Bayt Thul
Introduction '''Bayt Thul''' was a Palestinian  village in the Jerusalem Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on April 1, 1948, under Operation Nachshon. It was located 15.5 km west of Jerusalem.
Name In 1874, Clermont-Ganneau noted the similarity between the name "Beit Thul" and the Bethulia mentioned in the Book of Judith. He added that according to local fellahin, the town was previously recognized by Christians as Qal'at Fertin, signifying "the fortress of Fertin". It was named after a Christian or pagan king who once ruled the area and held dominion over the entire vicinity before meeting his demise in a catastrophic "deluge" emanating from the ''Tannur'' of Abu Shusheh, submerging the entire region.
History ===Ottoman era===Bayt Thul, like the rest of  Palestine, was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517, and in the census of 1538–1539,   Bayt Tul was  noted in the ''Nahiya'' of Quds of the ''Liwa'' of Quds. In the 1596 census, the village  had a population was 7 households, all Muslim. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 33,3% on various agricultural products, such as   wheat, barley, olive trees, in addition to "occasional revenues"; a total of  1,860  akçe.In 1838,  it was noted as a   Muslim village in the district of ''Beni Malik'', west of Jerusalem.Capital, which   Clermont-Ganneau noted  in Beit Thul in the 1870sIn the early 1870s   Clermont-Ganneau found the village inhabited, and a "hearty welcome was accorded to us." He further noted that the "village contains two welys, one the sanctuary of ''Sheikh Injeim'', the other that of ''Bedriyeh''. In front of the ''wely'' of ''Bedriyeh'', I noticed the remains of a small aqueduct of masonry and two large shafts of ancient columns." According to local tradition, ''Bedriyeh'' was the sister of ''Sheikh Injeim''.He found remains there which led him to conclude that an important Christian building of the Byzantine  period  once existed there.In 1883, the PEF's ''Survey of Western Palestine'' noted "Foundations and a Mukam. "===British Mandate era===In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted  by the British Mandate authorities,  there were 133 villagers, all Muslims,  increasing  in the  1931 census  to 182 inhabitants, in 43 inhabited houses.In the  1945 statistics, the village had a population of 260 Muslims, with  a total of  4,629  dunums of land. Of this, 55 dunams  were for  irrigable land or plantations, 787  for cereals,  while 13 dunams were built-up, urban,  land.File:Yalu 1943.jpg|Bayt Thul 1943 1:20,000 (right of centre)File:Yalu 1945.jpg|Bayt Thul 1945 1:250,000===1948, aftermath===In late October, 1948, the Beit Horon Battalion  started the destruction of Bayt Thul.File:BaytThulDec162022 03.jpg|Bayt Thul remains on the Western hillFile:BaytThulDec162022 01.jpg|Bayt Thul remains on the Eastern hillWhen the writers of an oral Palestinian history collection returned with a villager to Bayt Thul, they recorded how she, Umm 'Ali, began to collect herbs and plants. “She continued picking the leaves until what she had clutched to her chest sprouted  from her like a large bush. That was Umm 'Ali, or maybe thats what we remember: A tree of wild herbs and greens moving with amazing grace over the stones of the destroyed villages, assuring, comforting, and reminding us of our descendants who are awaiting us.“
References
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External links * Welcome To Bayt Thul*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 17:   IAA, Wikimedia commons * Bayt Thul, Zochrot* Bayt Thul, from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center