Salbit

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title: "Salbit" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["arab-villages-depopulated-during-the-1948-arab–israeli-war", "ancient-samaritan-settlements"] topic_path: "geography/israel" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salbit" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox settlement"]

FieldValue
nameSalbit
native_nameسلبيت
native_name_langar
other_nameSelebi, Shaalvim, Shaalbim, Shaalabbin
imagesize250
etymologyfrom personal name
pushpin_mapMandatory Palestine
pushpin_mapsize200
coordinates
grid_namePalestine grid
grid_position148/141
subdivision_typeGeopolitical entity
subdivision_nameMandatory Palestine
subdivision_type1Subdistrict
subdivision_name1Ramle
established_title1Date of depopulation
established_date115–16 July 1948
established_title2Repopulated dates
unit_prefdunam
area_total_dunam6,111
population_as_of1945
population_total510
blank_name_sec1Cause(s) of depopulation
blank_info_sec1Military assault by Yishuv forces
blank3_name_sec1Current Localities
blank3_info_sec1Shaalvim
::

| name = Salbit | native_name = سلبيت | native_name_lang = ar | other_name = Selebi, Shaalvim, Shaalbim, Shaalabbin | settlement_type = | imagesize = 250 | etymology = from personal name | pushpin_map = Mandatory Palestine | pushpin_map_caption = Location within Mandatory Palestine | image_map = | map_caption = A series of historical maps of the area around Salbit (click the buttons) | pushpin_mapsize = 200 | coordinates = | grid_name = Palestine grid | grid_position = 148/141 | subdivision_type = Geopolitical entity | subdivision_name = Mandatory Palestine | subdivision_type1 = Subdistrict | subdivision_name1 = Ramle | established_title1 = Date of depopulation | established_date1 = 15–16 July 1948 | established_title2 = Repopulated dates | unit_pref = dunam | area_total_dunam = 6,111 | population_as_of = 1945 | population_total = 510 | blank_name_sec1 = Cause(s) of depopulation | blank_info_sec1 = Military assault by Yishuv forces | blank3_name_sec1 = Current Localities | blank3_info_sec1 = Shaalvim Salbit (, also spelled Selbît) was a Palestinian Arab village located 12 km southeast of al-Ramla. Salbit was depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War after a military assault by Israeli forces. The Israeli locality of Shaalvim was established on the former village's lands in 1951.

History

Hebrew Bible

In 1883 the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine identified Salbit with Shaalabbin (Biblical Hebrew: Šʽlbyn/*Šʽlbyt), which was located 5 km northwest of biblical Aijalon (modern day Yalo).

Roman and Byzantine periods

Jerome (347–420) describes it as part of the territory of the Dan, transcribing its name at that time as Selebi, a form also used by Josephus (37-c. 100).

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/PikiWiki_Israel_15001_Samaritan_synagogue_mosaic_in_Shaalbim.JPG" caption="Samaritan inscription reading "The Lord will reign for ever and ever" ([https://en.parks.org.il/ParksAndReserves/GoodSamaritanInn/Pages/default.aspx Good Samaritan Museum])"] ::

In 1949, archaeologists excavated the remains of a Samaritan synagogue there that was dated to the late 4th or early 5th century. Measuring 15.4 × 8 metres, its mosaic floor contains one Greek inscriptions and two in Samaritan (language and script).

Ottoman period

Salbit was not mentioned in 16th century records. It was an **azba'' of Biddu and nearby villages (including Beit Duqqu and Beit 'Anan).

In 1838, it was noted as Selbit, a Muslim village in the Ibn Humar area in the District of Er-Ramleh.

In 1883 the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Selbit: "Foundations and caves. The ruins are extensive. A square building stands in the middle. There is a ruined reservoir lined with cement, and walls of rubble."

The village is believed to have been resettled in the late 19th century. By the beginning of the 20th century, it was inhabited by residents from Biddu settled the site, establishing it as a dependency – or satellite village – of their home village.

British Mandate

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Selbit had a population of 296, all Muslims, increasing in the 1931 census, when it was counted together with Bayt Shanna, to 406, still all Muslims, in a total of 71 houses.

The houses in Salbit were made of adobe and stone and were grouped around the village center where the mosque, suq and elementary school was located. The school, built in 1947, had 47 students. The villagers made their living by agriculture and the raising of livestock. The village's drinking water came from a local well.

In the 1945 statistics, the population was 510, all Muslims, while 31 dunams were classified as built-up public areas.

