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Beit Lahia
Beit Lahia or Beit Lahiya (Arabic: بيت لاهيا) is a city in the Gaza Strip, north of Jabalia, in the North Gaza Governorate of the State of Palestine. It sits next to Beit Hanoun and close to the border with Israel. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the city had a population of 89,838 in 2017.
Beit Lahia is surrounded by dunes, some of which rise to 55 m (180 ft) above sea level. The area is renowned for its many large sycamore fig trees. The city is known for its fresh, sweet water,[clarification needed] berries and citrus trees. According to Edward Henry Palmer, "Lahia" was from "Lahi", a personal name.
Beit Lahia has an ancient hill and nearby lay abandoned village ruins. The town has been identified as the Bethelia and had originally a pagan temple.
According to the 5th century historian Sozomen, whose family had lived in the town for several generations, the townspeople started converting to Christianity due to the hermit Hilarion who is attributed to have healed miraculously a citizen called Alaphion. An eremitic center was founded around the year 360 in the village, housing around four anchorites who were disciples of Hilarion. Ceramics from the Byzantine period have been found.
A mihrab, or mosque alcove indicating the direction of salah (Muslim daily prayers), is all that remains of an ancient mosque to the west of Beit Lahia dating to the end of the Fatimid Caliphate and beginning of the Ayyubid dynasty of Saladin, and two other mosques dating to the Gaza Sanjak of the Ottoman era. Yaqut al-Hamawi (d. 1229) described "Bait Lihya" as being located "near Ghazzah", and he further noted that "it is a village with many fruit-trees".
A marble slab, deposited in the maqam of Salim Abu Musallam in Beit Lahia is inscribed in late Mamluk naskhi letters. It is an epitaph over four sons of the Governor of Gaza, Aqbay al-Ashrafi, who all died in the month of Rajab 897 AH (29 April–9 May 1492 CE). It is assumed that the children died of the plague, described by Mujir al-Din, which ravaged Palestine in 1491–1492.
In 1517, the village was incorporated into the Damascus Eyalet of the Ottoman Empire with the rest of Palestine, and in 1596, Beit Lahia appeared in Ottoman tax registers as being in the nahiyah (subdistrict) of the Gaza Sanjak. It had a population of 70 Muslim households and paid a fixed tax rate of 25% on various agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, vineyards, fruit trees, goats and/or beehives.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, the area of Beit Lahia experienced a significant process of settlement decline due to Bedouin pressures on local communities. The residents of abandoned villages moved to surviving settlements, but the land continued to be cultivated by neighboring villages.
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Beit Lahia
Beit Lahia or Beit Lahiya (Arabic: بيت لاهيا) is a city in the Gaza Strip, north of Jabalia, in the North Gaza Governorate of the State of Palestine. It sits next to Beit Hanoun and close to the border with Israel. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the city had a population of 89,838 in 2017.
Beit Lahia is surrounded by dunes, some of which rise to 55 m (180 ft) above sea level. The area is renowned for its many large sycamore fig trees. The city is known for its fresh, sweet water,[clarification needed] berries and citrus trees. According to Edward Henry Palmer, "Lahia" was from "Lahi", a personal name.
Beit Lahia has an ancient hill and nearby lay abandoned village ruins. The town has been identified as the Bethelia and had originally a pagan temple.
According to the 5th century historian Sozomen, whose family had lived in the town for several generations, the townspeople started converting to Christianity due to the hermit Hilarion who is attributed to have healed miraculously a citizen called Alaphion. An eremitic center was founded around the year 360 in the village, housing around four anchorites who were disciples of Hilarion. Ceramics from the Byzantine period have been found.
A mihrab, or mosque alcove indicating the direction of salah (Muslim daily prayers), is all that remains of an ancient mosque to the west of Beit Lahia dating to the end of the Fatimid Caliphate and beginning of the Ayyubid dynasty of Saladin, and two other mosques dating to the Gaza Sanjak of the Ottoman era. Yaqut al-Hamawi (d. 1229) described "Bait Lihya" as being located "near Ghazzah", and he further noted that "it is a village with many fruit-trees".
A marble slab, deposited in the maqam of Salim Abu Musallam in Beit Lahia is inscribed in late Mamluk naskhi letters. It is an epitaph over four sons of the Governor of Gaza, Aqbay al-Ashrafi, who all died in the month of Rajab 897 AH (29 April–9 May 1492 CE). It is assumed that the children died of the plague, described by Mujir al-Din, which ravaged Palestine in 1491–1492.
In 1517, the village was incorporated into the Damascus Eyalet of the Ottoman Empire with the rest of Palestine, and in 1596, Beit Lahia appeared in Ottoman tax registers as being in the nahiyah (subdistrict) of the Gaza Sanjak. It had a population of 70 Muslim households and paid a fixed tax rate of 25% on various agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, vineyards, fruit trees, goats and/or beehives.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, the area of Beit Lahia experienced a significant process of settlement decline due to Bedouin pressures on local communities. The residents of abandoned villages moved to surviving settlements, but the land continued to be cultivated by neighboring villages.