Governorate Hebron | ||
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Deir al-'Asal al-Fauqa (Arabic: دير العسل الفوقا) is a Palestinian town located sixteen kilometers west of Hebron.The town is in the Hebron Governorate Southern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of over 1,600 in 2007.
Contents
Map of Dayr al'Asal alFawqa
Etymology
According to Palmer, the name Deir el ’Asl means "the monastery of honey".
History
In 1883, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine found here "foundations, and heaps of stones, caves, cisterns, and a ruined chapel, apparently Byzantine."
In March 2013, Yusef a-Shawamreh, a 14-year-old from the village, who went with two others through the Israeli West Bank barrier near the village to pick Akub on part of his family’s land west of the barrier, was shot to death by Israeli soldiers, stationed to prevent unauthorized passage through the barrier. According to an IDF investigation, a-Shawamreh and his partners made a hole in the fence before passing. After passing through the fence the soldiers called them to stop. When they tried to escape, the soldiers shot towards a-Shawamreh's leg but mistakenly hit his waist, causing his death. Therefore, the soldiers were not prosecuted. B'Tselem criticized this decision, claiming that a-Shawamreh was shot without warning, and that, in any event, the decision to put soldiers in ambush near the fence and shoot those who pass was illegal.