Ancient
cisterns have been found here. In Arabic and Hebrew the site is now known as Beit Jimal – the monastery is sometimes referenced as
Beit Gemal or
Beit Jimal. The name of the site is said to be from its original name (in years past) as the
Jewish village of Kfar Gamla (), meaning "Village of the Camel" and removed at the orders of John, Bishop of Jerusalem, for depositing in the Church of Hagia Sion on
Mount Zion, at the site of today's
Abbey of the Dormition. Thanks to the excavations carried out by Andrzej Strus on site, it is now largely accepted that in Byzantine times this was considered to be the burial site of St Stephen, Gamaliel, Nicodemus and Gamaliel's son Abibos. In 2003, near a circular structure uncovered by Strus, was found a stone architrave or lintel with a
tabula ansata. The writing on it was eventually deciphered by Emile Puech, expert in ancient writing from the Ecole Biblique. The writing ran, , (
diakonikōn stephanou prōtomarturos) "
Diaconicon of Stephen the Protomartyr". A diaconicon of a
Byzantine church was one of the two spaces or
chapels flanking the sanctuary, which often housed holy
relics. This is therefore solid evidence for identifying Beit Jimal with the ancient Kfar Gamla, the traditional burial site of Saint Stephen. In 2017, extensive remains of a sixth-century Byzantine monastery were excavated; finds included a large mosaic featuring birds, foliage and pomegranates.
Ottoman Empire Beit Jimal, like the rest of
Palestine, was incorporated into the
Ottoman Empire in 1517, and in the
tax registers of 1596, it was a village in the
nahiya of Gaza,
Sanjak of Gaza, with a population of 37 households, all
Muslims. They paid a fixed tax-rate of 33.3% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, olive trees, goats and beehives, in addition to occasional revenues; a total of 3,500
akçe. In 1838,
Beit el-Jemal was noted as a Muslim village in the
Er-Ramleh area. It was further noted to be in "ruins".
Victor Guérin visited in 1863, and reported that the inhabitants suffered from fevers. An Ottoman village list of about 1870 showed that Bayt Jimal had a population of 21, with a total of 8 houses, though the population count included men, only. The
Palestine Exploration Fund's
Survey of Western Palestine described Beit Jimal in the 1870s as a small village. The land was purchased by the
Marquis of Bute, and given by him to Don Belloni for the construction of an Agricultural School, similar to the one established by him in Bethlehem. In 1899, there were about 30 orphans housed at the Beit Jimal Orphanage, along with nuns and brothers of the society.
British Mandate After the war's end, the
Ottoman Empire was partitioned and
Mandatory Palestine was accorded to the
United Kingdom by the
League of Nations. In a
census conducted in 1922 by the British Mandate authorities, Bait Jamal had a population of 59; 56 Christians and 3
Muslims, where the Christians were 29 Roman Catholics, 24
Melkites and 2
Maronites. By the
1931 census this had increased to 168; 78 Christians and 90 Muslims, in a total of 22 houses. In the
1945 statistics the population of Beit Jimal consisted of 240; 120 Muslims and 120 Christians and the land area was 4,878
dunams, according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 715 dunams were designated for plantations and irrigable land, 2,899 for cereals, while 1,264 dunams were classified as non-cultivable land.
Israel 20th century During the
1948 Arab–Israeli War, the village was occupied by Egyptian troops, before being evicted by the Har'el Brigade in
Operation Ha-Har. The large campus is in the possession of the Society of St Francis de Sales (Salesians of Don Bosco), who have a monastery. Besides this, there are two other monasteries, one for men (since 2000) and one for women (since 1987), belonging to the
Monastic Family of Bethlehem, of the Assumption of the Virgin and of Saint Bruno (or simply Monks and Sisters of Bethlehem). The nuns do not belong to
Salesian Sisters who left the place in 1985. These monks and nuns spend time in silence, prayer and work. Next to the Salesian house there is also a small and well-appointed church, called
St. Stephen, built in 1930 on the ruins of a 5th-century Byzantine church discovered on the site discovered in 1916, during works to enlarge the monastery garden. The mosaics on the external walls are those excavated from the Byzantine church. Tradition holds that St. Stephen was buried by Gamaliel in his own private tomb in Caphargamala. An alternative suggests that the cave site may have contained a
mikveh belonging to a wealthy Jewish family. The name Beit Jamal appears to preserve the toponym Kfar Gamala (Gamala Village), which in turn suggests a link to rabbi Gamaliel. In 2013, the monastery suffered from a
"price tag" attack, when the hallway of the monastery was firebombed and the slogans "price tag," "death to the Gentiles," and "revenge" were sprayed on its walls. The monastery was vandalized several times in subsequent years. == Meteorological station ==