A short drive is long on forgotten buildings from Ottoman-era Palestine.
By SETH J. FRANTZMANSabil Abu Nabbut(photo credit: SETH J. FRANTZMAN)
Anyone driving down Route 431 toward Rishon Lezion would find it hard to miss the strange old buildings that loom over the highway near the exit to Be’er Ya’acov. They are a reminder that this land is dotted with many sites that have failed to gain fame, because they are not archeological treasures, but of recent origin.Allenby Farm is one such place. If you take the exit into Be’er Ya’acov, a series of right turns will take you back over the highway. Before entering Kibbutz Netzer Sereni – named for Enzo Sereni, a member of the Jewish Brigade and a paratrooper who died in Dachau in 1944 at the hands of the Nazis – you will see the entrance to Allenby Farm on the left.Today, the overgrown area of Allenby Farm is used for events, such as weddings.But visitors can wander around the semi-abandoned buildings. The signs boast that the place was built in 1912, but it dates from an earlier period: Johann Ludwig Schneller, founder and director of the Syrian Orphanage in Jerusalem, first came upon this spot in the 1870s.Schneller sought to acquire 560 hectares and build an agricultural estate and school. It took years of work, but the acquisition was finally resolved after the German Kaiser Wilhelm II visited Palestine in 1898. He established a farm at the place known as Bir Salem.In 1906, Syrian orphans were brought there and housed in the buildings one sees next to the school, which looks like a church. One can see the long row of palm trees and the ruined gates. The school was completed in 1912 – the date now given for the place’s founding.At the same time, Zionist leader Meir Dizengoff helped established the Jewish settlement of Be’er Ya’acov nearby. In those days, there was some coexistence between the industrious Germans and the Jewish Zionist immigrants, who were both trying to develop the industry and agriculture of Palestine under Ottoman rule.With the outbreak of World War I, the Ottomans established a military camp next to Bir Salem. They were allied with the German government, and the ample water supply and solid buildings that Schneller had constructed served the Turkish army well. However, by Christmas 1917, British general Edmund Allenby had conquered Jerusalem.In January 1918, he moved his headquarters to the school building.From that point on, the farm was connected with his name.The site continued under British and German patronage up until 1939 and the outbreak of World War II, when the last Germans there were interned along with other German citizens in Palestine. The Royal Engineers and other British military used the site until the War of Independence broke out in 1948. During the war, the 476 Arab tenant farmers who lived in barracks on the site were forced to flee; after the war, as part of a reparations agreement governing Templer property, Bir Salem’s assets were transferred to the kibbutz.What is interesting about Bir Salem is how it shows the transition from Ottoman to Israeli rule, and the impact of other groups on the landscape.The way it has been left in ruins, with houses falling apart, roofs in a state of collapse and the school building closed up, shows the unfortunate neglect of the past by the present authorities.People frown on the German and British connection. One can’t even find any British or German markings, so dutifully have they been removed (unlike at Schneller’s orphanage in Jerusalem, where one can see the old names on the buildings).THE NEXT stop on our tour takes us down Route 431 as it merges with Route 20 heading to Tel Aviv. If you take the exit onto Route 44 toward Ramle, you can see a small statue of a man meeting two other men on horseback on the right. The old gate here to Mikve Israel is closed, but pulling over, one can see the palm-tree-lined road that was obviously the old entrance to a beautiful estate.Founded in 1870 by Karl Netter of the French Jewish Alliance Israélite Universelle, Mikve Israel was supposed to be an agricultural school to help Jews learn to farm and return to the land.The Ottomans gave the Jewish organization 750 acres. Baron Edmond James de Rothschild contributed to the upkeep of the school, and a wine cellar was built in 1883. This was part of the network of Rothschild settlements that were constructed at the time.One can see the old gate and stone structures from the road. A statue of Theodor Herzl commemorates his meeting with the German kaiser in October of 1898 at this location. David Ben-Gurion extolled the importance of Mikve Israel, claiming that without this little community, the State of Israel might not have been born.As with Bir Salem and Allenby Farm, we see here a fascinating intersection of history and the importance of agriculture.The Jews here faced the same issue Schneller did in obtaining permission to own the land, and both struggled to establish an agricultural presence.Both are also interwoven with the kaiser’s visit. And as with the Allenby site, this area is neglected and overgrown.For those who want to take an organized tour inside Mikve Israel, there is an alternative entrance.A short drive toward Ramle reveals another site of interest. The Sha’arei Zion Synagogue is mostly obscured by a white wall from the highway, but one can enter Azor and take a right turn to reach it. Also known as the “synagogue of the nine domes,” this is actually the old tomb, or makam, of the Imam Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad.Why was Ali buried here? It isn’t clear. There were other shrines in Ottoman Palestine devoted to this imam.He is revered particularly in Shi’ite Islam.But his presence and tradition stretched to Palestine, even though the country here was predominantly Sunni.The structure dates from before the 16th century. The last time there was significant Shi’ite influence in the area was during the Fatimid rule in the 11th century. Although it’s unlikely that the building was constructed that long ago, it may reflect that older tradition.Visitors can walk around the ninedomed structure today. The synagogue seems to be closed often, but perhaps one can find a way in. Whatever Islamic- era inscriptions were on the building are now hidden behind new paint jobs and several sheds erected around the shrine. The villagers who once lived at this site were in constant struggle with the Jewish residents of Mikve Israel in the 19th century.IF YOU take a right turn out of Azor back onto Route 44 toward Tel Aviv, the road soon turns into Ben-Zvi Road, named after the country’s second president.Just after Herzl Street on the right is a small park called the Abu Nabbut Garden. It is named for Muhammad Abu Nabbut, who was governor of Jaffa from 1807 to 1818. A protégé of famous Galilee ruler Ahmed Jazzar, Nabbut was a originally a Mameluke, a slave. He embarked on a major building program around Jaffa, renovating the Great Mosque and building two major fountains in the area, one of which is in the Abu Nabbut Garden.The purpose of this beautiful fountain, or sabil, on Ben-Zvi Road was to aid travelers taking this well-worn route to Jerusalem. This road stretched, as it does now, toward Ramle, where a traveler might rest and then move on toward Bab al-Wad (today Sha’ar Hagai), which has a Turkish fort and a khan, or travelers’ inn (near the gas station on Route 1). So the traveler coming from Jaffa would have passed this fountain before reaching Mikve Israel and Ali’s shrine in Azor.The beautiful fountain is of an architectural heritage that recalls Gaudi. Most travelers in the 19th century marveled at it, and there are many well-known prints and photos of it from the period. It is not the only sabil like this; there is another beautiful one in the Jaffa Flea Market, and another 5 km. north of Yavne on Route 4. A sign on this fountain says it was built in 1820, but the consensus is that it was built before that. Either way, there is a nice park nearby for a picnic. The sabil is a true reminder of the Ottoman past.Chronologically it might make more sense to take this tour in the opposite direction, beginning with the fountain and discussing the Ottomans, then seeing the nascent Jewish agricultural settlement, the shrine and Allenby Farm. Regardless, it is important to see that these remnants of the 19th and early 20th century are alive today, and that even if they are abandoned and neglected, they are an essential piece of history.
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