{{Short description|Village in West Bank, Palestine}} {{about||the Palestinian newspaper of the same name|Al-Karmil (newspaper)|the nearby modern Israeli settlement named after the Biblical Carmel|Carmel, Mount Hebron}} {{pp-extended|small=yes}} {{lowercase title}} {{Infobox settlement | name = al-Karmil | translit_lang1 = Arabic | translit_lang1_type = Arabic | translit_lang1_info = خربة الكرمل | translit_lang1_type1= Latin | translit_lang1_info1= Khirbat al-Karmil (official) | type = Municipality type D (Village council) | image_skyline = Al-Karmil0240.JPG | image_caption = Al-Karmil | pushpin_map = Palestine | pushpin_map_caption = Location of al-Karmil within Palestine | image_map= | map_caption= | coordinates = {{coord|31|25|25|N|35|07|59|E|region:PS|display=inline,title}} | grid_name = Palestine grid | grid_position = 162/092 | subdivision_type = State | subdivision_name = State of Palestine | subdivision_type1 = Governorate | subdivision_name1 = Hebron | established_title = Founded | established_date= | government_footnotes= <!-- for references: use <ref> tags --> | government_type = Village council | leader_title= | leader_name= | unit_pref = dunam | area_footnotes= | area_total_km2= | area_total_dunam= | elevation_footnotes= | elevation_m= | elevation_min_m= | elevation_max_m= | population_footnotes = <ref name="PrelimCensus2017">{{cite report |date=February 2018 |title=Preliminary Results of the Population, Housing and Establishments Census, 2017 |url=https://www.pcbs.gov.ps/Downloads/book2364-1.pdf |department=Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) |publisher=State of Palestine |pages=64–82 |access-date=2023-10-24}}</ref> | population_total = 9740 | population_as_of = 2017 | population_note= | population_density_km2= auto | website= | footnotes= }} '''al-Karmil''' ({{langx|ar|خربة الكرمل}}) is a Palestinian village located twelve kilometers south of Hebron. The village is in the Hebron Governorate Southern West Bank, within Area A under total Palestinian control.<ref name="GLevy" >Gideon Levy and Alex Levac, [https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2015-06-12/ty-article/.premium/settlers-invade-ancient-pool/0000017f-e342-d9aa-afff-fb5a378a0000 'Bitter waters: Settlers invade ancient pool under Palestinian control,'] Haaretz 12 June 2015</ref> According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the village had a population of 9,740 in 2017.<ref name="PrelimCensus2017" /> The primary health care facilities for the village are designated by the Ministry of Health as level 2.<ref>[http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/fullMaps_Sa.nsf/luFullMap/BB0D1D0CC89A371F8525706F00517495/$File/healthinforum_HLT_westbank_opt110205.pdf?OpenElement West Bank Health care] {{webarchive|url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20060313002206/http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/fullMaps_Sa.nsf/luFullMap/BB0D1D0CC89A371F8525706F00517495/$File/healthinforum_HLT_westbank_opt110205.pdf?OpenElement |date=2006-03-13 }}</ref>
==History== German biblical archaeologist, A. E. Mader (German article), who surveyed Palestine in 1911–1914, saw the strategic importance of historical Carmel in the fact that it's situated at the point where the main road crossing the hill country from north to south is splitting here, one road continuing towards Beersheba, and the other leading east to the southern end of the Dead Sea.<ref name=Mader>Mader, Andreas Evaristus, 1918, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/altchristlicheba00made#page/177/mode/1up 178]-185. Good plan of the Crusader castle on top of the ruined Byzantine church east of the town.</ref> The Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) authors, Conder & Kitchener, managed to trace an ancient road from Jerusalem to "El Kŭrmŭl" in 1874.<ref>Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp03conduoft#page/317/mode/1up 317]</ref>
