Aqraba, Nablus
Aqraba | ||
---|---|---|
Governorate Nablus | | |
Government | ||
• Type | Municipality | |
• Head of Municipality | Jawdat 'Abd al-Hadi | |
Area | ||
• Total | 34,659 dunams (34.7 km2 or 13.4 sq mi) | |
Population (2017)[1] | ||
• Total | 10,024 | |
• Density | 290/km2 (750/sq mi) | |
Name meaning | Scorpion[2] |
Aqraba (
According to
Aqrabah has been the site of
Etymology
The origin of the name is Semitic - Canaanite or Aramaic. In
History and archaeology
Pottery
During the
Ancient texts referencing Aqraba or the toparchy named after it encompass a variety of sources, including 1 Maccabees, Book of Jubilees (Ethiopian version), Pliny, Josephus, discoveries from Wadi Murabba'at, Mishnah, Epiphanus' Weights and Measures (Syriac version), the Tolidah, and KafPer.[11]
Byzantine period
Aqraba was inhabited by Christians during the Byzantine period. A Syriac document notes that the village contained two Byzantine-era monasteries, called after saints Titus and Stephan.[12] Local tradition concurs with a number of British scholars who believe the mosque was originally a Byzantine-era church.[6][dubious ]
Early Muslim period
The inhabitants of Aqraba became Muslim during the early Muslim period (630s–1099).[12] Shihab al-Din Ahmad al-Aqrabani, a follower of the noted Muslim jurist al-Shafi'i, lived and was buried there in 180 AH/796–797 CE.[13] The 14th-century historian Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani mentions an assumably 8th-century member of the Lakhm tribe from Aqraba as among the transmitters of a hadith (Islamic tradition).[11]
Crusader/Ayyubid and Mamuk periods
Several medieval buildings and other remains were described in the 1930s and 1940s and revisited in the 1990s, such as a fortified courtyard building northwest of the mosque, known as al-Hisn ("the castle") dominating the village from its highest point and now part of a private building; an open cistern or pool (Arabic:birka) in the centre of the village, well preserved but now used as an orchard;[13][14][10] and a domed building said to be Mamluk, probably a mosque which is in use as the village school[10][13] The mosque's mihrab was flanked by marble columns topped by capitals, both from the Crusader period.[14]
The village mosque is built on the remains of a church, and in the Survey of Western Palestine the Greek inscriptions found there on a lintel decorated by a cross, are described as similar to Crusader-period ones.[9]
Pottery sherds from the
Ottoman period
Aqraba, like the rest of
During his travels in the region in 1838
In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described it as "A large village, surrounded with olives, of houses better built than most in the country. It stands on a saddle between two hills, one of which rises north of it 700 feet, the village standing at the mouth of a pass, through which the main road runs. The place crescent-shaped, whence perhaps its name, 'carved.' To the south is the fertile plain (Jehir 'Akrabeh). There is a mosque in the east part of the village, founded on the remains of a Christian church, and a second sacred place (er Rafai) on the south. The inhabitants used to number, according to their own account, 2,000 guns, but the present population appears to be about 600 to 800 souls."[19]
British Mandate period
In the
In the
Jordanian period
In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, following the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Aqraba was ruled by Jordan. In 1961, the population of Aqraba was 2,875.[27]
Israeli occupation
Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Aqraba has been under Israeli occupation.
According to
Some farmland near
In August 2014, the IDF brought in bulldozers to demolish 4 Palestinian homes on the outskirts of the town, in the al-Taweel neighbourhood, claiming that they were built without a permit. However, the villagers claimed that the houses had been there for a century.[32]
In October 2014, a village mosque was set alight in a suspected arson attack by Israeli settlers as part of the
Economy
The village's total land area is 34,700 dunams, of which 1,783 is built-up area. Around 62% of the remaining land is covered with olive and almond groves, 8% with other fruits and vegetables and the remaining 30% for grazing purposes.[36]
Aqraba's unemployment rate is above 50%.[citation needed] As the Palestinian labor force is unable to work in Israeli localities, the town's workers currently hold public and private jobs. Some also depend on agriculture and industrial workshops as main sources of income.[36]
Government
31% of Aqraba and
The town is governed by a
References
- ^ a b Preliminary Results of the Population, Housing and Establishments Census, 2017 (PDF). Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) (Report). State of Palestine. February 2018. pp. 64–82. Retrieved 2023-10-24.
- ^ a b Palmer, 1881, p. 251
- ^ Aqraba Town Profile (including Yanun Locality) ARIJ, p. 11
- ^ Etkes, Dror (August 2013). Israeli settlers' agriculture as a means of land takeover in the West Bank (PDF) (Report). Kerem Navot. pp. 30–32. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
- ^ Aqraba Village: General Information Archived March 27, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Land Research Center. 2008-10-20.
- ^ a b Acraba, the last village adjacent to the desert Studium Biblicum Franciscanum - Jerusalem. 2000-12-19.
- ^ a b c Finkelstein and Lederman, 1997, p. 818
- ^ Dauphin, 1998, p. 849.
