The Tzuba Spring and Belmont Fortress

* This post was written before Israel's current lockdown.

Our hike to the Tzuba Spring and Belmont Fortress started off at Kibbutz Palmach Tzuba, a kibbutz located in the Jerusalem Hills, on the western outskirts of Jerusalem. The kibbutz was founded in October 1948 by 75 Palmach veterans who fought in the area. (The Palmach was the elite fighting force of the Haganah, the underground army of the Jews during the British Mandate.) At the time of the founding of the kibbutz, Israel Defence Forces were still fighting in the Jerusalem corridors and therefore the kibbutz received its name, "Palmach Tzuba".
The Tzuba Spring, which is maintained by members of the kibbutz, was our first port of call and was a delightful place to stop for breakfast. We sat under a shaded structure with stone benches, close to the spring. There is flowing water in the spring even in the summer, (photo above), but the water is only deep enough to get your feet wet and anyway entry was prohibited, in all likelihood due to the coronavirus.

The Tzuba Spring is a tunnelled spring. An underground channel, lined by ashlars to keep out debris and mud that would dirty the water, and covered with a roof supported by arches, leads the water from the source of the spring to a rock-hewn pool, which was used to store and regulate the water. Railway sleepers that support the roof were placed there by the British in 1924. They began work on a new railway to replace one built by the Turks half a century earlier and used the old Turkish sleepers to repair springs located throughout the Jerusalem Hills.

Another nearby tunnel leads to a large indoor pool and near to it are two more open air pools, probably used in the past to produce clay material during the Second Temple period. They may also have served as a ritual bath for the Jewish community that existed there. The building of these structures probably happened over many years. Repairs were made during Second Temple times as well as during the British Mandate. Unfortunately entry into the tunnel is no longer permitted. 

After breakfast we continued along the marked trail and uphill towards Tel Tzuba. Most of the remains on the tel, or hill, today are from the Crusader period, where the fortress of Belmont was built. Belmont means "beautiful mountain". The fortress was one of a series of fortresses built along the road from Jaffa to Jerusalem, at relatively high points, not far from each other, in order to defend the main road. They also provided services to pilgrims visiting Jerusalem, functioning as hospitals, monasteries and hostels.

The Arab village of Suba, with a population of 620, existed on the hill until 1948. During the War of Independence the village was captured by the Palmach's Harel Brigade without a struggle, when the noise of an otherwise largely ineffective Davidka cannon encouraged the Arabs to flee. Suba may well have been in the same location as the Jewish village of "Tzovah" mentioned in the Book of Samuel, where one of David's soldiers lived (2 Samuel 23:36), 

The fortress of Belmont was originally built by a Crusader knight sometime before 1169, around the same time as the fortress at Latrun. It was purchased by the Crusader Hospitaller order in 1170 to guard the route to Jerusalem and completely rebuilt. In 1187 it was captured by the Ayyubid sultan Saladin and then destroyed by him in 1191, when he brought the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem to an end. However, much of the destruction we see today dates from 1834 when the Egyptian rulers of the area shelled rebellious villagers from nearby Abu Ghosh who had taken up positions on the hill.

Archaeological excavations in the 1980s helped establish the size and shape of the fortress. The external walls, forming a polygon that accommodated the hilltop topography, enclosed a more traditional rectangular structure with a courtyard. The structures made of larger, rougher-cut stones are from the Crusaders and those made of smaller, pebble-like stones held together by mortar come from the later Ottoman Period. Parts of a northern and western Crusader wall remain, as well as ruins of a tower and other structures. These include large underground cisterns, some pre-dating the Crusader period.

The ruins of Belmont cannot be explored, but you can walk around the fortress on a blue-marked trail from where there are wonderful views in all directions - including of Kibbutz Tzuba, the Arab village of Ein Nakuba and the Castel. You can also appreciate that the fortress has a commanding view over Road 1, the main highway connecting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and the former route of the Crusader road to Jerusalem. Near the end of the trail are a couple of vaulted chambers, above, with the trademark Crusader herringbone ceiling.

From the fortress it was just a short walk back down the hill and along a paved road to the kibbutz. 

Kibbutz Palmach Tzuba, built to the west of the former Arab village, nowadays has its own high quality winery, some of whose red and white wines have been internationally recognised with gold and silver medals, as well as housing a variety of attractions and industries, such as a children's amusement park called Kiftzuba and a hotel.

* This post has been shared on Nature Notes, The Good. The Random. The Fun., Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday), Our World Tuesday, Tuesday's Treasures, Pictorial Tuesday and My Corner of the World.