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Founding
Founding of Ashkelon
city in Israel
- 950 BCE – 1948 CE
- Middle East
Founding
city in Israel
Fetching the article from Wikipedia…
Ashkelon ( ASH-kə-lon; Hebrew: אשקלון, romanized: ʾAšqəlōn, IPA: [ʔaʃkeˈlon] ⓘ; Arabic: عسقلان, romanized: ʿAsqalān) or Ashqelon, is a coastal city in the Southern District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, 50 kilometres (30 mi) south of Tel Aviv, and 13 kilometres (8 mi) north of the border with the Gaza Strip. The modern city is named after the ancient seaport of Ascalon, which was destroyed in 1270 and whose remains are on the southwestern edge of the modern metropolis.
The Israeli city, first known as Migdal (Hebrew: מגדל), was founded in 1949 approximately 4 km inland from ancient Ascalon at the Palestinian town of al-Majdal (Arabic: الْمِجْدَل, romanized: al-Mijdal). Its inhabitants had been exclusively Muslims and Christians, and the area had been allocated to the Arab State in the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine; on the eve of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War the inhabitants numbered 10,000 and in October 1948, the city accommodated thousands more Palestinian refugees from nearby villages.
The town was conquered by Israeli forces on 5 November 1948, by which time much of the Arab population had fled, leaving some 2700 inhabitants, of whom Israeli soldiers deported 500 in December 1948, and most of the rest were deported by 1950. Today, the city's population is almost entirely Israeli Jews.
Migdal, as it was called in Hebrew, was initially repopulated by Jewish immigrants and demobilized soldiers. It was subsequently renamed multiple times, first as Migdal Gaza, Migdal Gad and Migdal Ashkelon, until in 1953, the coastal neighbourhood of Afridar was incorporated, and the name Ashkelon was adopted for the combined town. By 1961, Ashkelon was ranked 18th among Israeli urban centers with a population of 24,000. In 2024 the population of Ashkelon was 166,864, making it the third-largest city in Israel's Southern District.
The name Ashkelon is probably Western Semitic, and might be connected to the triliteral root š-q-l 'to weigh', from a Semitic root ṯ-q-l, akin to Hebrew šāqal (שָקַל) or Arabic ṯiql (ثِقْل), 'weight', perhaps attesting to its importance as a center for trade. It appears in late Old Egyptian in the execration texts in a form that suggests the earliest pronunciation was ʾaθqalānu, which shifts to ʾaθqalōnu in Middle Egyptian, demonstrating the Canaanite shift in the 2nd millennium BCE.
Its name appeared in Phoenician and Punic as šqln (𐤔𐤒𐤋𐤍) and ʾšqln (𐤀𐤔𐤒𐤋𐤍). Majdal (Arabic) and Migdal (Hebrew) mean 'tower'.
The archaeological site of Ascalon, today known as Tel Ashkelon, was the oldest and largest seaport in Canaan, part of Philistia, the pentapolis (a grouping of five cities) of the Philistines, north of Gaza City and south of Jaffa.
The site was an important city during Roman, Byzantine and pre-Crusades Muslim rule, and particularly during the period of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, due to its location near the coast and between the Crusader states and Egypt. The Battle of Ascalon was the last action of the First Crusade. In 1270, the Mamluk sultan Baybars ordered the fortifications and harbour of Ascalon to be destroyed. Its inhabitants moved to Majdal 'Asqalān, which was established by Baybars as a substitute 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) inland, and endowed with a magnificent congregational mosque, a marketplace and religious shrines.
Established by Baybars following the destruction of Ascalon in the 13th century, the Arab town of Majdal 'Asqalan is mentioned by historians and tourists at the end of the 15th century. In 1596, Ottoman records showed Majdal to be a large village of 559 Muslim households, making it the 7th-most-populous locality in Palestine after Safad, Jerusalem, Gaza, Nablus, Hebron and Kafr Kanna. Al-Majdal derived part of its prosperity from its location along on the Cairo-Damascus road.
An official Ottoman village list of about 1870 showed that Medschdel had a total of 420 houses and a population of 1175, though the population count included men only.
