Deir al-'Asal al-Fauqa () is a Palestinian town located sixteen kilometers west of Hebron.The town is in the Hebron Governorate Southern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 1,859 in 2017.
Etymology According to Palmer, the name Deir el ’Asl means "the monastery of honey".Palmer, 1881, p. 392
History Ceramics from the Byzantine era have been found here.Dauphin, 1998, p. 963
Ottoman era In 1838, a Deir el-'Asl was noted as a place "in ruins or deserted," part of the area between the mountains and Gaza, but subject to the government of el-Khulil.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, p. 6Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. 117
In 1863 Victor Guérin noted "considerable ruins" at Khirbet Deir el-A'sal. There were ruined houses at each step he walked, and he found cisterns, silos and underground stores, dug into the rock, "probably dating back to ancient times".Guérin, 1869, pp. 346-347: "...nous avons a notre droite des ruines considérables, dont le nom est Khirbet Deir el-A'sal. Elle sont disséminées sur les flancs et sur plateau d'une petite montagne rocheuse. En les explorant, je heurte a chaque pas, au milieu de broussailles plus on moins épaisses, des vestiges d'habitations détruites. Des citernes, des silos et des magasins souterrains, creusés dans le roc, remontent vraisemblablement à une haute antiquité."
In 1883, the PEF's Survey of Palestine found here "foundations, and heaps of stones, caves, cisterns, and a ruined chapel, apparently Byzantine."Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. 328
British Mandate era At the time of the 1931 census of Palestine the population of the village, called Kh. Der el Asal el Gharbiya, was counted under Dura.Mills, 1932, p. 30
Jordanian era In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Deir al-'Asal al-Fauqa came under Jordanian rule.
In 1961, the population of Deir al-'Asal al-Fauqa was 282.Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. 22
1967, aftermath After the Six-Day War, Deir al-'Asal al-Fauqa has been under Israeli occupation.
In March 2013, Yusef a-Shawamreh, a 14-year-old from the village, who went with two others through the Israeli West Bank barrier near the village to pick Akub on part of his family's land west of the barrier, was shot to death by Israeli soldiers, stationed to prevent unauthorized passage through the barrier. According to an IDF investigation, a-Shawamreh and his partners made a hole in the fence before passing. After passing through the fence the soldiers called them to stop. When they tried to escape, the soldiers shot towards a-Shawamreh's leg but mistakenly hit his waist, causing his death. Therefore, the soldiers were not prosecuted. B'Tselem criticized this decision, claiming that a-Shawamreh was shot without warning, and that, in any event, the decision to put soldiers in ambush near the fence and shoot those who pass was illegal. Nothing short of a war crime Mar. 28, 2014 HaaretzThe bitter anniversary of Yusuf Shawamreh’s deathIsraeli forces kill Palestinian teen in southern West BankWhatsApp messages show Israeli soldiers knew they were about to kill a child, 21 June 2015, Patrick Strickland
Footnotes
Bibliography
(p. 110)
External links
Welcome to Dayr al-'Asal al-Fuqa Deir al 'Asal al Fauqa village (fact sheet), Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem (ARIJ) Deir al 'Asal al Fauqa village profile, ARIJ Deir al 'Asal al Fauqa Village aerial photo, ARIJ Survey of Western Palestine, Map 21: IAA, Wikimedia commons