Qatanna

Qatanna (Arabic: قطنّه) is a Palestinian town in the central West Bank part of the Jerusalem Governorate, located 12 km. northwest of Jerusalem. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of approximately 7,500 inhabitants in 2006.[2] Primary health care for the town is level 2.[3]

Qatanna
Arabic transcription(s)
  Arabicقطنّه
  LatinQatanaa (official)
Qatna (unofficial)
Qatanna
Location of Qatanna within Palestine
Coordinates: 31°49′54″N 35°06′32″E
Palestine grid160/136
StateState of Palestine
GovernorateJerusalem
Government
  TypeMunicipality
Area
  Total3,555 dunams (3.6 km2 or 1.4 sq mi)
Population
 (2006)
  Total7,500
  Density2,100/km2 (5,400/sq mi)
Name meaning"Little"[1]

Geography and land

Qatanna has an elevation of 650 meters above sea level. Nearby towns and villages include Biddu to the east and Beit Liqya to the north.[4]

History

In the Roman and Byzantine periods, Qatanna was home to extensive settlement including agricultural institutions, roads, and many burial caves.[5]

Ottoman era

Incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517 with all of Palestine, Qatanna appeared in the 1596 Ottoman tax registers as being in the Nahiya of Quds of the Liwa of Quds. It had a population of 12 households, all Muslim, and paid taxes on wheat, barley, olives, occasional revenues, goats and/or beehives.[6]

In 1838 Katunneh was noted as a Muslim village, part of Beni Malik district, located west of Jerusalem.[7]

In 1863, the French explorer Victor Guérin found the village to have 250 inhabitants,[8] while an Ottoman village list of about 1870 showed that Kattane had a population of 300, in 57 houses, though the population count included only men. It was also noted that it was located north of Abu Ghosh, in the Beni Malik district.[9][10]

In 1883, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described it as a "small village in a deep, narrow, rocky valley, surrounded by fine groves of olives and vegetable gardens."[11]

In 1896 the population of Katanne was estimated to be about 351 persons.[12]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Qatanneh had a population 633, all Muslims.[13] In the 1931 census it was counted with Nitaf, together they had 875 Muslim inhabitants, in 233 houses.[14]

In the 1945 statistics Qatanna had a population of 1,150, all Muslims,[15] with 9,464 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.[16] Of this, 1,829 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 1,603 used for cereals,[17] while 32 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[18]

Jordanian era

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

After the 1948 war, much of Qatanna´s land area was designated as "no-man's land" forming a part of the Demilitarized Zone between the armistice lines of Israeli and Jordanian territory.[4]

In 1961, the population of Qatanna was 1,897.[19]

Post-1967

Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Qatanna has been under Israeli occupation. The population in the 1967 census conducted by the Israeli authorities was 1,594, of whom 151 were refugees.[20]

Currently, the town has a total land area of 3,555 dunams, of which 677 dunams are designated as built-up area. After the 1995 Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, civil administration of 716 dunams of Qatanna's land (including the built-up zone) was transferred to the Palestinian National Authority.[4]

Qatanna contains three schools, three kindergartens, three clinics, a pharmacy and a medical center run by the Palestinian Red Crescent. There is also a sport's club and a women's center in the town. Qatanna is governed by a village council and Ramallah serves as the town's main urban provider. Four springs — al-Balad, as-Samra, an-Nimr and an-Namous — provide water for the town. The latter spring is completely isolated from the town by the Israeli West Bank barrier.[4]

36 dunums were confiscated from Qatanna for the Israeli settlement of Har Adar, built in 1986.[21]

Enclave

Qatanna along with Biddu, Beit Duqqu, Beit Surik, Beit 'Anan, al-Qubeiba, Beit Ijza, Kharayib Umm al Lahimand, and at-Tira form the "Biddu enclave". The enclave will be linked to Ramallah by underpasses and a road that is fenced on both sides. From the "Biddu enclave" Palestinians will travel along a fenced road that passes under a bypass road to Bir Nabala enclave, then on a second underpass under Bypass Road 443 to Ramallah.[22]

See also

References

  1. Palmer, 1881, p. 297
  2. Projected Mid -Year Population for Jerusalem Governorate by Locality 2004- 2006 Archived February 7, 2012, at the Wayback Machine Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.
  3. "West Bank Healthcare" (PDF). Archived from the original on 2006-03-13. Retrieved 2016-05-24.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  4. The effects of the Israeli practices on the Palestinian village of Qatanna, 22 June 2006, POICA
  5. Nagorsky, 2008, Nahal Kefira, Survey
  6. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 113
  7. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. 124
  8. Guérin, 1868, p. 283
  9. Socin, 1879, p. 156
  10. Hartmann, 1883, p. 118, noted 75 houses
  11. Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. 17
  12. Schick, 1896, p. 125
  13. Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Jerusalem, p. 15
  14. Mills, 1932, p. 42
  15. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 25
  16. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 58
  17. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 104
  18. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 154
  19. Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. 24
  20. Perlmann, Joel (November 2011 – February 2012). "The 1967 Census of the West Bank and Gaza Strip: A Digitized Version" (PDF). Levy Economics Institute. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  21. Qatanna Town Profile, p. 17. ARIJ
  22. OCHA Archived November 12, 2005, at the Wayback Machine

Bibliography

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.