Atara ( ar, عطارة ''Atâra'') is a

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

village in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, located 15 kilometers north of

Ramallah Ramallah ( , ; ar, رام الله, , God's Height) is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank that serves as the ''de facto'' administrative capital of the State of Palestine. It is situated on the Judaean Mountains, north of Jerusale ...

in the central

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

. A village of nearly 2,300 inhabitants, it is situated along a mountain ridge line with four peaks and is built upon the second highest point in the West Bank at 810 meters above sea level.The Struggles of a Palestinian Community due to the West Bank Closure
Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem. 2001-02-02.
The Palestinian Association of Cultural Exchange 'Atara's total land area consists of 9,545

dunam A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; tr, dönüm; he, דונם), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area equivalent to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amount ...

s, most of which is cultivable.

Location

'Atara is located (horizontally) north of

. It is bordered by

Silwad Silwad ( ar, سلواد) is a Palestinian town located north-east of Ramallah, about 5 km away from the Nablus-Jerusalem highway. Silwad's altitude is about 851 meters above sea level. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics ...

to the east, 'Abwein to the north, Burham, 'Ajjul and

Umm Safa Umm Safa/Kafr Ishwa ( ar, أم صفا) or Um Al-Safa is a Palestinian village in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate. Location Umm Safa is located north of Ramallah. It is bordered by 'Ajjul and 'Atara to the east, Deir as Sudan and Ajj ...

to the west, and Bir Zeit to the south.

History

Sherd In archaeology, a sherd, or more precisely, potsherd, is commonly a historic or prehistoric fragment of pottery, although the term is occasionally used to refer to fragments of stone and glass vessels, as well. Occasionally, a piece of broken p ...

s from the

Iron Age I The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly a ...

,Finkelstein et al., 1997, p. 429 Iron Age II,

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

and

Mamluk Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning " slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') ...

eras have been found. Edward Robinson identified 'Atara with the

Biblical The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

Ataroth mentioned in the

Book of Joshua The Book of Joshua ( he, סֵפֶר יְהוֹשֻׁעַ‎ ', Tiberian: ''Sēp̄er Yŏhōšūaʿ'') is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament, and is the first book of the Deuteronomistic history, the story of Isra ...

16:2. However, some modern authorities prefer to place Ataroth elsewhere.Tsafrir, Di Segni and Green, 1994, p. 71

Ottoman era

In 1517, the village was incorporated into the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

with the rest of

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

. In 1596 it appeared in the tax registers as being in the ''

Nahiya A nāḥiyah ( ar, , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level division w ...

'' of Quds of the '' Liwa'' of Quds. It had a population of 55

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

households who paid a fixed tax rate of 33.3% on various agricultural products, including wheat, barley, olives, vineyards or fruit trees, and goats or beehives; a total of 4,300

Akçe The ''akçe'' or ''akça'' (also spelled ''akche'', ''akcheh''; ota, آقچه; ) refers to a silver coin which was the chief monetary unit of the Ottoman Empire. The word itself evolved from the word "silver or silver money", this word is deri ...

. In the 17th-19th centuries, 'Atara was located in the ''

nahiya A nāḥiyah ( ar, , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level division w ...

'' of

Bani Zeid Bani Zeid ( ar, بني زيد) is a Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the north-central West Bank, located northwest of Ramallah, about 45 kilometers northwest of Jerusalem and about southwest of Salfit. A town of ...

. Adult males were required to pay 58-60

akçe The ''akçe'' or ''akça'' (also spelled ''akche'', ''akcheh''; ota, آقچه; ) refers to a silver coin which was the chief monetary unit of the Ottoman Empire. The word itself evolved from the word "silver or silver money", this word is deri ...

to the Ottoman government in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

. It was also noted as a Muslim village. The French explorer

Victor Guérin Victor Guérin (15 September 1821 – 21 Septembe 1890) was a French intellectual, explorer and amateur archaeologist. He published books describing the geography, archeology and history of the areas he explored, which included Greece, Asia Mino ...

passed by the village in 1870, and estimated it to have about 300 inhabitants. An official Ottoman village list from about the same time (1870) showed that 'Atara had a total of 80 houses and a population of 225, though the population count included men only. In 1882, the PEF's ''

Survey of Western Palestine The PEF Survey of Palestine was a series of surveys carried out by the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF) between 1872 and 1877 for the Survey of Western Palestine and in 1880 for the Survey of Eastern Palestine. The survey was carried out after the ...

'' described Attara as a large village, seemingly ancient, in a conspicuous position on a hill, with olives round it. In 1896 the population of Atara was estimated to be about 480 persons.

British Mandate of Palestine

At the time of the

1922 census of Palestine The 1922 census of Palestine was the first census carried out by the authorities of the British Mandate of Palestine, on 23 October 1922. The reported population was 757,182, including the military and persons of foreign nationality. The divisi ...

