Qastina

The village was situated on an elevated and mostly flat area of the coastal plain along the main road between the city of al-Majdal to the southwest and the Jerusalem-Jaffa main road. The British military camp known as Bir Tuvia was located approximately 3 kilometers southwest of the village. In 1569, Qastina was a village in the Gaza Subdistrict (Gaza District) with a population of 385. The villagers paid taxes on various crops such as wheat, barley, sesame, and fruit, in addition to other sources of production and exploitation including goats, beehives, and vineyards. The Syrian Sufi traveler Mustafa al-Bakri al-Siddiqi, who visited the region in the mid-18th century, noted that he passed through Qastina while on his way to al-Masmiyya (see al-Masmiyya al-Kabira, Gaza District) (as recorded by Khalidi).

Occupation and Ethnic Cleansing of the Village

By the late 19th century, the village of Qastina was spread over flat land along a northwest-southeast axis. Its buildings were made of brick, and the village contained wells and orchards. There was a mosque and a primary school established in 1936, which it shared with the neighboring village of Tal al-Turmus, located to the southeast. By the mid-1940s, the school enrollment was 161 students. The inhabitants were Muslim and relied on wells for domestic water. Agriculture was the backbone of the village economy, with grains and citrus fruits being the primary crops. In 1944–1945, a total of 235 dunams were irrigated or used for orchards. In addition, residents raised livestock and poultry and worked in the British military camp.

Qastina was occupied on July 9, 1948, shortly after the end of the first truce, by the Givati Brigade as it advanced southwards toward Egyptian-controlled territories. During the ten-day period from July 8 to 18, the brigade succeeded in capturing an area encompassing at least sixteen villages, all of whose residents were displaced. It is likely that the inhabitants of Qastina, like those of nearby al-Masmiyya, were expelled southwards toward Gaza rather than eastwards toward the Hebron area. The operational orders issued by brigade commander Shimon Avidan mandated the expulsion of civilians; however, according to a later Israeli military report, the local population fled almost immediately upon the start of the operation. The “Dalet” Plan included Qastina among the villages targeted for occupation by the Givati Brigade.

The Village Today

Only scattered rubble remains of the houses throughout the site. Researcher Fery, who studies the current status of depopulated villages, visited the location and found it covered in wild grasses and tall weeds reaching up to two meters in height. The plant known as “khubiza,” a wild edible plant commonly cooked and consumed by Palestinian farmers, was widespread. When the photographer returned to the site later, the khubiza had been burned. Other site features remain unchanged; an unpaved road still runs through the middle of the site, which is covered by eucalyptus trees.

Zionist Settlements on Village Lands

In 1939, Jewish refugees from Germany, Central Europe, and Eastern Europe established the Kfar Warburg settlement on lands traditionally belonging to the village, located about 3 kilometers southwest of the village site. One year after the destruction of Qastina, in 1949, the Zionists established the settlements of ‘Arogot and Kfar Ahim. Additionally, the settlements of Avigdor (1950) and Kiryat Malakhi (1951) were founded on village lands. Kiryat Malakhi was named after the biblical Book of Malachi and in honor of the Los Angeles Malachim community—“Malachim” meaning “angels” in Hebrew—which supported Israel