|year=1970
|publisher=Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center}}
*{{cite book|title=Lexicon of the Land of Israel|publisher=Miskal - Yedioth Ahronoth Books and Chemed Books|language=he|year=1999|first=Immanuel|last=HaReuveni |isbn=965-448-413-7}}
*{{cite book
|last1=Hütteroth |first1=W.-D.|author-link1=Wolf-Dieter Hütteroth
|last2=Abdulfattah|first2=K. |author-link2=Kamal Abdulfattah
|title=Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wqULAAAAIAAJ |year=1977 |publisher=Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft |isbn=3-920405-41-2 }}
*{{cite book | editor = Mills, E. | title = Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas | url = https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas | publisher = Government of Palestine | location = Jerusalem | year = 1932 }}
*{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C |first=B. |last=Morris |author-link=Benny Morris |year=2004 |title=The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited |isbn=978-0-521-00967-6 |publisher=Cambridge University Press }}
*{{cite book|first=B.|last=Morris|author-link=Benny Morris|title=1948:A History of the First Arab-Israeli War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J5jtAAAAMAAJ|date=2008|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=9780300126969}}
*{{cite book|last=Palmer|first=E.H.|author-link=Edward Henry Palmer
|year=1881|url=https://archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp00conduoft|title=The Survey of Western Palestine: Arabic and English Name Lists Collected During the Survey by Lieutenants Conder and Kitchener, R. E. Transliterated and Explained by E.H. Palmer|publisher=[[Palestine Exploration Fund|Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund]]}}
*{{cite thesis |type=PhD
|last=Rhode |first=H. |author-link=Harold Rhode
|date=1979 |url=https://www.academia.edu/2026845 |title=Administration and Population of the Sancak of Safed in the Sixteenth Century |publisher=[[Columbia University]] |access-date=2017-11-02 |archive-date=2020-03-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200301141739/https://www.academia.edu/2026845/The_Administration_and_Population_of_the_Sancak_of_Safed_in_the_Sixteenth_Century |url-status=dead }}
*{{cite book
|last1=Robinson|first1=E.|author-link1=Edward Robinson (scholar)
|last2=Smith|first2=E.|author-link2=Eli Smith
|year=1841
|url=https://archive.org/details/biblicalresearch03robiuoft|title=Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838|location=Boston|publisher=[[Crocker & Brewster]]|volume=3}}
*{{cite journal
| last = Schumacher | first = G. | author-link = Gottlieb Schumacher
| title = Population list of the Liwa of Akka | journal = Quarterly Statement - Palestine Exploration Fund | volume = 20 | pages = 169–191 | url = https://archive.org/details/quarterlystateme19pale | year = 1888 }}
*{{cite journal |last=Urbach|first=E.E.|author-link=Ephraim Urbach |title=Mishmarot and Ma'amadot|journal=Tarbiẕ (A Quarterly for Jewish Studies)|publisher=Mandel Institute for Jewish Studies  |location=Jerusalem |volume=42 |issue=3–4 |year=1973|pages=304–327 |language=he |jstor=23593540 }}
{{refend}}
==External links==
* [http://www.eilaboun.com Eilaboun official Website]
*[http://www.palestineremembered.com/GeoPoints/Eilabun_990/index.html Welcome To Eilabun]
*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 6: [http://www.iaa-archives.org.il/zoom/zoom.aspx?folder_id=93&type_id=6&id=8369 IAA], [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Survey_of_Western_Palestine_1880.06.jpg Wikimedia commons]
{{Arab localities in Israel footer|uncollapsed}}
{{North District (Israel)}}
[[Category:District of Tiberias]]
[[Category:Arab localities in Israel]]
[[Category:Arab Christian communities in Israel]]
[[Category:Local councils in Northern District (Israel)]]