Ain Ebel

Prehistory

Lower Paleolithic implements found in Ain Ebel attest to the region being inhabited in prehistoric times.^[9] A Heavy Neolithic site of the Qaraoun culture was discovered by Henri Fleisch west of Ain Ebel in the Wadi Koura, with tools suggesting use by forest dwellers at the start of the Neolithic Revolution.^[10] A wide range of blades, scrapers, discs, and other tools was unearthed in Wadi Yaroun, the riverbed southeast of the village, and later preserved at Saint Joseph University (now the Museum of Lebanese Prehistory).^[10] The region stretching from north of Ain Ebel at Chalaaboun to Khallet el Hamra, the ravine or wadi, which joins the larger Wadi Yaroun^[10][11] is rich in flint instruments, and the whole surrounding region as far as Jish contains megalithic ruins, perhaps pre-Canaanite.^[12]

Ancient history

In the Babylonian Talmud, Ain Ebel is referred to as 'En Bol, a village northwest of Safed, in a rabbinic discussion of the practice of baby girls undergoing ritual immersion prior to the immersion of the mother.^[13]

Historian John T. Durward argues that Ain Ebel, located west of Kedesh of Naphtali (an ancient town documented in Judges 4:6, 10), is probably the biblical town of Abel Beth Ma'acah, and was the spiritual retreat of the clergy from Tyre and Acre.^[14]

On the outskirts of the village is an area called Chalaboune where Ernest Renan, a French historian and philosopher who was sent by Emperor Napoleon III to Lebanon, found ancient graves.^[15] According to Renan, Ain-Ebel had beautiful underground passages and large buildings in colossal stones and admirable carved sarcophagi in two remarkable places, Douair and Chalaboune, which he believed was the Biblical town of Shaalabbin of the Tribe of Dan.^[16] On one of the graves, Renan discovered a bas-relief of Apollo and Artemis. The relief was transported to France where it remains today at the Louvre.^[17] In 2011 and after months of negotiation, the Musée du Louvre agreed to make an exact replica of the bas-relief, which was delivered to the municipality of Ain Ebel in November.^[18]

Early Christianity

In antiquity, the goddess Astarte was venerated by the region’s inhabitants; over time, this cult gradually gave way to that of the Virgin, who is today the village’s patron saint.^[1]

The village was strategically located on the route linking Tyre, Haifa, and Damascus, and very likely lay on the path of the apostles during their journeys of evangelization.^[1] It is also believed by some historians that the village lay along the route Jesus may have taken on his journey to Sidon.^[19] Local traditions, supported by some historians, suggest that after leaving Capernaum, Jesus Christ may have passed through Ain Ebel on his way to Cana and Tyre. This belief is reinforced by physical traces linked to these oral accounts, including a spring known as “Ain El Massih” (the Spring of Christ).^[20]

Middle Ages

In his book Salut Jérusalem: Les mémoires d’un chrétien de Tyr à l’époque des Croisades, the Lebanese historian Bechara Menassa notes that the inhabitants of Ain Ebel maintained contact with the Crusaders in Toron, modern Tebnine. Menassa described how a Frankish monk killed a wild animal in Ain Ebel, providing evidence that the village existed at least as early as the 12th century.^[21]

After the Mamluk conquest of Acre and the fall of nearby coastal cities, such as Tyre and Sidon, Christian presence in the Upper Galilee was largely eradicated.^[22] Mamluk policy aimed to prevent any future Crusader resurgence, resulting in the systematic destruction of many native Christian villages.^[23][24] Nevertheless, small and isolated Christian communities managed to persist in inland towns; however, since Toron was a Crusader stronghold, survival of nearby Christian communities was unlikely.^[25] Although it is unclear whether Ain Ebel survived the Mamluk conquest, evidence suggests that it has been continuously inhabited since at least the 16th century, when Christian communities from northern Lebanon migrated to the southern lowlands to cultivate feudal lands.^[26] The main migration period took place during the reign of Fakhr al-Din II, who, through alliances with the Maronites, is credited with unifying much of present-day Lebanon for the first time.^[27][4]

,^[28] later used as a template for the 1920 borders of Greater Lebanon.^[29]

Ottoman period

Under Ottoman rule in Jabal Amel, which lasted from 1516 to 1918,^[30] life for Christians in places like Ain Ebel, while shaped by their status as protected ‘dhimmi’ communities, was still harsh, marked by heavy taxation and periodic military repression, though they were less frequently subjected to the punitive campaigns that affected the neighboring Shia population.^[31]

