# Al-Khalasa > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Al-Khalasa > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Al-Khalasa.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Khalasa > Source revision: 1287773623 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{pp-extended|small=yes}} {{Infobox settlement | name = al-Khalasa | native_name = الخلصة | native_name_lang = ar | other_name = al-Khalasah, al-Khalus, Elusa | settlement_type= | image_skyline = Khalasa well.jpg | imagesize = 225 | image_caption = The well at al-Khalasa | pushpin_map = Mandatory Palestine | pushpin_mapsize = 200 | coordinates = {{coord|31|5|50|N|34|39|9|E|type:city_region:IL|display=inline,title}} | grid_name = [Palestine grid](/source/Palestine_grid) | grid_position = 116/056 | subdivision_type = [Geopolitical entity](/source/Geopolitical_entity) | subdivision_name = [Mandatory Palestine](/source/Mandatory_Palestine) | subdivision_type1 = [Subdistrict](/source/Districts_of_Mandatory_Palestine) | subdivision_name1 = [Beersheba](/source/Beersheba_Subdistrict%2C_Mandatory_Palestine) | established_title1= Date of depopulation | established_date1 = October 1948 | established_title2= Repopulated dates | unit_pref = dunam | population_as_of = 1945 | population_total = Not known; populated by nomads | blank_name_sec1 = Cause(s) of depopulation | blank_info_sec1 = Military assault by [Yishuv](/source/Yishuv) forces }} '''Al-Khalasa''' ({{langx|ar|الخلصة|al-Khalasah}}; {{langx|he|אל-ח'אלצה}}, ''al-Khalatsah''), was a [Palestinian](/source/Palestinian_people) village, located 23 kilometers southwest of the town of [Beersheba](/source/Beersheba). The village stood at the site of an ancient town from the [Nabatean](/source/Nabatean), [Roman](/source/Roman_Empire), [Byzantine](/source/Byzantine), and the beginning of the Early Muslim period. The ancient city, founded by the Nabateans, is known from Greek and Roman sources as "Halasa" or "Chellous", and later as "Elusa", one of the Byzantine administrative centers in the [Negev Desert](/source/Negev_Desert). Still important in the century of the [Muslim conquest](/source/Muslim_conquest_of_Syria), it was deserted not long after.{{cite book |last1= Negev |first1= Avraham |author-link1= Avraham Negev |last2= Gibson |first2= Shimon |author-link2= Shimon Gibson |title= Elusa (Haluza) |work= Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land |year= 2001 |location= New York and London |publisher= Continuum |pages= 156–158 |isbn=0-8264-1316-1 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=l3JtAAAAMAAJ |access-date= 25 July 2021}} The site was repopulated by Bedouin in the early twentieth century, after western archaeologists took an interest in it. In October 1948, it was captured by [Israel](/source/Israel) during the [1948 Arab-Israeli War](/source/1948_Arab-Israeli_War). The population of al-Khalasa is unknown, but all of the inhabitants were [Muslim](/source/Muslim)s, from the [al-Azizma](/source/'Azazme) tribe. ==History== {{main|Elusa (Haluza)}} ===Nabataean, Roman, and Byzantine periods=== The ancient site was founded by the [Nabateans](/source/Nabateans), probably in the late 4th or early 3rd century BCE. [Roman](/source/Ancient_Rome) historian [Ptolemy](/source/Ptolemy) identifies Elusa during the 2nd century CE as a town in [Idumea](/source/Idumea) west of the [Jordan River](/source/Jordan_River). After the Roman annexation of Nabataea in 106, Elusa became the main city of the central [Negev](/source/Negev), the prominent 4th-century [rhetorician](/source/rhetorician) Zenobius being born there. Elusa, as of [Palaestina Tertia](/source/Palaestina_Tertia), was among the first Negev towns with a large [Christian](/source/Christians) population, which coexisted with [pagans](/source/Hellenistic_Pagan) during the 4th and early 5th century. ===Early Muslim period=== The [Nessana papyri](/source/Nessana) (6th and 7th century) are attesting that after the Muslim conquest of Palestine, the city retained remained an administrative center during the beginning of the [Early Muslim period](/source/History_of_Jerusalem_during_the_Early_Muslim_period) at least until the late 7th century. The papyri are showing that after the Arab conquest, the city's name took the [Arabic](/source/Arabic) form of al-Khalus, which was closer to the original, pre-[Hellenistic](/source/Hellenistic) [Semitic](/source/Semitic_languages) form.{{cn|date=July 2021}} Eventually the city went into decline and was abandoned for centuries. Thirteenth-century [Syria](/source/Syria)n geographer [Al-Dimashqi](/source/Shams_al-Din_al-Ansari_al-Dimashqi) identifies it as one of the "Israelite" towns of the Negev Desert.le Strange, 1890, [https://archive.org/stream/palestineundermo00lestuoft#page/30/mode/1up p.30]. Fourteenth century [Egypt](/source/Egypt)ian geographer, [al-Maqrizi](/source/al-Maqrizi) said it was one of the larger "cities" in southern desert of Palestine.