Talluza

In 1596, it appeared in Ottoman tax registers as "Talluza", a village in the nahiya of Jabal Sami in the liwa of Nablus. It had a population of 62 households, all Muslim. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 33.3% on various agricultural products, such as wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, goats, and beehives, in addition to "occasional revenues" and a press for olives or grapes; a total of 9,902 akçe.[12]

In 1838, Edward Robinson classified Talluza as being in the Haritheh district, north of Nablus.[13] In 1852, he visited Talluza, noting "The town is of some size, and tolerably well-built. We saw no remains of antiquity, except for a few sepulchral excavations and some cisterns." Robinson further remarked the house of the village's sheikh was "built round a small court in which cattle and horses were stabled."[4][14]

Robinson suggested that Talluza might be ancient Tirzah (Latin form: Thersa), one of 31 Canaanite cities the Bible lists as having been conquered by Joshua; the modern Arabic name being a derivation of the ancient name by way of its Hebrew form, or possibly its original Canaanite form, whereby the r sound was replaced with a l.[14] French explorer Victor Guérin also argued that Talluza was the site of ancient Thirza.[15] Later, Conder & Kitchener suggested that Tayasir was a more likely candidate,[16] however, today Tell el-Farah (North), northeast of modern Nablus is generally accepted as the site of Tirzah.

When Guérin visited Talluza in 1870, he described it as being a large village with 1,000–1,200 inhabitants. He also noted that many of the houses were partially destroyed, and that there were ancient cisterns there.[15] The PEF's Survey of Western Palestine found in 1882 Talluza to be "A good-sized village, well-built, with a central Sheik's house. It stands on a knoll, with a very steep descent on the east, and the sides of the hill are covered with beautiful groves of olives....The women of the village go down to the fine springs on the east, about a mile distant, where there is a perennial supply of good water."[11] Following the 1908 Young Turk Revolution, clan-based clashes between the inhabitants of Talluza and neighboring Asira ash-Shamaliya broke out in the wake of lax security in the area in the immediate aftermath of the revolution. Two to three men were killed in the fighting which began after Talluza's residents raided and seized Asira's cattle.[17]

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Talluza had an entirely Muslim population of 1,116,[18] increasing in the 1931 census when Talluza (including the villages of Wadi al-Badhan and Wadi al-Far'a) had a population of 1,376, still all Muslim, in a total of 323 houses.[19]

In the 1945 statistics, the population was 1,830, all Muslims,[20] while the total land area was 57,710 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[21] Of this, 16 dunams were allocated for citrus and bananas, 7,462 for plantations and irrigable land, 32,116 for cereals,[22] while 41 dunams were classified as built-up areas.[23]

In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Talluza came under Jordanian rule. In 1961, Talluza had a population of 1,667.[1][24]

Historically Talluza is linked to the village of Wadi al-Far'a since the latter village's lands were previously owned by the residents of Talluza, who used it for agricultural purposes. In the 1960s residents from Talluza settled in Wadi al-Far'a and established a separate village.[25]

After the Six-Day War in 1967, Talluza has been under Israeli occupation. Under the interim Oslo Peace Accords, areas of the West Bank, which Israel occupied in the 1967 Mideast war, were divided into various categories. According to ARIJ, 99% of the village land is in Area A, where the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) holds responsibility for internal security and public order, the remainder 1% of land being in Area B.[26]

In 1996 Wadi al-Far'a was officially separated from Talluza and was granted its own village council under the administration of the Tubas Governorate.[25]