Al-Qastal
Vanished settlement · Israel
- Abandoned
- unknown
- Founded
- —
- Population
- 90
- Coordinates
- 31.797, 35.144
Why it was abandoned
🏛️ Ancient ruins
Detected automatically from the text: Археологический памятник в Израиле
History
Al-Qastal was a Palestinian village located eight kilometers west of Jerusalem and named for a Crusader castle once standing on the hilltop. Used during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War as a military base by the Army of the Holy War, virtually all of its residents fled during the fighting and the village was eventually captured by the Palmach. It is currently the site of the Israeli Castel National Park, which commemorates the 1948 battles fought for the control of this strategic height.