, Atara had a population of 407 Muslims,Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-District of Ramallah, p
16
/ref> increasing in the 1931 census to 559 Muslims in 133 houses.Mills, 1932, p
47
/ref> In 1922, the

Jewish National Fund Jewish National Fund ( he, קֶרֶן קַיֶּימֶת לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, ''Keren Kayemet LeYisrael'', previously , ''Ha Fund HaLeumi'') was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Syria (later Mandatory Palestine, and subseq ...

established a

moshav A moshav ( he, מוֹשָׁב, plural ', lit. ''settlement, village'') is a type of Israeli town or settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists between 1904 an ...

on 500 dunams of land. Known as

Atarot Atarot ( he, עטרות) was a moshav in Mandatory Palestine, north of Jerusalem along the highway to Ramallah. It was named after the biblical Atarot mentioned in , which is believed to have been situated nearby. The moshav was captured and d ...

h, it was one of the first

Zionist Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...

hill settlements. In the 1945 statistics the population of 'Atara was 690 Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p
26
/ref> while the total land area was 9,545

s, according to an official land and population survey.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p
64
/ref> Of this, 3,524 were allocated for plantations and irrigable land, 3,550 for cereals, while 45 dunams were classified as built-up areas.

Jordanian era

In the wake of the

1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 (or First) Arab–Israeli War was the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. It formally began following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight on 14 May 1948; the Israeli Declaration of Independence had ...

, and after the

1949 Armistice Agreements The 1949 Armistice Agreements were signed between Israel and Egypt,Jordanian rule. The Jordanian census of 1961 found 1,110 inhabitants.Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p
24
/ref>

Post-1967

Since the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states (primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, S ...

in 1967, 'Atara has been under

Israeli occupation Israeli-occupied territories are the lands that were captured and occupied by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967. While the term is currently applied to the Palestinian territories and the Golan Heights, it has also been used to refer to a ...

. The population in the 1967 census conducted by the Israeli authorities was 903, of whom 61 originated from the Israeli territory. After the 1995 accords, 40.8% of village land has been defined as

Area A Area is the quantity that expresses the extent of a region on the plane or on a curved surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while '' surface area'' refers to the area of an open s ...

land, 43.8% as

Area B The Palestinian enclaves are areas in the West Bank designated for Palestinians under a variety of U.S. and Israeli-led proposals to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The enclaves are often compared to the nominally self-governing black ...

, while the remaining 15.4% is Area C. Israel has confiscated a total of 163 dunams of land from the village in order to construct the

Israeli settlement Israeli settlements, or Israeli colonies, are civilian communities inhabited by Israeli citizens, overwhelmingly of Jewish ethnicity, built on lands occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. The international community considers Israeli se ...

Ateret Ateret ( he, עֲטֶרֶת, ''lit.'' Crown) is an Israeli settlement organized as a community settlement in the West Bank. Located in the municipal jurisdiction of the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council, it is located on a hilltop, at an elevation ...

. In 2002, 95-year-old Atara resident Fatima Hassan became the oldest Palestinian fatality in the

Second Intifada The Second Intifada ( ar, الانتفاضة الثانية, ; he, האינתיפאדה השנייה, ), also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada ( ar, انتفاضة الأقصى, label=none, '), was a major Palestinian uprising against Israel. ...

when the taxi she was in was shot at by Israeli soldiers. Witnesses said the car was waiting in a long line of cars and soldiers smashed the windows before firing. An Israeli military source said soldiers fired at the taxi after it ignored orders to halt on a prohibited road.

Sanctuaries

'Atara contains two sanctuaries for saintly figures. The village's old

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

encases the Sanctuary of I'mar. There used to stand a

church.

Sanctuary of Sheikh al-Qatrawani

On the Dahrat Hamoud hill about 1.5 km south-west of 'Atara, standing at about 820 meters above sea level, lies the

Maqam (shrine) A Maqām ( ar, مقام) is a shrine built on the site associated with a religious figure or saint, typical to the regions of Palestine and Syria. It is usually a funeral construction, commonly cubic-shaped and topped with a dome. Maqams are as ...

of Sheikh al-Qatrawani. The shrine is one of a series of watchtowers overlooking the coast built by the

s in the 16th century.Village sites
Palestinian Association for Cultural Exchange. The sanctuary, built atop the ruins of an ancient

monastery, is visited by Palestinian

s to offer vows and

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

to rest in or near. The present sanctuary is made up of the shrine, the remains of the monastery, a cave and a cistern. Maqam Qatrawani

According to local Islamic tradition, the sanctuary was named after a holy man named Sheikh Ahmad al-Qatrawani from the destroyed village of

