Abu Ghosh clan

The Abughoshes history originates during the Ottoman Empire.

The Abu Ghoshes (also written AbuGosh/ AbouGhawsh), known as “ancien seigneurs feodaux”, are an old wealthy landowning family, who ruled the Jerusalem mountains and controlled the pilgrimage route from the coast to Jerusalem during the Ottoman Empire.

Some historians are of the opinion that the AbuGhoshes came from East Europe. Others believe that the AbuGhoshes’ origins go back to the Crusaders who came to Jerusalem with Richard Coeur de Lion in the 12th century AD (probably because many of them have blond hair and blue eyes). Members of the family and some other historians hold the view that the AbuGhoshes came originally from the Arab Peninsula. They were four Emirs of Yemen, who were brothers, when they arrived to Egypt. From Egypt they came to Palestine with the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman at the beginning of the Ottoman Empire and were entrusted with the control of the pilgrimage route to the holy places of Jerusalem (see the Egyptian royal manuscripts).

The AbuGhoshes were settled in the sixteenth century AD on the mountains of Jerusalem, about 10 km west of the Jerusalem city, where they still reside now. There is no doubt that the AbuGhoshes became related to the Palestinian people who lived at the site at that time, through marriage, as well as with the descendants of the Crusaders, who are known to have lived in the same region at the same time. Archeological excavations have revealed that the site where the AbuGhoshes live is one of the most ancient inhabited sites in the southern Levant. This site used to be “Kiryat Ye'arim” a Hebrew name meaning "Town of Forests". Following the Arab Islamic conquest, the site was called “kiryat al-Inab”. This site took later,in the 18th century, the name of the family “kiryat AbuGhosh”. The site is now called “AbuGhosh”, a Muslim Palestinian small town near Jerusalem. The majority of its inhabitants today are the descendants of the old feudal family of the 16th century.

At the beginning of the Ottoman Empire Sultan Suleiman entrusted the AbuGhoshes with the control of the route from the coast to Jerusalem and granted them an official permission “farman” to impose a toll on all pilgrims and visitors entering Jerusalem. The churches of Jerusalem also paid a tax to the AbuGhoshes in a one off yearly payment for their visitors.

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Wikipedia