Life during this period was marked by extreme poverty, civil unrest, and frequent plundering. As a result, the village was built with houses closely clustered together, since any dwelling set apart would invite pillage.^[32] Inhabitants often lived alongside their animals in homes consisting of a single large room with two levels: the higher level was reserved for people, while the lower level housed animals brought inside at night for protection.^[32] The inhabitants relied on well water and collected rainwater during this period, with their main crops including wheat, beans, and fruit.^[32]

In January 1837, Ain Ebel was hit by the Galilee earthquake, which devastated the South all the way to Safad and Tiberias.^[33]

By the mid-nineteenth century, Ain Ebel had become the principal village of Christianity in the Upper Galilee, and in 1861 it was chosen for the first religious retreat organized in the Holy Land where 55 priests from the archdioceses of Tyre and Acre gathered for a reunion.^[34]

Ain Ebel is mentioned in a Christian anthology, containing contributions from ministers and members of various evangelical denominations published in the United Kingdom in 1866:

Forwards we marched, with light spirits, through close woods, varied by occasional clearings, like what are called the 'rides' in old English forests; and sometimes we arrived at snug villages or prospects of such by the names of Teereh, Hhaneen and Ain Ibil, the latter at two hours from Tibneen. The people are Christians, and they cultivate silk and tobacco... A poor Maronite priest in his black robes and dark blue turban, came up to me, and, leaning on his staff, represented the sad story of his village (Ain Nebel) the day before, when of the subordinate officers of Tamar Bek, going round to inspect the Christians in their compulsory and unpaid labour at the lime-kilns, and finding the work of one of the men not equal to the task exacted, shot him dead on the spot.

In 1875 Victor Guérin visited, and noted 800 Maronite and 200 Greek Orthodox villagers.^[35]

In 1881, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Ain Ebel as a well-built, modern village with a Christian chapel, a population of about 1,000 Christians—comprising 800 Maronites and 200 Greek Catholics—with vineyards covering the slopes of the hill on which the village stood and olive trees growing in the valley below, adding that the village enjoyed a good water supply from springs in the valley.^[36]

P. Engbert writes that the inhabitants of Ain Ebel offered the Jesuits in 1888 a fairly large lot of land after almost all the inhabitants signed the petition which was presented to R. P. Lefebvre.^[37]

In 1889, the village suffered a poor harvest, and an epidemic swept through the population, lasting all winter and claiming more than fifty lives.^[38]

By the turn of the 20th century, the village had become a center for education, with Catholic missionaries such as Reverend Armand de Villeneuve S.J. establishing it as a base, serving not only the town but also neighboring Christian villages like Debel and Rmaish, as well as Kafr Bir'im, Jish, and Mi'ilya,^[32] with the latter three later either forcibly depopulated or brought under the control of Israel.^[39][40]

The first recorded presence of a medical facility in the village dates back to 1909, when Dr. Suleiman Effendi Hajj established Ain Ebel as his base of operations for five years, during which he helped the local population become more receptive to doctors, raised awareness about microbes, promoted health practices, emphasized infection prevention, and provided care for both the elderly and children.^[41]

French Mandate

World War I in southern Lebanon was marked by severe hardship under the Ottoman Empire, as famine, requisitions, and conscription caused widespread suffering and loss of life.^[42] With the end of the war and the collapse of four centuries of Ottoman rule,^[43] the people in Ain Ebel, like in other villages in the country, celebrated the arrival of the High Commissioner Gouraud to Lebanon by flying the flag of France and playing the French anthem.^[44]

During the French Mandate, the network of paved road expanded, coinciding with the introduction of automobiles in Lebanon. The arrival of the first car in a village became a celebratory event, and this was true in Ain Ebel, where the inhabitants, dressed in their Sunday best, gathered in the church square to welcome the first car to drive through the village.^[45] The French planned to build an automobile road to connect the southern villages with those of Mandatory Palestine. The original plan was to build the road from Bint Jbeil via Yaroun and Rmaich, but the people of Ain Ebel protested, knowing the significance of such a road for the development of their town, and in the end, they were able to convince the French government to change the plan and have the road run through the village.^[46]

Independence period

In October 1948, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Ain Ebel received Palestinian refugees, especially from the village of Eilabun via Meiron, who stayed in the church for three days before being relocated to the Mieh Mieh refugee camp.^[62] By late October and early November, refugees from the Palestinian village of Al-Mansura also sought refuge in Ain Ebel and Rmaish.^[63]

In 1958, while carrying out a security mission in Arsal, First Lieutenant Benoît Barakat of the Lebanese Army, one of the sons of Ain Ebel, was killed after his armored vehicle fell into an ambush set for him and the patrol members by local gangs in that area.^[64] An army barracks in the coastal city of Tyre bears his name,^[65] as does a street in Beirut’s Badaro district.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the village was often caught in the skirmishes between the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Israel Defense Force.^[66] The PLO imposed a food and fuel blockade on Christian villages, such as Ain Ebel and Qlaiaa, forcing the inhabitants to deal with Israel.^[67] Christian militia arrived in Ain Ebel and neighboring Christian villages in August 1976^[68] to open a new line of confrontation against the PLO strongholds in neighboring villages.