===Hebrew Bible: Carmel in Judah=== {{see also|Carmel (biblical settlement)}} There are three references to al-Karmil in the Hebrew Bible. "Carmel" is mentioned as a city of Judah, the place where Saul erects a monument after the expedition against the Amalekites, and where Nabal the Carmelite resides ({{bibleverse|Joshua|15:55}}, {{bibleverse|1 Samuel|15:12}} and {{bibleverse|1 Samuel|25}}).<ref>[http://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/bitstream/1842/2239/1/Lozovvy+J+thesis+07.pdf Nabal and Abigail]</ref><ref>Calmet's Dictionary of the Holy Bible, 1832. p 280</ref><ref>Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp03conduoft#page/312/mode/1up 312]</ref><ref name="Le Strange">Le Strange</ref>
===Late Roman and Byzantine periods=== Eusebius' ''Onomasticon'' mentions a garrison stationed here at the beginning of the fourth century.<ref name=SWP/> Towards the end of the fourth century, already during the Byzantine period, the Notitia Dignitatum document mentions an Illyrian cavalry unit in the town of '''Chermula'''.<ref name=GRey/><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=קליין |first=איתן |title=במעבה ההר |publisher=אוניברסיטת אריאל, מדרשת הרי גופנא |year=2016 |isbn=978-965-7632-13-0 |volume=6 |pages=201–211 |language=Hebrew |chapter=הערכה מחודשת של תבליט הרקולס מחורבת אל-כרמיל שבדרום הר-חברון |trans-chapter=The Hercules Relief from Khirbet el-Karmil Reconsidered}}</ref> The large, perfectly preserved ancient water reservoir is noticed by all 19th-century explorers.<ref name=Mader/><ref name=GRey/><ref name="archive.org">Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp03conduoft#page/372/mode/1up 372]-4</ref> It and a good spring provided the town with plenty of water.<ref name=Mader/> A relief showing Hercules was discovered just north of the reservoir during the Mandatory period.<ref name=":0" />
Although placed on three low hills and therefore hard to defend, the town was sufficiently effective as a bullwark against Bedouin raids.<ref name="Mader" /> Mader noticed that to Eusebius it is a χώμη 'Ιουδαίων, a 'Jewish village', but the presence of at least three churches, including a large one that was part of a monastery located south of the town, all from the following two centuries, are proof that the village had strikingly become preeminently Christian during the Byzantine period.<ref name="Mader" />
A total of three Byzantine churches were confirmed by archaeologists in recent years in the western part of ancient Carmel: a community church in the centre, and another two on hills to the north and south.<ref>Doron Bar, [https://www.academia.edu/4820148/ 'The Christianisation of Rural Palestine during Late Antiquity,'] Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Vol. 54, No. 3 July 2003 pp.401-421 p.413.</ref> Mader was witness to the villagers of Yatta using the ruins as a source for cut stones for their houses, in one case repurposing half of an inscribed lintel from a Byzantine church.<ref name="Mader" />
In 1984, Avraham Negev, starting from "still insufficient" archaeological evidence and a thorough reassessment of ancient written sources, proposed that Eusebius, by naming the village associated in his time with biblical Carmel in two different ways, '''Chermala''' and '''Karmelos''', did not make one of his known mistakes, but reflected the existence of two associated settlements. Negev suggests that "old Carmel" (al-Karmil) was garrisoned by the Romans only after the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–135), at which point most of its Jewish inhabitants gradually left during the years 150–300.<ref name=Negev84>{{cite journal |last= Negev |first= Avraham |title= Excavations at Carmel (Kh. Susiya) in 1984: Preliminary Report |pages= 231-52 [249-252, 'The history of Kh. Susiya and the identification of the site'] |journal=Israel Exploration Journal |volume= 35 |number= 4 |year= 1985 |jstor= 27925998 |url= http://www.jstor.org/stable/27925998 |access-date=2 October 2020}}</ref> They moved away to a site little over two kilometres away, now known as Khirbet Susiya, where –according to Jerome Murphy-O'Connor, who adopted Negev's theory– they never stopped identifying as "Carmel". When Eusebius compiled his ''Onomasticon'', the migration process had just ended.