Shilta

Shilta was a Palestinian Arab village in the Ramle Subdistrict of Mandatory Palestine. Sitting on a hill, It was probably settled in the 19th century.^[6] It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War on July 18, 1948, by the First Battalion of the Yiftach Brigade in the Operation Danny. It was located 15 km east of Ramla.

Shiltah شلتة
Village
Members of the Yiftach Brigade in Shiltah during Operation Danny. 1948
Etymology: Shilta, from personal name[1]
1870s map 1940s map modern map 1940s with modern overlay map A series of historical maps of the area around Shilta (click the buttons)
Shiltah Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 31°55′04″N 35°01′14″E
Palestine grid	152/147
Geopolitical entity	Mandatory Palestine
Subdistrict	Ramle
Date of depopulation	July 15–16, 1948[2]
Population  (1945)
• Total	100[3][4]
Cause(s) of depopulation	Military assault by Yishuv forces
Current Localities	Shilat[5] Kfar Ruth[5]

Etymology

The name is of Aramaic origins.^[7] During the Crusader era the place was called Kefrscilta or Capharscylta.^[5][8]

History

Persian to Mamluk periods

Shards from the Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine periods have been found here, and possible shards from the Umayyad, Abbasid and the Crusader periods.^[8] Shards from the Mamluk period have also been found, though Finkelstein label this find questionable.^[8]

Ottoman period

The village likely saw settlement during the 19th century, given its absence from the Early Ottoman defter.^[6]

In 1870, Victor Guérin visited and noted that the village was "reduced to a few houses, it succeeded an ancient locality, as is proved by several cisterns dug in the middle of a rocky platform flattened by the man's hand, and a number of stones scattered here and there or embedded in Muslim buildings."^[9]

An Ottoman village list from about the same year showed that Schi’ra had 13 houses and a population of 41, though the population count included men, only. It was noted that it was located east of Jimzu.^[10][11]

By the beginning of the 20th century, residents from Kharbatha Bani Harith settled the site, establishing it as a dependency – or satellite village – of their home village.^[12]

British Mandate

According to a census conducted in 1931 by the British Mandate authorities, Shilta had a population of 22 inhabitants, in 7 houses.^[13]

The village had a mosque at the north end of the village, and there was a shrine of Shayk Ahmad al Shiltawi near it.^[5]

In the 1945 statistics, the village had a population of 100 Muslims,^[3] with a total of 5,380 dunums of land.^[4] Of this, 27 dunams were used for plantations and irrigable land, 2,159 dunums were used for cereals,^[14] while 6 dunams were classified as built-up public areas.^[15]

• 
  Shilta 1944 1:20,000 from 1919 survey
• 
  Shilta 1945 1:250,000

1948 war; Israel

Shilta was depopulated after a military assault July 15–16, 1948.^[2]

Israel established Shilat and Kfar Ruth on village land in 1977.^[5]

In 1992, the village site was described: "The site is overgrown with mountain flora, including long grasses and pomegranate, almond, and carob trees. Some of the cactus hedges survive, and several wells also are visible. Israeli have built greenhouses for growing flowers, [] Israeli settlement houses have been built on village land."^[5]