On our way to Keshet Cave, we drove into Shlomi and found a bakery to stock up for our picnic. The bakery was north of the route 899 between Rosh Hanikra and Shlomi, in an industrial area, in which we noticed a few old stone buildings dotted incongruously amongst the shiny modern offices, factories and a regional college. They made for eerily beautiful yet sad photography. This was all that remained of the Arab town - one of the largest in the north before 1948 - of Al-Bassa'
Like so many of the towns in what was Palestine, Al-Bassa' was formerly a Jewish town. Betzet is renowned in historical records as being one of several places along the route to Tyre where produce transported from the Land of Israel was often sold in the local marketplaces, mentioned as such in the Tosefta (Shevi'it 4:8-ff.) and in the 3rd century Mosaic of Rehob. It was a Jewish settlement between 70 and 425 CE, although a tel to the south goes back into pre-history. Blown glass pitchers uncovered in a tomb in al-Bassa were dated to circa 396 CE and an ancient Christian burial place and 18 other archaeological sites were located in the village. The Survey of Western Palestine, sponsored by the Palestine Exploration Fund, identified al-Bassa as, "probably a Crusading village"; however, archaeological excavations uncovered evidence of an ecclesiastical farm in operation there between the 5th to 8th centuries, and pottery sherds indicate continuous inhabitation throughout the Middle Ages.
The site was used in 1189 CE as a Crusader encampment during a military campaign, and a document dated October 1200 recorded the sale of the village by King Amalric II of Jerusalem to the Teutonic Order. No Crusader era buildings have been found in al-Bassa, and a cross once dated to the Crusader period was later re-dated to the Byzantine era. A-Bassa was the first village listed as part of the domain of the Crusaders during the hudna between the Crusaders based in Acco and the Mamluk sultan al-Mansur (Qalawun) in 1283. In 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte described al-Bassa as a village of 600 Metawalis. A map by Pierre Jacotin from the time showed the place, named as El Basa. The European explorer Van de Velde visited "el-Bussa" in 1851, and stayed with the sheikh, Aisel Yusuf, writing that "The clean house of Sheck Yusuf is a welcome sight, and the verdant meadows around the village are truly refreshing to the eye". He further noted that "The inhabitants of Bussah are almost all members of the Greek Church. A few Musselmans live among them, and a few fellahs of a Bedouin tribe which wanders about in the neighborhood are frequently seen in the street." In 1863, the village was visited by Henry Baker Tristram who described it as a Christian village, where "olive oil, goats´hair, and tobacco, seemed to be principal produce of the district; the latter being exported in some quantities, by way of Acre, to Egypt. Bee-keeping, also, is not an unimportant item of industry, and every house possesses a pile of bee-hives in its yard."
The British census of September 1922 listed a population of 867 Christians, 150 Metawalis (Lebanese Shia) and 1 Jew. In 1938, a camp of Jewish laborers and police engaged in the construction of Tegart's wall - the barbed wire fence erected by British Mandatory authorities on the northern border in order to keep militants from infiltrating from Syria and Lebanon to join the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine - was located adjacent to the village, and it ultimately became the site of a Tegart fort. In 1938, during the Arab revolt , the village was the scene of a massacre committed by British soldiers in reprisal for the killing of four soldiers by a landmine set near the village.
By 1945 the village was home to a regional college. There were two mosques, two churches, three schools and 18 other shrines both holy to Muslims and Christians. Al-Bassa was the only Palestinian village in the Galilee with a Christian high school. One of the largest, most developed villages in the north of the country, Bassa was taken by the Hagana in Operation Ben-Ami, on May 14, 1948, and its residents pushed into Lebanon or resettled as Israeli citizens elsewhere. Al-Bassa was completely destroyed by the Israeli army with the exception of a few houses, a church, and a Muslim shrine – Maqam al-Khadr, a shrine considered holy by all Bassawis, Muslim as well as Christian – still standing today. This is what we had seen though were unable to access due to undergrowth, rubble and the occasional locked door and fence. You can see some of the structures below, most of which are in advanced states of disrepair, and it is unclear whether they are to be saved. The mosque, however, has been restored and fenced in and secure doors placed on it, though it is unclear by whom or to what end.
No doubt the history since 1948 is difficult, but if we believe, as Israelis, that we were justified in our actions at Al-Bassa then we should record that history, perhaps by restoring more of these structures and placing plaques near them explaining and interpreting them. The removal of the village whilst refraining from destroying certain structures - mainly religious ones - betrays an impression of official ambiguity from which we can only suffer as a young nation with a difficult birth. This is reflected in my efforts to research the site: the only online references I have found have been written from the angle of the victims. No doubt I can find official reports in the national library and archives of the IDF. But it would be both interesting, and useful, to be able to access such literature from the Israeli point of view online.
Hover your mouse over each picture in the slideshow below to see the caption.
