Isdud

The town stood on a sandy hill overlooking large areas to the east, north, and south and facing a high hill to the west. This hill contained the accumulated remains of several previous towns bearing the same name. Isdud was about 5 km from the seashore and was located on the coastal highway and next to the railway line. Its name was derived from an ancient town called Ashdod dating back to at least the 17th century B.C. According to the Bible (Joshua 13:1-3-47) it was one of the five major cities of the Philistines (the pentapolis). It should be distinguished from the harbor town which was known in ancient times as Azots Paralios (or Minat al-Qal’a [114131]), meaning located “by the sea”. This town was separated from Isdud by a 5- km-wide band of sand dunes. Following the destruction of the town by the Maccabees in the 2nd century B.C., it was rebuilt less than a century later as a Roman city. Its name at that time was Azots. During the Byzantine period, the port town became more important than the mother town itself.

In the vicinity of Isdud, there were nine areas of ruins containing a wide variety of antiquities, including pottery remains, a mosaic floor, cisterns, and an ancient olive press. Archaeological excavations reveal that the site was almost continuously inhabited from the 17^th century BC until 1948. Evidence shows that the area witnessed the greatest prosperity between the 14^th and 13^th centuries BC.

In the seventh century A.D., “Isdud” came under Islamic rule. The Persian geographer Ibn Khordadhabh (d. 912) referred to it as “Azdoud” and said it was one of the postal stations between Ramla and Gaza. It was said that the Mamluk Sultan Qaytbay passed through the village in the year 1477 on his way to Damascus.

In 1596, the Gazan village of Isdud was reported to have a population of 413. It paid taxes on a number of crops, including wheat, barley, sesame, and fruit, in addition to other sources of income, such as goats and beehives. The Egyptian traveler and mystic Mustafa Asaad Al-Luqimi wrote in 1730 that he visited Isdud after his departure from Gaza.

In the late 19^th century, the village of Isdud extended parallel to the eastern curve of a low hill covered with orchards. The khan, or guest house, (ruined at that time) was located to the southeast of the village.  [Its single-story brick houses included a courtyard surrounded by a brick wall. The two main water sources for the village were a stone well and a pond, which were surrounded by palm and fig groves. Some years before World War I, Baedeker estimated Isdud’s population at 5,000.

The majority of the residents of Isdud were Muslim. In the early 20^th century (or late 19^th century), the village had two mosques and three shrines honoring historical and religious Islamic figures. Its residents mistakenly believed that one of these shrines was that of the great companion, Salman al-Farsi. His shrine was actually inside a mosque built during the reign of the Mamluk Sultan Al-Zahir Baybars (1259 – 1277); thus, it isn’t clear who the first shrine was honoring.  The third shrine is that of Ahmad Abu al-Iqbal.

There were two primary schools in Isdud: one for boys built in 1922 and one for girls built in 1942. In the mid-1940’s, 371 boys and 74 girls attended school. The town also had a municipal council.

Agriculture was the mainstay of the village’s economy. Its major crops were fruit, especially citrus, grapes, and figs. Grains, especially wheat, were also cultivated. In 1944/45, a total of 1,921 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards. Farmers relied on both seasonal and well water for irrigation. The wells’ depths ranged from 15 – 35 meters. The residents were also engaged in trade: the village contained some stores, and a weekly Wednesday market attracted residents from neighboring villages.

The foreign press didn’t report the news of the arrival of the Egyptian units to Isdud, which was located on the front lines between the Egyptian and Israeli forces. It (The New York Times, Life Magazine, and The Independent) had been providing coverage of the events in Palestine, but failed to report that Egyptian army units had come to the defense of the Gaza District. During the implementation of the Barak Operation by the Israeli forces (see Al-Batani Al-Gharbi, Gaza District), the supply line between Al-Majdal and Isdud was cut off for a short period. However, the Egyptians succeeded in removing those forces and restoring their supply lines.

Israeli military operations orders called for attacks on Al-Majdal, Isdud, and Yibna, to encourage the evacuation of civilians from small residential areas in the region. A three-pronged attack was launched on June 2-3, and resulted in the fleeing of thousands of residents, according to Israeli historian Benny Morris. His report, published in the New York Times, reported the “bloodiest fighting” in the south occurred on June 3 around Isdud. Another Israeli attack was launched a few days later, June 9-10, in the same area. The next day, the first truce took effect. Throughout this truce, Abdel Nasser was stationed in Isdud, where he monitored Israeli military activity. In between the two truces (the second in October, 1948), Israeli commando units launched renewed attacks on the Isdud area, as mentioned in a video article published by the New York Times. On the June 16, Israeli forces reached the Egyptian lines in Isdud.

It wasn’t until the end of the second armistice of the war, in October 1948, that the town of Isdud was occupied. It was bombed by sea and air at the beginning of Operation Yoav (see Berber, Gaza District), then fell into the hands of the Israelis. The early stages of Operation Yoav were interconnected with phases of Operation Hahar, which the Givati Brigade carried out in the north. Even before the arrival of Israeli forces, many residents escaped to the hills surrounding Hebron. The brigade stormed some of the villages in the Hebron District, while other forces were simultaneously carrying out Operation Yoav.

The New York Times reported that on October 18, Israeli army bombers flew, mostly unobstructed, toward their targets for three consecutive nights. These targets included Isdud. Threatened with siege and isolation, the Egyptian troops withdrew to the south along the coastal road. On October 22-23, many villages fell into the hands of the Israelis, and the refugee numbers further increased. Most of the remaining civilian population fled with the Egyptian columns before October 28. Benny Morris stated that, although the 300 residents remaining in the town raised white flags, they were “immediately expelled toward the south”. An Israeli military report however claimed that on the day of the occupation of Isdud, Israeli forces had entered the town at the request of a delegation of local Arab residents. [M;220-23; NYT:19/10/48, 29/10/48; T:304-5]

At the end of Operations Hahar and Yoav in late October, 1948, the areas of these operations were merged, and Israeli forces were able to penetrate the Egyptian lines on October 23, 1948.