From Where Come The Village Name ?

                                                         Abu Ghosh (name)

Ottoman era

Abu Ghosh is the name of a Circassian family that settled here in the early 16th century. According to the family tradition, they had Circassian descent, and the founder fought with Selim I. In the 18th century they lived in a village near Bayt Nuba, from which they ruled the surrounding region.[ However, according to the tradition, the Banu 'Amir tribesmen and the villagers of Beit Liqya rose against them and slaughtered the entire Abu Ghosh clan except for one woman and her baby, who continued the Abu Ghosh name. The family controlled the pilgrimage route from Jaffa to Jerusalem, and imposed tolls on all pilgrims passing through. The churches in Jerusalem also paid a tax to the Abu Ghosh clan. In the 19th century, the village was also referred to as Kuryet el' Enab. The Abu Ghoshes were granted a firman to impose tolls on pilgrims and visitors to Jerusalem. The Abu Ghoshes were among the most known feudal families in Palestine. They governed 22 villages. The sheikh of Abu Ghosh lived in an impressive house described by pilgrims and tourists as a "true palace..., a castle..., a protective fortress...” Abu Ghosh was attacked by Egyptian military forces in the 1834 revolt in Palestine. It was attacked again in 1853 during a civil war between feudal families under Ahmad Abu Ghosh who ordered his nephew Mustafa to go to battle. A third attack on Abu Ghosh, carried out by the Ottoman military forces, helped and executed by the British forces, took place during the military expedition against the feudal families in the 1860s. Kiryat Anavim, the first kibbutz in the Judean Hills, was founded near Abu Ghosh in 1914, on land purchased from the Abu Ghosh family