<ref name=Negev84/><ref name=OConnor>{{cite book |last= Murphy-O'Connor |first= Jerome |author-link= Jerome Murphy-O'Connor |title= The Holy Land: An Oxford Archaeological Guide from Earliest Times to 1700 |page= [https://books.google.com/books?id=m3Yy9FDcT8gC&pg=PA351 351] |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=m3Yy9FDcT8gC |year= 2008 |publisher= Oxford University Press |isbn= 978-0-19-923666-4}}</ref> "Old Carmel"/Chermala, modern day's Khirbet al-Karmil, therefore had a successively biblical (Jewish)–Roman (pagan)–Christian history.<ref name=Negev84/> Negev interprets two different dedicatory inscriptions from the synagogue of "new Carmel"/Karmelos/Kh. Susiya as indicating that those Jews who had remained in "old Carmel" used to come for Sabbath and holidays to pray in "new Carmel", which lay within the Sabbath limit of the old village.<ref name=Negev84/> "New Carmel" prospered tremendously based on its trade in wine and oil with the Romans (this including the Christian Byzantine period), but after the Muslim conquest of the Levant and the withdrawal of their main customers, lost their source of income, in part due to the Muslim prohibition of consuming alcohol.<ref name=Negev84/> The Jewish population eventually left, the name Carmel of the newer site was forgotten and eventually replaced with the Arabic Khirbet Susiya, "Ruin of the Liquorice Plant", after a common species growing there.<ref name=Negev84/><ref name=OConnor/>
Ceramics from the Byzantine era have been found here.<ref>Dauphin, 1998, p. 969</ref>
===Crusader/Ayyubid period=== "Carmel", today's Khirbat al-Karmil, was mentioned in Crusader sources in 1172/3,<ref>Guérin, 1869, p. [https://archive.org/stream/descriptiongogr06gugoog#page/n183/mode/1up 170]</ref><ref name=SWP>Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp03conduoft#page/372/mode/1up 372]</ref> as the place King Amalric of Jerusalem assembled his army, next to a large ancient water reservoir.<ref name=Pringle61>Pringle, 1997, p. 61]</ref> The Crusader's Carmel Castle was first mentioned in 1175 and was destroyed in 1187.<ref name=Ellenblum>Ellenblum, 2007, pp. 108, 254, 309</ref> In the 1920s, a Crusader tower built over the narthex of one of the Byzantine churches was seen with part of its first (upper) floor still standing, with arrow-slits on two sides; in the 1980s Pringle only found the barrel-vaulted basement with remains of the ground floor.<ref name=Pringle61/> French medievalist Paul Deschamps interpreted in the 1930s the role of the castle as built "to guard the road leading to Edom", i.e. to Oultrejordain.<ref name=Ellenblum/> Emmanuel Guillaume-Rey, who visited Syria (including Palestine) between 1857 and 1864, saw a similarity between a type of medieval tower placed in France at strategic spots along mountain roads, and Crusader counterparts in Syria, and regarded the Carmel castle as a different variation to this theme.<ref name=GRey/>
Guillaume-Rey noticed the remains of a very large square structure with four round corner turrets, which he believed must have been a caravanserai, next to and therefore protected by the castle.<ref name=GRey>Rey, 1871, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/etudesurlesmonum00reye#page/102/mode/1up 102]-104, with a description and good plan of the Crusader castle.</ref>
Le Strange quotes Yaqut al-Hamawi, who described "Kirmil" in the 1220s as "a village in the further limits of the Hebron territory, in the Province of Filastin.<ref name="Le Strange"/>
===19th-century explorers=== Several Western explorers visiting the site in 1938 (Edward Robinson), around 1860 (E. Guillaume-Rey), 1863 (Victor Guérin) and 1874 (Conder and Kitchener) are only describing extensive ancient ruins, including the remains of at least two churches; the large (117 x 74 ft) and "fine reservoir of masonry", connected by a rock-cut tunnel to a cave spring, which in October 1874 was filled with water; and the remains of the Crusader castle.<ref>Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 2, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearc00smitgoog#page/n218/mode/1up 196]-197</ref><ref name=GRey/><ref>Guérin, 1869, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/descriptiongogr06gugoog#page/n179/mode/1up 166]-170</ref><ref name="archive.org"/>