- ^ a b Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, pp. 389-390
- ^ a b c d e Sharon, 1997, pp. 110-111
- ^ a b Elitzur, Yoel (2004). Ancient Place Names in the Holy Land: Preservation and History. Jerusalem / Winona Lake, Indiana: The Hebrew University Magness Press and Eisenbrauns. pp. 54–57.
- ^ a b c Ellenblum, 2003, p. 245
- ^ a b c Pringle, 2009, p. 235
- ^ a b Pringle, 1997, p. 20
- ^ Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 131
- ^ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, p. 103
- ^ Guérin, 1875, pp. 3-5
- ^ Clermont-Ganneau, 1896, pp. 302-3
- ^ Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 386
- ^ Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Nablus, p. 25
- ^ Barron, 1923, Table XV, p. 47
- ^ Mills, 1932, p. 59
- ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 18
- ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 59
- ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 105
- ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 155
- ^ Government of Jordan, 1964, p. 14
- ^ Aqraba Town Profile (including Yanun Locality) pp.16-17
- ^ Jonathan Ofir, 'New report outlines how Golda Meir's Israel poisoned Palestinian land in ethnic cleansing operation,' Mondoweiss 25 June 2023
- ^ Aderet, Ofer (23 June 2023). "Israel Poisoned Palestinian Land to Build West Bank Settlement in 1970s, Documents Reveal". Haaretz. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
- ^ Amira Hass, 'IDF bars Palestinian farmers, but not settler outpost, from land in disputed firing range,' at Haaretz 3 July 2012.
- ^ 'Israel demolishes 4 Palestinian homes near Nablus,' Archived 2014-08-22 at the Wayback Machine Ma'an News Agency 20 August 2014.
- ^ "Palestinian mosque in West Bank torched in suspected arson". Reuters. 14 October 2014.
- ^ "Settlers set fire to West Bank mosque". Middle East Monitor. 2018.
- ^ "West Bank Mosque Hit With Attempted Arson in Possible Hate Crime". Haaretz. 2018.
- ^ a b A new Expansion in the colony of Itamar on the Lands of the Palestinian Town of Aqraba: General Information about Aqraba Archived June 8, 2008, at the Wayback Machine The Land Research Center via POICA. ARIJ and LRC 2007-10-21
- ^ Aqraba Town Profile (including Yanun Locality), ARIJ, p. 16
- ^ Local Elections (Round Three)- Successful lists by local authority and No. of votes obtained Archived 2008-10-31 at the Wayback Machine Central Elections Commission - Palestine. p.4.
Bibliography
- Barron, J.B., ed. (1923). Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922. Government of Palestine.
- Clermont-Ganneau, C.S. (1896). [ARP] Archaeological Researches in Palestine 1873-1874, translated from the French by J. McFarlane. Vol. 2. London: Palestine Exploration Fund.
- .
- Conder, C.R.; Kitchener, H.H. (1882). The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology. Vol. 2. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
- ISBN 0-860549-05-4.
- -7)
- ISBN 965-440-007-3.
- Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics (1964). First Census of Population and Housing. Volume I: Final Tables; General Characteristics of the Population (PDF).
- Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics (1945). Village Statistics, April, 1945.
- Guérin, V. (1875). Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine (in French). Vol. 2: Samarie, pt. 2. Paris: L'Imprimerie Nationale.
- Hadawi, S. (1970). Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine. Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center.
- Hütteroth, Wolf-Dieter; Abdulfattah, Kamal (1977). Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century. Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft. ISBN 3-920405-41-2.
- Mills, E., ed. (1932). Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas. Jerusalem: Government of Palestine.
- Neubauer, A. (1868). La géographie du Talmud : mémoire couronné par l'Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres (in French). Paris: Lévy. (p. 159)
- Palmer, E.H. (1881). The Survey of Western Palestine: Arabic and English Name Lists Collected During the Survey by Lieutenants Conder and Kitchener, R. E. Transliterated and Explained by E.H. Palmer. Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
- ISBN 9780521460101. Retrieved 1 June 2018.)
Fortified courtyard building (al-Hisn) at highest point of the village, NW ofmosque, consisting of rectangular courtyard between two parallel rows of vaults, entered on E through arched gate flanked by projecting towers. Mosque contains Crusader capitals on fluted marble columns, flanking the mihrab (1947). / PAM: Reports by Anon (15 Feb.1937) and S.A.S. Husseini (114 June 1947). Conder and Kitchhner 1881: II, 386, 389: Palestine 1929; 148: 116.
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The medieval buildings in 'Aqraba noted in the 1930s and 1940s included a fortified courtyard building (al-Hisn), a birka and a building with a dome and drum carried on pendentives (cf. Pringle 1997: 20. no. 18)
- Robinson, E.; Smith, E. (1841). Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838. Vol. 3. Boston: Crocker & Brewster.
- )
External links
- Aqraba municipality
- Welcome To 'Aqraba
- Aqraba, Welcome to Palestine
- Survey of Western Palestine, Map 15: IAA, Wikimedia commons
- Aqraba Town Profile (including Yanun Locality), Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem (ARIJ)
- Aqraba, aerial photo, ARIJ
- March 2009 demolition orders for Aqraba homes and mosque