In the 1922 census of Palestine, Majdal had a population of 5,064; 33 Christians and 5,031 Muslims, increasing in the 1931 census to 6,226 (6,166 Muslims and 41 Christians) with 172 in the suburbs (167 Muslims, 4 Christians, and one Jew).
In the 1945 statistics Majdal had a population of 9,910; ninety Christians and 9,820 Muslims, with a total (urban and rural) of 43,680 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey. 2,050 dunams were public land; all the rest was owned by Arabs. of the dunams, 2,337 were used for citrus and bananas, 2,886 were plantations and irrigable land, 35,442 for cereals, while 1,346 were built-up land.
During the Late Ottoman and Mandatory periods, al-Majdal developed into the primary textile and weaving center of the Gaza District. While cotton production elsewhere in Palestine declined in the 19th century, weavers in al-Majdal maintained their industry by importing raw thread from Egypt, India, and Europe, operating hundreds of manual looms (nūl). By the 1940s, approximately 2,000 looms operated in the town—frequently installed directly within private residential rooms—producing distinctively striped coarse fabrics used for traditional ‘abaya coats and southern regional dresses.
Majdal was known for the majdalawi weaving industry. During the Late Ottoman and Mandatory periods, al-Majdal developed into the primary textile and weaving center of the Gaza District. While cotton production elsewhere in Palestine declined in the 19th century, weavers in al-Majdal maintained their industry by importing raw thread from Egypt, India, and Europe, operating hundreds of manual looms (nūl).The town had around 500 looms in 1909. In 1920 a British Government report estimated that there were 550 cotton looms in the town with an annual output worth 30–40 million francs. By the 1940s, approximately 2,000 looms operated in the town—frequently installed directly within private residential rooms—producing distinctively striped coarse fabrics used for traditional ‘abaya coats and southern regional dresses. The three major fabrics produced were "malak" (silk), 'ikhdari' (bands of red and green) and 'jiljileh' (dark red bands). These were used for festival dresses throughout Southern Palestine. Many other fabrics were produced, some with poetic names such as ji'nneh u nar ("heaven and hell"), nasheq rohoh ("breath of the soul") and abu mitayn ("father of two hundred").
In addition to agriculture, residents practiced animal husbandry which formed was an important source of income for the town. In 1943, they owned 354 heads of cattle, 168 sheep over a year old, 170 goats over a year old, 65 camels, 17 horses, 39 mules, 447 donkeys, 2966 fowls, and 808 pigeons.
Majdal was occupied by the Egyptian army in the early stages of the 1948 Palestine war, along with the rest of the Gaza region, which had been allocated to the Arab State in the United Nations plan. Over the next few months, the town was subjected to Israeli air raids and shelling. All but about 1,000 of the town's residents were forced to leave by the time it was captured by Israeli forces as a sequel to Operation Yoav on 4 November 1948. General Yigal Allon ordered the expulsion of the remaining Palestinians, but the local commanders did not do so. The Arab population soon recovered to more than 2500, due mostly to refugees slipping back and also due to the transfer of Palestinians from nearby villages. Most were elderly, women, or children. During the next year or so, the Palestinians were held in a confined area surrounded by barbed wire, which became commonly known as the "ghetto".
Moshe Dayan and Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion were in favor of expulsion, while Mapam and the Israeli labor union Histadrut objected. The government offered the Palestinians positive inducements to leave, including a favorable currency exchange, but also caused panic through night-time raids. The first group was deported to the Gaza Strip by truck on 17 August 1950 after an expulsion order had been served. Deportation was approved by Ben-Gurion and Dayan over the objections of Pinhas Lavon, secretary-general of the Histadrut, who envisioned the town as a productive example of equal opportunity. By October 1950, twenty Palestinian families remained, most of whom later moved to Lydda or Gaza.
In 1951, a trial took place concerning the killing of Arab civilians in al-Majdal in 1949. The case focused on soldiers from a company stationed there to prevent Arabs from returning to the town. The tribunal found that “the soldiers sometimes ran wild,” and that some believed they were free to treat Arabs, especially “infiltrators,” as they wished. Based on testimony the court deemed credible, the killing of Arabs was regarded as “legal” by some fighters, and the person who killed was perceived among his comrades as a “chaver-man” (a “buddy” figure). The trial also discussed an incident in which young Arabs infiltrated al-Majdal to visit their parents who had remained in the town; soldiers captured them and executed them. In an unusual development, the report states that because the parents remained inside Israel, they testified in court, including an account by the father describing his son’s return from Gaza and the discovery of his body with bullet wounds to the chest, head, and back, as well as signs of beating.