===Jordanian period=== During the Jordanian era (1948–1967), the census of 1961 found 146 inhabitants in al-Karmil.<ref>Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. [http://users.cecs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/yabber/census/JordanCensusPages/JordanCensus1961-p23.pdf 23]</ref>
===1967 and aftermath=== In 1967, in a census conducted by Israel after it occupied the West Bank in the Six-Day War, the village was reported to have 76 residents in 17 households.<ref name="Census1967">{{cite web |author= Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, 2011–2012 |editor= Joel Perlmann, Project Director |title= The 1967 Census of the West Bank and Gaza Strip: A Digitized Version |publisher= Levy Economics Institute of Bard College |volume= 1 |at= [http://www.levyinstitute.org/pubs/1967_census/vol_1_tab_2.pdf Table 2] |url= http://www.levyinstitute.org/palestinian-census/ |access-date=18 September 2015}}</ref> Under the Oslo Accords, most of this town was assigned to Area A, with political control and security responsibilities assigned to the Palestinian National Authority.<ref>B'Tselem Interactive Map https://www.btselem.org/map</ref>
The site contains an ancient reservoir, Birkat Al-Karmel, which has been transformed into a major recreation area, with a swimming pool. Gideon Levy writes: <blockquote>The terraces, decorative landscaping, Hebron stones, washrooms and a spring that gushes from the rock next to the pool – all make this one of the most spectacular outdoor sites in the West Bank.<ref name="GLevy" /></blockquote>
Twice, in 2015, settler tourists under IDF guard, made incursions into the park, after the army forced the local children out of the pool and allotted them to a corner while the settlers enjoyed the pool and the site.<ref name="GLevy" />
== Demography and economy == Presently, al-Karmil is inhabited by several families originating from Yatta, who sustain themselves through sheep herding, dryland farming, and orchards.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ben-Yosef |first=Sefi |title=The New Israel Guide: Shefela Foothills |publisher=Keter Publishing House |year=2001 |location=Jerusalem |pages=148 |language=he}}</ref> There are seven predominant families, including Abu 'Aram, Abu Tbakh, al-Dababsa, Haroush and Jabareen, among others.<ref>[http://vprofile.arij.org/hebron/pdfs/Al%20Karmil_pro.pdf Al-Karmil village profile], ARIJ, p, 7</ref> The Abu 'Aram family is part of the Makhamra clan.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Sar-Avi |first=Doron |date=2019 |title=מניין באו הערבים 'היהודים'? |url=https://segulamag.com/articles/%d7%9e%d7%a0%d7%99%d7%99%d7%9f-%d7%91%d7%90%d7%95-%d7%94%d7%a2%d7%a8%d7%91%d7%99%d7%9d-%d7%94%d7%99%d7%94%d7%95%d7%93%d7%99%d7%9d/ |access-date=2024-02-18 |website=Segula Magazine}}</ref>
==Footnotes== {{reflist|25em}}
==Bibliography== {{refbegin}} *{{cite book |last1= Conder |first1= C.R. |author-link1= Claude Reignier Conder |last2= Kitchener |first2= H.H. |author-link2= Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener |title= The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology |year=1883 |location= London |publisher=Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund |volume= 3 |url= https://archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp03conduoft}} *{{cite book | last= Dauphin |first = C.|author-link= Claudine Dauphin | title = La Palestine Byzantine, Peuplement et Populations | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=FC1mAAAAMAAJ | volume = III : Catalogue | series = BAR International Series 726 | year = 1998 | publisher = Archeopress | location = Oxford | language = fr | isbn = 0-860549-05-4 }} *{{cite book |last= Ellenblum |first= R.