Ain-Ebel native, Monsignor Albert Khreish was abducted from his home on 24 April 1988.^[69] A week later on 1 May 1988, Monsignor Albert Khreish, who was head of the Maronite Spiritual Affairs Court, and nephew of Cardinal Anthony Peter Khoraish, was found dead in the pine forest outside of Ghazir.^[70] Khreish, who was shot 30 times, was an authority on international law and had served on the Maronite religious tribunal and lectured at the Government-run Lebanese University.^[71] His death was believed to be politically motivated, but the case was unsolved.^[72]

Agriculture

Agriculture in the region depends heavily on rainfall and is primarily rain-fed.^[121] The main agricultural products are olives, almonds, chestnuts, pecans, figs, pomegranates, apples, and grapes.^[122]

Climate

The village has a Mediterranean climate ^[123] and enjoys four seasons with autumn and spring being mild but rainy, winter being cold and sometimes snowy and summer being dry and very pleasant with average temperatures between 25–27 Â°C (77–81 Â°F).^[124] Although the elevation is relatively modest compared to other regions of Lebanon, the climate is not notably warm, as winds blow from multiple directions throughout the year.^[32]

Geology

Deposits of bitumen, a black mixture of hydrocarbons obtained naturally, is found in Ain Ebel.^[127][128] Flint is also found; it was excavated and used to build tools by ancient dwellers of the region.^[12]

Natural Vegetation

Natural vegetation includes evergreen oaks and typical Mediterranean shrubland, such as anagyris foetida.^[129]

After the war in 2006, Ain Ebel was included in a field survey conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Association for Forest Development and Conservation (AFDC), which documented several forest fire sites in southern Lebanon. The fires were attributed to causes including direct bombing, the ignition of fires by fallen flares, and deliberate acts of land burning.^[130]

In January 2023, perennial oak trees were illegally cut down in the western woods of the town, and while the culprit, a resident of Ayta ash Shab, was arrested, he was believed to be close to Hezbollah and was eventually released by a decision from the Nabatieh Public Prosecutor.^[131]

In the 2023 Lebanon-Israel border conflict, the Israeli army conducted airstrikes on the forest areas between Ain Ebel and Bint Jbeil.^[132] Additionally, Israel's use of white phosphorus and other incendiary weapons burned tens of thousands of olive trees and other crops in the border area.^[133]

Archeology

Approximately ten wine presses, dating to the Romano-Byzantine period, are located in Ain Ebel and its surroundings, primarily on the western side of the village adjacent to the hiking trail.^[139]

Architecture

There are three historic churches, built in the eighteenth and nineteenth century, and a convent that was built in 1857.^[140]

Chapels

• Chapel of the Sacred Heart
• Saint Mary's Chapel

The chapel was built in the 1930’s, replacing a structure from the 17th century.^[139]

Churches

• Our Lady of Ain Ebel Maronite Catholic Church

The building of the church was begun in 1864 but its construction was interrupted by the Ottomans, who viewed its construction as a potential military fort; work resumed in 1882 and was completed the same year, with later additions including the tile roof, marble paving, and a painting of the Virgin Mary nursing the infant Jesus, considered the only such representation in Lebanon, completed in 1906, and the marble altar installed in 1936.^[139]

• Saint Elie Greek Catholic Melkite Church

The church was built in 1866 for the Melkite Greek Catholic community.^[139]

• The New Saint Elie Greek Catholic Melkite Church

Convents

• Convent of the Sacred Heart

Shrines

• Saint Charbel Shrine
• Our Lady of Lourdes Monument
• Our Lady of Light Shrine,^[141]

A 200-foot tower outside the village, topped with a 45-foot statue of the Virgin Mary, offering visitors a viewing platform to gaze at the surrounding landscape^[93][142]

Festivals

Each summer, a grand festival is held in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary, culminating on the national holiday of the Assumption of Mary on August 15. The celebration begins with a solemn procession of the Virgin Mary icon, which starts in the village square, winds through the streets as participants carry candles and sing hymns, and returns to the square. There, the village comes alive with outdoor events and open-air concerts that continue late into the night.^[143]

Sports

Street basketball tournaments are often held as part of annual summer festivals that take place during the week leading up to the national holiday of the Assumption of Mary on August 15.^[144]