According to Israeli records, in total 2,333 Palestinians were transferred to the Gaza Strip, 60 to Jordan, 302 to other towns in Israel, and a small number remained in Ashkelon. Lavon argued that this operation dissipated "the last shred of trust the Arabs had in Israel, the sincerity of the State's declarations on democracy and civil equality, and the last remnant of confidence the Arab workers had in the Histadrut." Acting on an Egyptian complaint, the Egyptian-Israel Mixed Armistice Commission ruled that the Palestinians transferred from Majdal should be returned to Israel, but this was not done.
Majdal was granted to Israel in the 1949 Armistice Agreements. Re-population of the recently vacated Arab dwellings by Jews had been official policy since at least December 1948, but the process began slowly. The Israeli national plan of June 1949 designated al-Majdal as the site for a regional urban center of 20,000 people. From July 1949, new immigrants and demobilized soldiers moved to the new town, increasing the Jewish population to 2,500 within six months. These early immigrants were mostly from Yemen, North Africa, and Europe.
In 1949, the town was renamed Migdal Gaza, and then Migdal Gad. Soon after, it became Migdal Ashkelon. The city expanded as the population grew. In 1951, the neighborhood of Afridar was established for Jewish immigrants from South Africa, and in 1953 it was incorporated into the city. The current name Ashkelon was adopted and the town was granted local council status in 1953.
In 1955, Ashkelon had more than 16,000 residents. By 1961, Ashkelon ranked 18th among Israeli urban centers with a population of 24,000. This grew to 43,000 in 1972 and 53,000 in 1983. In 2005, the population exceeded 106,000.
In 1949 and 1950, three immigrant transit camps (ma'abarot) were established alongside Majdal (renamed Migdal) for Jewish refugees from Arab countries, Romania and Poland. Northwest of Migdal and the immigrant camps, on the lands of the depopulated Palestinian village of al-Jura, entrepreneur Zvi Segal, one of the signatories of Israel's Declaration of Independence, established the upscale Barnea neighborhood.
A large tract of land south of Barnea was handed over to the trusteeship of the South African Zionist Federation, which established the neighborhood of Afridar. Plans for the city were drawn up in South Africa according to the garden city model. Migdal was surrounded by a broad ring of orchards. Barnea developed slowly, but Afridar grew rapidly. The first homes, built in 1951, were occupied by new Jewish immigrants from South Africa and South America, as well as some native-born Israelis. The first public housing project for residents of the transit camps, the Southern Hills Project (Hageva'ot Hadromiyot), also known as Zion Hill (Givat Zion), was built in 1952.
The Sheikh Omar Hadid Brigade launched a series of attempted rocket attacks toward Ashkelon from the Gaza Strip in 2015. These included unsuccessful launches in June, August, September, and October, and one strike on September 18 that destroyed a bus and a residence but caused no reported casualties.
Under a plan signed in October 2015, seven new neighborhoods comprising 32,000 housing units, a new stretch of highway, and three new highway interchanges will be built, turning Ashkelon into the sixth-largest city in Israel.
The town’s historic architecture was built predominantly using local kurkar sandstone, with extensive secondary reuse (spolia) of marble columns and capitals taken from ancient Tel Ashkelon.
The ancient site of Ascalon is now administered as the Ashkelon National Park. The walls that encircled the city are still visible, as well as Canaanite earth ramparts. The park contains mainly Roman, Byzantine, and Crusader ruins. The largest dog cemetery in the ancient world was discovered in Ashkelon.
A Roman burial tomb two kilometres north of Ashkelon National Park was discovered in 1937. There are two burial tombs, a painted Hellenistic cave and a Roman cave. The Hellenistic cave is decorated with paintings of nymphs, water scenes, mythological figures and animals.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Ashkelon”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.