Qantara, Lebanon


Qantara is a village in the Marjeyoun District in southern Lebanon.

Name

According to E. H. Palmer, the name El Kantarah means "the arch", qantara also being used in Arabic to denote a bridge built of stone or masonry, an aqueduct or a dam, and a high building.

History

In 1875 Victor Guérin found that the village had 150 Metawileh inhabitants. He further remarked: "The mosque is built of hewn stones of apparent antiquity. Its door is surmounted by a lintel belonging to an ancient Christian church, in the midst of which can be made out a cross with equal branches enclosed in a circle."
In 1881, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described it: "A village, built of stone, containing about 250 Metawileh, situated on an isolated and conspicuous hill, and surrounded by gardens, olives, and figs. There are two perennial springs a little to the south of the village."