Khirbet Qeis

Khirbat Qais (Arabic: خربة قيس) is a Palestinian village located in the Salfit Governorate in the northern West Bank. In 2010, it became a suburb of Salfit, about 4 km south of Salfit.

Khirbat Qais
Municipality type D (Village council)
Arabic transcription(s)
 • Arabicخربة قيس
Khirbat Qais, 2018
Khirbat Qais
Location of Khirbat Qais within Palestine
Coordinates: 32°03′44″N 35°10′40″E
Palestine grid166/163
StateState of Palestine
GovernorateSalfit
Government
 • TypeVillage council
Elevation
400 m (1,300 ft)
Population
 (2017)
 • Total273
Name meaningKh. Keis, the ruin of the Keis tribe, whose feuds with the Yamani faction have disturbed Syria since the time of the Caliphate[1]

Location

Khirbat Qais is located 4 kilometers south of Salfit. It is bordered by Salfit and Farkha to the north, Bani Zaid ash Sharqiya to the west, 'Arura village to the south, and Ammuriya village to the east.[2]

History

Sherds from the Iron Age II/Persian, Hellenistic/Roman, Byzantine, Byzantine/Umayyad, Umayyad/Abbasid, Crusader/Ayyubid and Mamluk eras have been found here.[3]

Ottoman era

In 1517, the village was included in the Ottoman empire with the rest of Palestine, and in the 1596 tax-records the village appeared as Hirbat Qays, located in the Nahiya of Jabal Qubal of the Liwa of Nablus. The population was 4 households, all Muslim. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 33.3% on agricultural products, such as wheat, barley, goats and beehives, in addition to occasional revenues and a fixed tax for people of Nablus area; a total of 500 akçe.[4] Sherds from the early Ottoman era have also been found here.[3]

In 1838 it was noted as a village ‘’Khirbet Keis’’, part of the Jurat Merda district, south of Nablus.[5]

In 1882 the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Khurbet Keis as "a small village on the hillside."[6]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Kherbet Qais had a population of 94 Muslims,[7] increasing in the 1931 census to 114 Muslims in 30 occupied houses.[8]

In the 1945 statistics the population was 170 Muslims[9] while the total land area was 3,388 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[10] Of this, 1,480 were allocated for plantations and irrigable land, 572 for cereals,[11] while 8 dunams were classified as built-up areas.[12]

Jordanian era

In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Khirbet Qeis came under Jordanian rule.

The Jordanian census of 1961 found 209 inhabitants.[13]

Post-1967

Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Khirbet Qeis has been under Israeli occupation.

References
  1. Palmer, 1881, p. 234
  2. "خربة قيس: Kh. Qeis- فلسطين في الذاكرة". www.palestineremembered.com (in Arabic). Retrieved 7 August 2018.
  3. Finkelstein et al, 1997, pp. 467–468
  4. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 133
  5. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, 2nd appendix, p. 127
  6. Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 285
  7. Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Nablus, p. 25
  8. Mills, 1932, p. 64
  9. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 18
  10. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 60
  11. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 106
  12. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 156
  13. Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. 26

Bibliography
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