Dayr Aban | |
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Entrance to a house in Dayr Aban
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Arabic | دير آبان |
Name meaning | The Monastery of Aban |
Subdistrict | Jerusalem |
Coordinates | 31°44′35″N 35°00′38″E / 31.74306°N 35.01056°ECoordinates: 31°44′35″N 35°00′38″E / 31.74306°N 35.01056°E |
Palestine grid | 151/127 |
Population | 2100 (1945) |
Area | 22,734 dunams |
Date of depopulation | October 19–20, 1948 |
Cause(s) of depopulation | Military assault by Yishuv forces |
Current localities | Tzor'a,Machseya,Beyt Shemesh, and Yish'i |
Dayr Aban (also spelled Deir Aban; Arabic: دير آبان) was a Palestinian Arab village in the Jerusalem Subdistrict, located on the lower slope of a high ridge that formed the western slope of a mountain, to the east of Beit Shemesh. It was formerly bordered by olive trees to the north, east, and west. The valley, Wadi en-Najil, ran north and south on the west-side of the village. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War on October 19, 1948, under Operation Ha-Har. It was located 21 km west of Jerusalem.
In pre-Roman and Roman times the settlement was referred to as "Abenezer", and may have been the location of the biblical site Eben-Ezer.(1 Samuel 4:1-11).
In 1596, Dayr Aban appeared in Ottoman tax registers as being in the Nahiya of Quds of the Liwa of Quds. It had a population of 23 Muslim households and 23 Christian households; that is, an estimated 127 persons. They paid a fixed tax rate of 33,3% on agricultural products, such as wheat, barley, olives, and goats or beehives; a total of 9,700 Akçe.
Victor Guérin described it in 1863 as being a large village, and its adjacent valley "strewn with sesame." An Ottoman village list from about 1870 found that the village had a population of 443, in a total of 135 houses, though the population count included men, only.