The Empire, the Fellahin, and the Poppy: A Solitary Obelisk in the Judean Lowlands Reveals Another Layer of WWI

Nir Topper
17 hours ago
4 min read

In the heart of the Judean Lowlands (the Shephelah), near the dry riverbed of Nahal Sorek, stands a solitary stone obelisk that tells a different story of World War I. While the British military cemeteries in Ramla or Jerusalem glorify the heroism of European officers, this site—known as the "Junction Station Cemetery"—stands as a silent testament to the human tragedy of forced laborers and "invisible" soldiers from the depths of the Empire. Here, in Wadi Sarar, lie buried 112 Egyptians, 7 Indians, and 3 Ottomans.

Junction Station was the beating heart of Ottoman logistics. It was the point where the military railway heading south connected with the veteran Jaffa-Jerusalem line. General Allenby understood that capturing this station was the key to severing the Turkish army's supply lines and paving the way to Jerusalem. On November 14, 1917, following the bloody Battle of Mughar Ridge, the 75th Division (composed largely of Indian infantry battalions) captured the site. Upon its capture, the station was transformed into a massive medical center that received thousands of wounded from the fierce battles at Nebi Samuel. However, alongside the treatment of combat troops, a facility was established that exposed the class-based nature of the war: a separate hospital for the Egyptian Labour Corps (ELC).

The most shocking statistic at the monument concerns the status of the Egyptian casualties: out of 112 fallen, 111 are defined as "Unknown." These were not soldiers who fell in face-to-face combat, but Egyptian Fellahin (peasants) who were forcibly conscripted to serve as the logistical backbone of the Empire. They died of exhaustion, starvation, and disease in conditions described in modern research as resembling "forced labor camps." This exploitation was one of the central factors that fomented unrest in Egypt, leading to the 1919 Revolution against British occupation.

This injustice did not arise in a vacuum. During World War I, Britain tightened its grip on Egypt, turning it into a vast military and logistical base while ignoring the needs of the local population. The forced transition from wheat cultivation to cotton, alongside galloping inflation and military demand for food, created an existential shortage among the masses. Recruitment into the "Labour Corps," which began as voluntary and turned into brutal coercion, was perceived by the Egyptian Fellahin not only as physical enslavement but also as a religious betrayal—they were forced to serve a foreign Christian King against the Ottoman Sultan, whom they viewed as the Caliph of Islam. This reality turned Egypt into a powder keg of anger and resentment, deepening hostility toward the British establishment.

Buried alongside the Egyptians are seven Muslim warriors from the British Indian Army, as well as three Turkish soldiers who died in captivity after being hospitalized in the British facility. This gathering of enemies and allies under one soil—all Muslims buried according to their religious customs, separate from the Christian soldiers—highlights the religious and ethnic complexity of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF). While Hindu and Sikh Indian soldiers were cremated according to their faith, with their ashes scattered or commemorated in distant locations, the obelisk in Wadi Sarar remains the sole physical evidence on the ground for those who held onto the land.

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The story of the monument is also a story of a civil struggle against oblivion. In 1961, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) decided that the site was "unmaintainable" and abandoned it. Memory was uprooted from the landscape and transferred to a generic memorial plaque in Ramla. The obelisk was left to wild vegetation, and the inscriptions in Arabic and English faded until they almost completely disappeared. According to field research documentation conducted by heritage enthusiasts, including Joe Perlov, the site has received more attention in recent years. Concurrently, the Association for World War I Heritage in Israel (headed by Eran Tirosh) has held memorial ceremonies and commemoration activities at the site.

In recent years, the Embassy of India in Israel has promoted the Junction Station Cemetery as part of the "India Trail in the Holy Land," an official project commemorating the contribution of Indian soldiers in World War I. In this framework, memorial ceremonies have been held at the site, along with meetings with various communities and organizations, including the laying of wreaths and flowers in memory of the Indian fallen buried there. Other ceremonies have also been conducted by the Embassy at additional Indian memorial sites across Israel.

A visit to Junction Station reveals another layer of the global history that passed through here. It is a reminder that behind every major troop movement stand human beings—some decorated and some unknown—and that there is a moral obligation to ensure that even those pushed to the margins of history receive the recognition and respect they deserve.

Link to the monument's location: https://maps.app.goo.gl/SE3GeMivfHiZAye29

Image 1: The Obelisk at Junction Station. Photo: Nir Topper