Imwas

Captured by the Israeli Defense Forces during the Six-Day War on June 7, 1967 along with the neighbouring villages of Yalo and Bayt Nuba, Imwas was depopulated and then destroyed on the orders of Yitzhak Rabin. Reports of its destruction caused a minor controversy abroad. The residents of the three villages were offered compensation but were not allowed to return. Today the area of the former village lies within Canada Park, which was established by the Jewish National Fund in 1973.

Etymology

Reduced to a small market-town, its importance was recognized by the Emperor Vespasian who established a fortified camp there in 68 CE to house the fifth ("Macedonian") legion. Robinson writes that the town was rebuilt "by the exertions of the writer Julius Africanus." In the 4th century, the city served as an episcopal see. In the 5th century, a second tradition associated with Emmaus emerges in the writings of Sozomen, who mentions a fountain outside the city where Jesus and his disciples bathed their feet, thus imbuing it with curative powers.

In 639, a plague which began in Imwas and spread out from there, ended up killing some 20,000 people, including the commander-in-chief Abu Ubaydah, and his successor Yazid. The caliph Umar appointed Yazid's younger brother Mu'awiyah to the position of commander-in-chief in 640, and he served as the governor of Syria for 20 years before becoming the caliph himself. Studies on the impact of the plague note that it was responsible for a massive depopulation of the countryside, with the consequence that the new Arab rulers, particularly under the Umayyad caliphate which followed, were prompted to intervene more directly in the affairs of these areas than they had intended. Until as late as the 19th century, a well in the village was known locally as Bir at-Taun ("the plague well"), its name suggesting a derivation from these events. Hugeburc von Heidenheim, a nun who visited Palestine in the 8th century, mentions both the church and the fountain in Imwas in her work on The Life of St. Willibald. The Arab geographer al-Muqaddasi (c. 945-1000), recalls that Imwas had been the capital of its province, while noting, "that the population [was] removed therefrom to be nearer to the sea, and more in the plain, on account of the wells."

By 1009, the church in Imwas had been destroyed by Yaruk, the governor of Ramla, after the Fatamid caliph of Egypt, al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, ordered the destruction of Christian sites, affecting some 30,000 churches in the territory under his rule.

The identification of Biblical Emmaus with two villages in the 12th century has led to some confusion among modern historians when apprehending historical documents from this time. Generally-speaking however, Abu Ghosh was referred to by the Latin Biblical name for Emmaus, Castellum Emmaus, whereas Imwas was referred to simply as Emmaus. In 1141, Robert of Sinjil leased the "land of Emmaus", which included Imwas and six other villages, to Raymond of Le Puy, the master of the Hospitallers for 500 bezants a year. In February 1151 or 1152, the terms of the lease were modified and half of the tithes from the lands in question were accorded to the Hospitallers by the patriarch of Jerusalem, William. An 1186 reference to a "bailiff of Emmaus" named Bartholomew suggests that the Hospitallers had an established a commandery in Imwas.

Imwas was likely abandoned in 1187 and unlike the neighboring villages of Beit Nuba, Yalo, Yazur and Latrun, it is not mentioned in chronicles describing the Third Crusade of 1191-2, and it is unclear whether it was reoccupied by the Hospitallers between 1229 and 1244.

Edward Robinson visited Imwas during his mid-19th century travels in Syria and Palestine. He describes it as "a poor hamlet consisting of a few mean houses." He also mentions that there are two fountains of living water and that the one lying just beside the village must be that mentioned by Sozomen in the 5th century, Theophanes in the 6th, and by Willibald in the 8th. The ruins of the "ancient church" are described by Robinson as lying just south of the built-up area of the village at that time.

20th century

In 1961 the village had a population of 1,955 mostly Arab Muslims with a minority of 40 Arab Christians. The total land area of the village consisted of 5,167 dunums, of which 4218 dunums were cultivable. After petitioning the Israeli High Court, permission was granted. However, subsequently the signs have been stolen or vandalized.

See also

References

Bibliography

Category:Palestine Category:Arab villages depopulated after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War