Nabi Musa

In 1269, the Mamluk sultan Baibars al-Bunduqdari built a small shrine there, as part of a general policy he adopted after conquering towns and rural areas from Lebanon down to Hebron from the Crusaders. The shrines were mostly dedicated to biblical prophets and the companions of Mohammed, and their maintenance was funded by an waqf, an endowment from properties that formerly belonged to the Latin Church. In the case of Nabi Musa, the waqf fund was secured from ecclesiastical assets expropriated in nearby Jericho.[11]

Baibars al-Bunduqdari's constructive piety set a precedent for others. Over the late medieval period, hostels for travellers were built on adjacent to the shrine, and the hospice in its present form was completed in the decade between 1470 and 1480. Gradually, the lookout point for Moses' distant gravesite beyond the Jordan was confused with Moses' tomb itself, laying the ground for the cultic importance Nabi Musa was to acquire in the Sunni Arab reverence of saints (walis).

Around 1820, the Ottoman authorities restored the buildings, which had, over the previous centuries, fallen into a state of dilapidated disrepair. In addition, they promoted a festive pilgrimage to the shrine that would always coincide with the Christian celebration of Easter, giving Muslims a way to celebrate during the time that their Christian neighbours were celebrating. This 'invention of tradition', as such imaginative constructs are called,[12] made the pageantry of the Nabi Musa pilgrimage a potent symbol of both political and religious identity among Muslims from the outset of the modern period.[5][13]

Over the 19th century, thousands of Muslims would assemble in Jerusalem, trek to Nabi Musa, and pass three days in feasting, prayer, games and visits to the large tomb two kilometres south, identified as that of Moses' shepherd, Hasan er-Rai, They were then entertained, as guests of the waqf, before returning on the seventh day triumphantly back to Jerusalem.[5]

In the late 19th century, the Ottomans appointed the al-Husayni clan as official custodians of the shrine and hosts of the festival, though their connection with the cult may date back to the previous century. According to Yehoshua Ben-Aryeh, the governor of Jerusalem Rauf Pasha (1876–1888), was the first to attempt to exploit the festival to incite Muslims against Christians. Ilan Pappé offers a different view:

'It is more likely, however, that the governor and his government were rather apprehensive of such an anti-Christian uprising as it could stir instability and disorder at a time when the central government was trying to pacify the Empire. This had been indeed the impression of the engineer (seconded to the Palestine Exploration Fund) Claude Conder. The Hebrew paper, Ha-havazelet, at the time blessed the Ottoman government for imposing law and order in the Nabi Musa affair. The travelogues of Francis Newton testify as well to a peaceful execution of the ceremonies. Indeed, the Turkish government must have acted here against popular feelings, shared by the Husaynis as the masters of the ceremony that Nabi Musa was celebrated in the most unfavourable conditions for the Muslims. It was the iron fist imposed by the Turks that prevented the situation from deteriorating into an all out riot.'[14]

Ottoman flags fly over the Nabi Musa for the last time, in 1917

Nabi Musa pilgrimage sets out from Jerusalem 1936

The procession moved off from Jerusalem under a distinctive Nabi Musa banner which the Husaynis conserved for the annual occasion in their Dar al-Kabira. On arriving at the shrine, the al-Husaynis and another rising Jerusalem family of notables (A'ayan), the Yunis clan, were required to provide two meals a day over the week for all worshippers.[15] Once their vows were taken, or vows previously taken were renewed, they were offered to the festival. The priestly family conducting events would provide about twelve lambs, together with rice, bread, and Arab butter, for a communal meal every day.[3]

Writing in the early 20th century, Samuel Curtiss recorded that an estimated 15,000[16] people from all over the country attended the Nabi Musa festival every year.[17]

For some years from 1919, pilgrims made their trek back from Jericho to Jerusalem to the sound of English military music.[18]

The festival was suppressed when Jordan assumed administration over the West Bank in the aftermath of 1948 Arab-Israeli war, because of its symbolic value as a vehicle for potential expressions of political protest.

After the Six-Day War in 1967, Nabi Musa came under Israeli control. The international community considers this Israeli occupation, though Israel disputes this. Israel has constructed nearby several Israel settlements, in addition to tourist sites, using Nabi Musa-owned land:

• 1977: 524 dunams for Almog[19]
• 1978: 968 dunams for Mitzpe Yericho[19]
• 1980: 618 dunams for Vered Yeriho[19]
• 1980: 506 dunams for Beit HaArava[19]
• 472 dunams for the northern Dead Sea tourist beaches ("Attractzia")[19]
• 692 dunams for Dead Sea-North ponds[19] (now Og Reservoir for sewage treatment)[20]
• 1,147 dunams for tourist site "Lido Yehuda"[19]

After the 1995 accords, 1.7% of Nabi Musa's land was classified as Area A, the remaining 98.3% as Area C.[19]

Since 1995, control over the tomb itself has been allocated to the Palestinian National Authority.[21]

While the census conducted in 1931 by the British Mandate authorities counted at Nabi Musa a population of three males in one house,[6] the 2007 census undertaken by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) registered a residential population of 309 in 65 housing units,[7] a rise from 45 in 1997 and constituting a "Palestinian local development committee".[1]