Abirim Colony

Abirim, also known as Mitzpe Abirim, is a settlement in the northern part of the occupied Palestinian territories. It is located in the Upper Galilee, about 3 kilometers from Ma'alot-Tarshiha, and is situated in the midst of a natural oak forest. The settlement was established in 1980, and was initially named “Idar” before being renamed “Abirim” after the nearby ruins of Burj Misr (“The Egyptian Tower” in Arabic), which were later renamed Khirbet Metsad Abirim (Hebrew: “Ruins of the Fortress of the Knights”) in 1957. The age and original purpose of the ruins remain uncertain, with hypotheses ranging from a Crusader outpost to a Hellenistic-era tomb (4th–3rd centuries BCE). Abirim is located on land that formerly belonged to the Palestinian villages of Deir al-Qasi and al-Mansura, both of which were depopulated during the Nakba and the 1948 war. As of 2021, the settlement had a population of 296 settlers.   Sources:Due to the scarcity of Arabic sources, Hebrew sources were used: the Hebrew-language settlement website / Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics.Villages of Deir al-Qasi and al-Mansura – Palestine Remembered