Qibya

Qibya
Other transcription(s)
  Arabic قبية
Qibya

Location of Qibya within the Palestinian Territories

Coordinates: 31°58′39″N 35°00′35″E / 31.97750°N 35.00972°E / 31.97750; 35.00972Coordinates: 31°58′39″N 35°00′35″E / 31.97750°N 35.00972°E / 31.97750; 35.00972
Palestine grid 151/153
Governorate Ramallah & al-Bireh
Government
  Type Municipality
  Head of Municipality Fahmi Makhtub
Area
  Jurisdiction 16,485 dunams (16.5 km2 or 6.4 sq mi)
Population (2007)
  Jurisdiction 4,901
Name meaning Domed[1]

Qibya (Arabic: قبية) is a Palestinian village in the West Bank, located 30 kilometers (19 mi) northwest of Ramallah and exactly north of the large Israeli city of Modi'in. It is part of the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, and according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, it had a population of approximately 4,901 in 2007.[2]

History

Potsherds from the Roman/Byzantine, Byzantine Empire, Mamluk and early Ottoman period have been found in the village.[3]

Ottoman period

Qibya, like the rest of Palestine, was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517, and in the census of 1596, the village was located in the Nahiya of Ramla of the Liwa of Gaza. It had an entirely Muslim population of 29 households and paid taxes on wheat, barley, summer crops, olives, fruit trees, lintels, goats and/or beehives and a press for olives or grapes.[4]

In 1882, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine described the village (then named Kibbiah), as "a very small hamlet with olive-trees, on high ground".[5]

British Mandate period

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, the village, (named Kibbia), had a population of 694, all Muslims.[6] In the 1931 census the population of Qibya was 909, still all Muslim, in 204 inhabited houses.[7]

In 1945 the population of Qibya was 1,250, all Arabs, who owned 16,504 dunams of land according to an official land and population survey.[8] 4,788 dunams were used for cereals,[9] while 32 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[10]

1948-1967

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

Massacre

Main article: Qibya massacre

In October 1953 Qibya was the target of an Israeli raid known as the Qibya massacre by Unit 101 commanded by Ariel Sharon which resulted in the death of 67 or 69 unarmed civilians and large-scale destruction of the village. On October 18, 1953, the U.S. State Department issued a bulletin expressing its "deepest sympathy for the families of those who lost their lives" in Qibya as well as the conviction that those responsible "should be brought to account and that effective measures should be taken to prevent such incidents in the future."[11] The United States temporarily suspended economic aid to Israel.

post-1967

After Six-Day War in 1967, Qibya has been under Israeli occupation. Qibya received media coverage again in the run-up to the 2001 Israeli general election when it was correctly forecast that Sharon would become the next Israeli Prime Minister.[12]

References

  1. Palmer, 1881, p. 237
  2. 2007 PCBS Census. Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. p.113.
  3. Finkelstein et al, 1997, p. 174
  4. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 153
  5. Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 297
  6. Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Ramleh, p. 22
  7. Mills, 1932, p. 22
  8. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 68
  9. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 116
  10. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 166
  11. The Department of State issued a statement on Oct. 18, 1953 (Department of State Bulletin, Oct. 26, 1953, p. 552).
  12. Guardian From butcher to 'Lion' to Prime Minister of Israel by Jason Burke 4 February 2001

Bibliography

External links

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