{{when|date=July 2021}}{{dubious|If it's like the Dimashqi quotation, it's again a misunderstanding: Maqrizi probably writes about ancient history, NOT about a city of his time, when the settlement apparently had ceased to exist.|date=July 2021}} Khalidi describes how, as the Negev trade routes declined, al-Khalasa eventually diminished{{dubious|Diminished or disappeared?|date=July 2021}}.Khalidi, 1992, p.76. ===Western rediscovery, Bedouin resettlement=== [Edward Robinson](/source/Edward_Robinson_(scholar)) visited the ruins in 1838 and, with the help of the preserved Arabic name, correctly identified the site as the long-lost Elusa.{{clarification|reason=What was the exact form of the 19th-century Arabic name? Khalus, Khalasa, Khirbet el-...?|date=July 2021}} The constant interest of British, French and other Western archaeologists in the ancient site, encouraged al-Khalasa's resettlement by the al-Azizma [Bedouin](/source/Bedouin) tribe of the Negev, who started building next to the wells and among the ancient ruins after the end of the [First World War](/source/Sinai_and_Palestine_campaign). They built the village with a triangular plan in between two ''[wadi](/source/wadi)''s, with houses constructed of mud and stone. An elementary school was established in the village in 1941, and there were several shops. Most of the inhabitants earned their living through animal husbandry and commerce, and used a well for drinking water. Excavations revealed traces of Late Ottoman [infant](/source/infant) [jar-burials](/source/Jar_burial), commonly associated with [nomads](/source/Nomad) or [itinerant workers](/source/Itinerant_groups_in_Europe) of [Egyptian](/source/Egyptians) origins.Taxel, Y., [Marom, R](/source/Roy_Marom)., & Nagar, Y. (2025). [https://www.academia.edu/129069336/An_Infant_Jar_Burial_from_Zarn%C5%ABqa_Muslim_Funerary_Practices_and_An_Infant_Jar_Burial_from_Zarn_qa_Muslim_Funerary_Practices_and_Migrant_Communities_in_Late_Ottoman_Palestine_Migrant_Communities_in_Late_Ottoman_Palestine An Infant Jar Burial from Zarnūqa: Muslim Funerary Practices and Migrant Communities in Late Ottoman Palestine]. '''Atiqot'', 117, 269–293. ===1948 war=== During the [1948 Arab-Israeli War](/source/1948_Arab-Israeli_War), the village was defended by the [Egyptian Army](/source/Egyptian_Army) and local militia volunteers. The [Arab](/source/Arab) forces were defeated by Israel's [Negev Brigade](/source/Negev_Brigade) during [Operation Yoav](/source/Operation_Yoav) in the last days of October 1948.[http://www.palestineremembered.com/Beersheba/al-Khalasa/index.html Welcome to al-Khalasa] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100820064211/http://www.palestineremembered.com/Beersheba/al-Khalasa/index.html |date=2010-08-20 }}, PalestineRemembered.com, retrieved 2008-05-17 ==See also== * [Depopulated Palestinian locations in Israel](/source/Depopulated_Palestinian_locations_in_Israel) * [List of villages depopulated during the Arab-Israeli conflict](/source/List_of_villages_depopulated_during_the_Arab-Israeli_conflict) ==References== {{reflist|25em}} ==Bibliography== {{refbegin}} *{{cite book|title=All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_By7AAAAIAAJ |first=W.|last=Khalidi|author-link=Walid Khalidi|year=1992|location=[Washington D.C.](/source/Washington_D.C.)|publisher=[Institute for Palestine Studies](/source/Institute_for_Palestine_Studies)|isbn=0-88728-224-5}} *{{cite book|title=Palestine Under the Moslems: A Description of Syria and the Holy Land from A.D. 650 to 1500|url=https://archive.org/details/palestineundermo00lestuoft |first=G.|last=Le Strange|author-link=Guy Le Strange|year=1890|publisher=Committee of the [Palestine Exploration Fund](/source/Palestine_Exploration_Fund)}} *{{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/biblicalresearc01smitgoog|title=Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838| location=Boston|publisher=[Crocker & Brewster](/source/Crocker_%26_Brewster)|volume=1}} {{refend}} ==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20100820064211/http://www.palestineremembered.com/Beersheba/al-Khalasa/index.html Welcome To al-Khalasa] *[http://www.zochrot.org/en/village/49174 al-Khalasa], [Zochrot](/source/Zochrot) {{Palestinian Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Palestine War}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Khalasa, Al-}} Category:Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War Category:Former populated places in West Asia --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Al-Khalasa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Khalasa) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Khalasa?action=history)). 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