Al-Ahmadiyah

Al-Ahmadiyah
Country	Syria
Governorate	Quneitra
District	Quneitra District
Region	Golan Heights

Al-Ahmadiyah (Template:Lang-ar, also spelled Ahmediye; also known as el-Hamediyeh or Ammudiya), is a former Syrian village in the central Golan Heights, 15 kilometers southeast of Lake Hula. It was populated during the Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights during the 1967 Six-Day War. The village spread over two low-lying hills surrounded by springs. The Israeli settlement of Qatzrin was established two kilometers to the south. Al-Ahmadiyah's previous inhabitants had predominantly been Turkomans.

History

The remains of two ancient synagogue have been discovered at al-Ahmadiyah, which is possibly the site of the ancient Roman Jewish settlement of Ecbatana. A number of artifacts indicate Jewish settlement in the village during the 4th-century CE, such as one containing a relief of nine-branched menorah. Sherds dating to the Islamic era, particularly the Umayyad and Abbasid periods, were also found in the village.

The first archaeological survey of al-Ahmadiyah was undertaken by Gottlieb Schumacher in 1884. He noted that the village, poorly built, was inhabited by some 70 Turkomans living in twelve hut-like houses. They cultivated various types of vegetables. It was situated at the bottom of a hill containing ruins known as Shuwaikah. The residents had utilized the stones of these ruins to build al-Ahmadiyah. The ruins dated to the Roman era, as indicated by the carved stone reliefs of Roman eagles and other animals. Another survey in 1968, this time by Israeli archaeologist S. Guttman, found more sherds from the Roman and Byzantine as well as items from the Hellenistic period. Guttman determined the size of the ancient settlement spanned 35 dunams.

Israel occupied al-Ahmadiyah and the Golan Heights after driving out the Syrian Army from the area during the Six-Day War in 1967. In 1968 it demolished the town as witnessed by United Nations military observers. A Syrian diplomatic representative issued a complaint about the village's destruction. During the Yom Kippur War, in October 1973, al-Ahmadiyah was one of three places where the Syrian Army launched major drives against as their forces moved across the Golan's mountainous plains. The other two places were Khishniyah and al-Rafid.

See also

• Syrian towns and villages depopulated in the Arab-Israeli conflict

Bibliography

• Applebaum, Shimon (1989). Judaea in Hellenistic and Roman times: historical and archaeological essays. BRILL Archive. ISBN 9004088210.
• Barker, A. J. (1980). Arab-Israeli Wars. Hippocrene Books. ISBN 9004088210.
• Ma'oz, Zvi Uri (2008). The Ghassānids and the fall of the Golan synagogues. Archaostyle.
• Schumacher, Gottlieb (1888). The Jaulân: Surveyed for the German Society for the Exploration of the Holy Land. Bentley and Son.
• Urman, Dan (1998). Ancient Synagogues: Historical Analysis and Archaeological Discovery. BRILL. ISBN 9004112545.