|author-link=Ronnie Ellenblum |title= Crusader Castles and Modern Histories |pages= 108, 254, 309 |publisher= Cambridge University Press |year= 2007 |isbn= 978-0-521-86083-3 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=oiYgyRyL97oC |access-date=1 October 2020}} *{{cite book |title= First Census of Population and Housing. Volume I: Final Tables; General Characteristics of the Population |author= Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics |year= 1964 |url= http://cs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/yabber/census/JordanCensus1961bits.pdf}} *{{cite book |last= Guérin |first= V. |author-link= Victor Guérin |title= Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine |url= https://archive.org/details/descriptiongogr06gugoog |volume= 1: Judee, pt. 3 |year= 1869 |publisher= L'Imprimerie Nationale |location= Paris |language= fr}} *{{cite book |last= Guillaume-Rey |first= E.|author-link= Emmanuel Guillaume-Rey|title= Étude sur les monuments de l'architecture militaire des croisés en Syrie et dans l'île de Chypre |url= https://archive.org/details/etudesurlesmonum00reye |year= 1871 |publisher=Imprimerie nationale |location= Paris |language= fr}} *{{cite book |last= Le Strange |first= G. |author-link= Guy Le Strange |title= Palestine Under the Moslems: A Description of Syria and the Holy Land from A.D. 650 to 1500 |pages= [https://archive.org/stream/palestineundermo00lestuoft#page/487/mode/1up 487]-8 |year= 1890 |publisher=Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund |url= https://archive.org/details/palestineundermo00lestuoft}} *{{cite book |last= Mader |first= Andreas Evaristus |title= Altchristliche Basiliken und Lokaltraditionen in Südjudäa. Archäologische und topographische Untersuchungen |url= https://archive.org/details/altchristlicheba00made |year= 1918 |publisher= F. Schöningh |location= Paderborn |language= de}} *{{cite book |last= Palmer |first= E.H. |author-link= Edward Henry Palmer |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 |year= 1881 |url= https://archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp00conduoft |publisher=Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund}} (p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp00conduoft#page/403/mode/1up 403]) *{{cite book | first=D.|last=Pringle|author-link=Denys Pringle |title= Secular buildings in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: an archaeological Gazetteer |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=-_NbE5obqRMC |year= 1997 |page= [https://books.google.com/books?id=-_NbE5obqRMC&pg=PA61 61] |isbn= 0521-46010-7 |publisher=Cambridge University Press}} *{{cite book |last1= Robinson |first1= E. |author-link1= Edward Robinson (scholar) |last2= Smith |first2= E. |author-link2= Eli Smith |title= Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838 |year= 1841 |url= https://archive.org/details/biblicalresearc00smitgoog |location= Boston |publisher=Crocker & Brewster |volume= 2}}
{{refend}}
==External links== *[http://www.palestineremembered.com/GeoPoints/Khirbat_al_Karmil_2118/index.html Welcome To Khirbat al-Karmil] *[http://vprofile.arij.org/hebron/pdfs/Al%20Karmil.pdf Al Karmil Village (Fact Sheet)], Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem, ARIJ *[http://vprofile.arij.org/hebron/pdfs/Al%20Karmil_pro.pdf Al Karmil Village Profile], ARIJ *[http://vprofile.arij.org/hebron/images/Al%20Karmil%20Areal%20Photo.jpg Al Karmil Village aerial photo], ARIJ *[http://vprofile.arij.org/hebron/pdfs/needsfordevelopment/Al%20Karmil_vp_en.pdf The priorities and needs for development in Al Karmil village based on the community and local authorities' assessment], ARIJ *Survey of Western Palestine, Map 21: [http://www.iaa-archives.org.il/zoom/zoom.aspx?folder_id=93&type_id=6&id=8383 IAA], [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Survey_of_Western_Palestine_1880.21.jpg Wikimedia commons] {{Hebron Governorate}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Karmil, al-}} Category:Villages in the West Bank Category:Hebron Governorate Category:Municipalities of Palestine