Bashshit
Bashshayt (Arabic: بشيت), also Beshshayt, was a Palestinian Arab village in the Ramle Subdistrict, located 16.5 kilometers (10.3 mi) southwest of Ramla about half a mile from wadi Bashshit. Archaeological artifacts from the village attest to habitation in the Early Islamic period and 12th and 13th centuries. Mentioned by Arab geographers from the 13th century onward, there was a tomb for the Neby Shayt ("prophet Seth") in the village.
Bashshayt
بشيت Beshshayt, Beit Shayt | |
|---|---|
| Etymology: "House of Seth" | |
1870s map
1940s map
modern map
1940s with modern overlay map
A series of historical maps of the area around Bashshit (click the buttons) | |
Bashshayt Location within Mandatory Palestine | |
| Coordinates: 31°49′27″N 34°44′56″E | |
| Palestine grid | 126/136 |
| Geopolitical entity | Mandatory Palestine |
| Subdistrict | Ramle |
| Date of depopulation | May 13, 1948 |
| Area | |
| • Total | 18,553 dunams (18.6 km2 or 7.2 sq mi) |
| Population (1945) | |
| • Total | 1,620 |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Military assault by Yishuv forces |
| Current Localities | Neve Mivtah Meshar, Kfar Mordechai, Misgav Dov, Kannot, Shedema, and Aseret. |
Like much the rest of Palestine, Bashshayt was ruled by the Crusaders, Mamluks, Ottomans and the British. It was depopulated at the beginning of the 1948 Palestine war during Operation Barak. Along with the villages of Barqa, Bayt Daras, al-Batani al-Sharqi, and al-Maghar, among others, Bashshayt was attacked by Haganah's Givati Brigade. Following its depopulation, Bashshayt was mostly destroyed. There are seven Israeli localities now situated on what were the village lands.