File:Salbit 1942.jpg|Salbit 1942 1:20,000 File:Kharruba 1942.jpg|Salbit 1945 Scale 1:250,000 File:Lydda and Ramla area - 9 July 1948.PNG|Depopulated villages in the Ramle Subdistrict

1948 war and aftermath

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Salbit.jpg" caption="Salbit being destroyed by Harel Brigade sappers. 1948"] ::

During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War and the 1948 Palestinian expulsion from Lydda and Ramle, some of those forcibly expelled were bussed to Latrun on the front lines and from there ordered to walk northward to Salbit. brought hundreds of refugee families to Salbit where they took shelter in a fig grove and were given water and rest for the night before trucks from the Arab Legion began moving some of the families to a Palestinian refugee camp in Ramallah.

Salbit itself was depopulated after a military assault by Israeli forces on 15–16 July 1948. The village structures of Salbit were subsequently completely destroyed, and according to Walid Khalidi, all that remains of the village today are "some cactus plants and shrubs." The estimated number of Palestinian refugees from Salbit as of 1998 was 3,633.

The kibbutz of Shaalvim, named per the site's biblical place name, was established on the former village lands on 13 August 1951 by a Nahal group from the ESRA movement.

References

Bibliography

References

  1. Taylor, 1993, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=KWAXbCNxH6YC&pg=PA68 68]
  2. Smith, 1857, p. [https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofgree02smit/page/972/mode/1up 972]
  3. Palmer, 1881, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp00conduoft#page/326/mode/1up 326]
  4. Morris, 2004, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PR19 xix] village No. 239. Also gives cause of depopulation.
  5. Department of Statistics, 1945, p. [http://cs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/yabber/census/VSpages/VS1945_p30.jpg 30]
  6. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20I/al-Ramla/Page-068.jpg 68]
  7. Khalidi, 1992, p. 410
  8. Eric. F. Mason. (31 December 2000). "Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible". Amsterdam University Press.
  9. "Salbit". Palestine Remembered.
  10. Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp03conduoft#page/52/mode/1up 53]-54
  11. Cooke, 1918, p. [https://archive.org/stream/bookofjoshuarevi00cookuoft#page/n224/mode/1up 185]
  12. Marom, Roy. (2023). "Early-Ottoman Palestinian Toponymy: A Linguistic Analysis of the (Micro-)Toponyms in Haseki Sultan’s Endowment Deed (1552)". Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins.
  13. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/n37/mode/1up 20].
  14. Stemburger and Tuschling, 2000, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=BXuxAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA228 228]
  15. In the centre of the mosaic is a mountain which is thought to be a depiction of [[Mount Gerizim]], the holiest site in [[Samaritanism]]. Rectangular in shape, the synagogue was longitudinally aligned more or less towards Mount Gerizim.Pringle, 1998, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=2Y0tA0xLzwEC&pg=PA114 114]
  16. Dauphin, 1998, p. 842
  17. 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. 376
  18. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/120/mode/1up 120]
  19. Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp03conduoft#page/157/mode/1up 157]
  20. Marom, Roy. (2022). "Lydda Sub-District: Lydda and its countryside during the Ottoman period". Diospolis – City of God: Journal of the History, Archaeology and Heritage of Lod.
  21. Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Jerusalem, p. [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n17/mode/1up 15]
  22. Mills, 1932, p. [https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas 43]
  23. dunums]] of land were used for cereals, 16 dunums were plantations or irrigated land,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20II/al-Ramla/Page-117.jpg 117].
  24. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20III/al-Ramla/Page-167.jpg 167]
  25. The Lydda death march, as it also became known as,[[Saleh Abd al-Jawad]] (2007). "Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War". In [[Eyal Benvenisti]]; Chaim Gans; Sari Hanafi (eds.). Israel and the Palestinian Refugees. Springer. pp. 70–71. {{ISBN. 978-3540681601.
  26. Sandy Tolan. (20 July 2008). "Palestinian Nakba in al-Ramla". Palestine Media Center (Original from [[Al Jazeera English]]).
  27. After its depopulation, Israeli forces headed by [[Yigal Allon]] used it as a base from which to launch an attack on the strategic hill of [[Latrun]] on 18 July, which was spurned by the forces of the [[Arab Legion]] who managed to hold on to the site without inflicting any casualties on the Israeli forces.Tal, 2004, p. 324.

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arab-villages-depopulated-during-the-1948-arab–israeli-warancient-samaritan-settlements