Majdel Selm
مجدل سلم
Village
Map showing the location of Majdal Selem within Lebanon
Map showing the location of Majdal Selem within Lebanon
Majdel Selm
Location within Lebanon
Coordinates: 33°13′18″N 35°27′52″E / 33.22167°N 35.46444°E / 33.22167; 35.46444
Grid position193/291 PAL
Country Lebanon
GovernorateNabatieh Governorate
DistrictMarjeyoun District
Area
[1]
 • Total12.05 km2 (4.65 sq mi)
Elevation
[1]
560 m (1,840 ft)
Time zoneUTC+2 (EET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+3 (EEST)
Dialing code+961

Majdel Selm (Arabic: مجدل سلم) is a village the Marjeyoun District in Southern Lebanon.

Name

According to E. H. Palmer, the name Mejdel Islim means Islim's watch-tower, p.n.[2]

Majdel Selm means Fortress of Peace, or Peace Fortress.

History

In 1596, it was named as a village, Majdal Salim, in the Ottoman nahiya (subdistrict) of Tibnin under the Liwa Safad, with a population of 51 households and 8 bachelors, all Muslim. The villagers paid a fixed tax-rate of 25 % on agricultural products, such as wheat, barley, olive trees, fruit trees, vegetable and fruit garden, orchard, goats, beehives, in addition to "occasional revenues" and a press for olive oil or grape syrup; a total of 9,110 akçe.[3][4]

In 1875, Victor Guérin found that the village had about 300 Metawileh inhabitants.[5] He further noted: "A mosque, now abandoned and falling into ruins, has succeeded here a Byzantine church, the materials of which have been used in building it. Over one of the windows is a stone (apparently once the lintel) with an old Greek inscription, the characters of which are too much defaced to be read. A monolithic column lies beside it, half buried in the ground, surmounted by a capital sculptured in form of open basket work."[6]

In 1881, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described it as a "large village, built of stone, of ancient appearance, containing about 500 [..] Metawileh [..]. Situated on table land, surrounded by olives and arable land. Water supply from a large masonry birket and many cisterns."[7] They further noted: "Village containing several good lintels and remains of ruins; an ancient road leads from the village to the Birkeh."[8]

On 15 February 1993, the village was attacked by Israeli helicopter gunships following an attack on SLA positions earlier in the day.[9] During the 1996 Israeli seventeen day bombardment of south Lebanon the Nepalese UNIFIL position in Majdel Selm was hit by eight shells and extensively damaged.[10]

On 5 December 1997, three civilians were killed by a roadside bomb. The bomb was believed to have been planted by an Israeli commando special unit. Including this event forty-three civilians had been killed in southern Lebanon in 1997.[11]

On 8 January 2024, Israeli forces assassinated Wissam al-Tawil, the deputy commander of Hezbollah's Redwan Force, during an airstrike against his vehicle in Majdel Selm.[12]

References

  1. 1 2 Majdel Selm, Localiban
  2. ↑ Palmer, 1881, p. 29
  3. ↑ Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 181
  4. ↑ Note that Rhode, 1979, p. 6 Archived 2016-10-10 at the Wayback Machine writes that the register that Hütteroth and Abdulfattah studied was not from 1595/6, but from 1548/9
  5. ↑ Guérin, 1880, p. 267
  6. ↑ Guérin, 1880, pp. 267-268; as given in Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, pp. 136
  7. ↑ Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 89
  8. ↑ Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 136
  9. ↑ Middle East International No 445, 5 March 1993, Publishers Lord Mayhew, Dennis Walters MP; February chronology p.15
  10. ↑ Middle East International No 532, 16 August 1996; Michael Jansen p.20
  11. ↑ Middle East International No 565, 19 December 1997; Michael Jansen pp.7&9
  12. ↑ "Israeli strike kills a Hezbollah commander in Lebanon". Reuters. 8 January 2024.

Bibliography

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