Beit Kahil () is a Palestinian village in the Hebron Governorate in the southern West Bank, located seven kilometers northwest of Hebron. The village had a population of 8,880 in 2017.

History Victor Guérin noted that the place was apparently ancient, and suggested that Beit Kahil was to be identified with the Roman-period city known in Latin as Cela (), described by Eusebius in his Onomasticon, rather than with the Biblical Keilah (), which was already a ruin in Guérin's time.In the words of Guérin, 1869, pp. 342-343: "Je décrirai bientôt une autre localité, appellee Beit-Kahel, nom dans lequel on pourrait être tenté de reconnaître pareillement celui de Ke'ilah. Mais Beit-Kahel se trouve dans le district montagneux de Juda, et est, par conséquent, distinct de Ke'ilah, qui, bien que sur une colline, faisait néanmoins partie de la Chéphélah. [...] Quant au village de Κηλά, qu’Eusèbe place à dix-sept milles d’Éleuthéropolis, sur la route d’Hébron, et saint Jérôme à huit milles, il répond à l’emplacement de Beit-Kahel."Translation:"I shall soon describe another locality called Beit-Kahil, in which one might be tempted to recognize the name of Ke'ilah. But Beit-Kahil is in the mountainous district of Judah, and is therefore distinct from Ke'ilah, which, though on a hill, was nevertheless part of the shefelah (the lowlands).[...] As to the village of Κηλά, which Eusebius places at seventeen miles from Eleutheropolis (Beit Gubrin), on the road to Hebron, and St. Jerome at eight miles, it answers to the site of Beit-Kahil.”Guérin, 1869, pp. 350-351

Oral tradition suggests that Beit Kahil was founded after the 16th century.Grossman, D. "The expansion of the settlement frontier of Hebron's western and southern fringes". Geography Research Forum, 5, 1982, p. 62.

Ottoman era In the 16th century, Beit Kahil functioned as a mazra'a (farm). It became inhabited with people from Bayt Jibrin, likely as a result of local conflicts. Bedouin settlers, possibly from Jamrura, also took residence there. The establishment of a permanent village dates back to around the mid-19th century.Grossman, D. (1986). "Oscillations in the Rural Settlement of Samaria and Judaea in the Ottoman Period". in Shomron studies. Dar, S., Safrai, S., (eds). Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishing House. p. 367

Ben-Zvi wrote that the local inhabitants were originally Christians and converted to Islam around 150 years prior to his writing in the 1920s.

In the Ottoman census no. 289, (961 AH/1553-1554 CE) p. 209; Bayt Khalil was located in the nahiya of Halil, and noted as Mazra’a (cultivated) land.Toledano, 1984, pp. 303-304, has Bayt Khalil at location 35°03′45″E 31°34′15″N.

In 1863 Victor Guérin found that it had thirty houses, while an Ottoman village list from about 1870 counted 8 houses and a population of 22, though the population count included men only.Socin, 1879, p. 146Hartmann, 1883, p. 142

In 1883 the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Beit Kahel as “a small village on a ridge, built of stone, with a well to the south. Apparently an ancient place, with rock-cut tombs.”Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. 303

British Mandate era In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Beit Kahil had a population of 336 inhabitants, all Muslims,Barron, 1923, Table V, Sub-district of Hebron, p. 10 increasing in the 1931 census to 452, still entirely Muslim, in 90 inhabited houses.Mills, 1932, p. 28 In the latter census it was counted with Kh. Beit Kanun, Kh. Hawala and Kh. Tawas.

In the 1945 statistics the population of Beit Kahil was 570 Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 23 and the total land area was 5,795 dunams of land according to an official land and population survey.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 50 Of this, 1,359 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 1,785 were for cereals,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 93 while 26 dunams were built-up (urban) land.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 143

1948-1967 In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Beit Kahil came under Jordanian rule.

The Jordanian census of 1961 found 704 inhabitants in Beit Kahil.Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. 22

Post-1967 Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Beit Kahil has been under Israeli occupation. Since 1995, it has been governed by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) as part of Area B of the West Bank.

According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Beit Kahil had a population of approximately 6,526 inhabitants in 2007.2007 PCBS Census Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. p.118. The population is made up of several clans, including al-Attawna, al-Assafra, al-Zuhoor, al-Judi, Barham and al-Khateeb. The village's total land area is 5,795 dunams.Demolition Warnings for Palestinian Houses in Beit Kahil Village 1 June 2008.

Detention of residents In August, 2019, Israeli authorities detained two individuals from Beit Kahil who were accused in the murder of Dvir Sorek; a 19-year-old Israeli settler. In October the detainees were indicted, and in November the IDF demolished the homes of the families of the two detainees, alongside those of two others charged in connection with the murder, in Beit Kahil. The criminal case was resolved two and a half years later, in May 2022, when all four men, together with a fifth, were convicted by military court.

In September, 2019, the deputy mayor and his son in addition to two other people from Beit Kahil were detained in mass arrest over the West Bank., 2019/09/16, Wafa

References

Bibliography

External links

Welcome To Bayt Kahil Beit Kahil, Welcome to Palestine Survey of Western Palestine, Map 21: IAA, Wikimedia commons Beit Kahil Village (Fact Sheet), Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem (ARIJ) Beit Kahil Village Profile, ARIJ Beit Kahil Village Area Photo, ARIJ The priorities and needs for development in Beit Kahil village based on the community and local authorities’ assessment, ARIJ