Wednesday, April 24, 2013

On the inhabitants of Judaydat al-Fadl

From Edouard: "They are not Christian nor Druze.   They are Bedouins from al-Fadl tribe, which until the 1940s a semi-nomadic, wealthy, sheep-herding tribe present in the Julan, sometimes spilling over to the Southern Biqaa valley in the summer  (but also in Irak where they are known as al-Fudul,  in the plural form) and are part of the larger Bani Lam tribe, which is itself a branch of the historical Tayy' tribe. In the XIVth century, their ancestor Muhanna Aal al-Fadl was the ally of Mamluk Sultan Al-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qalaoun. They were displaced by the Zionist entity forces in 1967, and moved to  this area, which would literally translate as the "new area of al-Fadl"); they have historical a lot of ties with Saudi Arabia, where their leader resides part time. "