Bashshit

Bashshayt
بشيت
Beshshayt, Beit Shayt
The tomb of Neby Shayt ("prophet Seth"). Its location is labeled "M" in the 1940s map below; it is currently in a park in the center of Aseret.
The tomb of Neby Shayt ("prophet Seth"). Its location is labeled "M" in the 1940s map below; it is currently in a park in the center of Aseret.
Etymology: "House of Seth"[1]
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Bashshit (click the buttons)
Bashshayt is located in Mandatory Palestine
Bashshayt
Bashshayt
Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 31°49′27″N 34°44′56″E / 31.82417°N 34.74889°E / 31.82417; 34.74889
Palestine grid126/136
Geopolitical entityMandatory Palestine
SubdistrictRamle
Date of depopulationMay 13, 1948[4]
Area
 • Total18,553 dunams (18.6 km2 or 7.2 sq mi)
Population
 (1945)
 • Total1,620[2][3]
Cause(s) of depopulationMilitary assault by Yishuv forces
Current LocalitiesNeve Mivtah[5] Meshar,[5] Kfar Mordechai,[5] Misgav Dov,[5] Kannot,[5] Shedema,[5] and Aseret.[5]

Bashshayt (Arabic: بشيت), also Beshshayt, was an Arab village in the Ramle Subdistrict, located 16.5 kilometers (10.3 mi) southwest of Ramla about half a mile from wadi Bashshit. Archaeological artifacts from the village attest to habitation in the Early Islamic period and 12th and 13th centuries. Mentioned by Arab geographers from the 13th century onward, there was a tomb for the Neby Shayt ("prophet Seth") in the village.

Like much the rest of Palestine, Bashshayt was ruled by the Crusaders, Mamluks, Ottomans and the British. It was depopulated at the beginning of the 1948 Palestine war during Operation Barak. Along with the villages of Barqa, Bayt Daras, al-Batani al-Sharqi, and al-Maghar, among others, Bashshayt was attacked by Haganah's Givati Brigade.[6] Following its depopulation, Bashshayt was mostly destroyed. There are seven Israeli localities now situated on what were the village lands.

  1. ^ Palmer, 1881, p. 266
  2. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 29
  3. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 66
  4. ^ Morris, 2004, p. xix, village #257. Also gives cause of depopulation
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Khalidi, 1992, p. 363
  6. ^ Khalidi, 1992, p.85