Qatra Qatra ( ar, قطرة) was a Palestinian Arab village in the Ramle Subdistrict, located southwest of the city of Ramla and west of Jerusalem, some above sea level.Bromiley, 1994, pp. 5-6. It was depopulated in May 1948. History Qatra was a Can ...

north of Gaza. Popular belief suggests that al-Qatrawani left his home town of Qatra due to his inability to fulfill his religious duties there, thus relocating to the deserted hill of Dar Hamouda where he "lived in prayer and self-mortification". Another popular tale claims when al-Qatrawani died, his dead body descended onto the hilltop where his sanctuary stands. According to local legend from the town of Bir Zeit, nearby villagers found a

Sufi Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...

derwish Dervish, Darvesh, or Darwīsh (from fa, درویش, ''Darvīsh'') in Islam can refer broadly to members of a Sufi fraternity (''tariqah''), or more narrowly to a religious mendicant, who chose or accepted material poverty. The latter usage i ...

laying on the site and when asked of his origins, he said he was from Qatra and that angels brought him to the site where he would die. The residents of 'Atara, as well as nearby

Ajjul Ajjul ( ar, عجّول) is a Palestinian village in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the northern West Bank, located north of Ramallah. There are two archaeological sites or ''khirbets'' to the east of the village. One of the ''khirbets' ...

and

provided him with food and protection for four years and when they found him dead, they buried him just west of the sanctuary. Many

Palestinian Christian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

s argue, however, that the site was dedicated to Saint Catherine, suggesting the etymological origin of "Qatrawani" to be from "Catherine". Hamdan Taha points out similarities between the Muslim tradition of al-Qatrawani descending to his burial place at the time of his death to the Christian tradition of Saint Catherine descending to

Mount Sinai Mount Sinai ( he , הר סיני ''Har Sinai''; Aramaic: ܛܘܪܐ ܕܣܝܢܝ ''Ṭūrāʾ Dsyny''), traditionally known as Jabal Musa ( ar, جَبَل مُوسَىٰ, translation: Mount Moses), is a mountain on the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. It is ...

at the time of her death. The modern building is a renovated version of the original building built in the late Mamluk era in the 16th century. The renovation took place in 1999 undertaken by the Palestinian Department of Antiquities. The sanctuary is a rectangular building 9.8 meters in width, and 5.9 meters in length. It has two semi-spherical domes, measuring 3.8 and 3.9 meters in diameter respectively. The eastern dome is built of finely cut stones, while the western dome is built of small rough field-stones, but both kinds are of local origin. The northern wall is 85 centimeters thick and is constructed of small stones, mortar and rubble. The eastern room of the sanctuary contains a ''

mihrab Mihrab ( ar, محراب, ', pl. ') is a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the ''qibla'', the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca towards which Muslims should face when praying. The wall in which a ''mihrab'' appears is thus the "qibla w ...

'' ("prayer niche") with the typical orientation to

Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...

as required in

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

ic doctrine.Taha, Hamdan
The Sanctuary of Sheikh al-Qatrawani
Studium Biblicum Franciscanum - Jerusalem. The

cistern A cistern (Middle English ', from Latin ', from ', "box", from Greek ', "basket") is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by t ...

, currently blocked, is in front of the shrine and most likely collected rainwater in the past for the sanctuary. It possibly also drew water from the nearby spring of Wadi as-Saqi, located two kilometers south of the site. To the west of the Sheikh al-Qatrawani sanctuary is a

winepress A winepress is a device used to extract juice from crushed grapes during wine making. There are a number of different styles of presses that are used by wine makers but their overall functionality is the same. Each style of press exerts control ...

cut through stone. Its basin is 1.8 meters deep and is coated with a layer of white plaster. A stone-cut cave is located in front of the shrine, but was blocked in 1984 by the residents of 'Atara for "safety reasons". In front of the building is a courtyard and the actual tomb of Sheikh al-Qatrawnani is located adjacently west of the site and has been plundered a number of times. Sherds from the

, Crusader/

Ayyubid The Ayyubid dynasty ( ar, الأيوبيون '; ) was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultan of Egypt, Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. A Sunni ...

and

eras have been found here.Finkelstein et al., 1997, pp. 421–2

Demographics

Emigration surged between 1952 and 1955 to the Gulf Arab states, due to poor economic conditions in the

. Several others moved to Ramallah and

for work. By 1961, the population was 1,110, however, it decreased tremendously after the 1967

, in which

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

captured and occupied the

from

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

. The village population slowly grew to 903 in 1982, then 976 in 1987.Welcome to 'Atara
Palestine Remembered. In the first census taken by the

Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS; ar, الجهاز المركزي للإحصاء الفلسطيني) is the official statistical institution of the State of Palestine. Its main task is to provide credible statistical figures a ...

(PCBS) in 1997, 'Atara's population reached 1,661, of which 92 were

Palestinian refugee Palestinian refugees are citizens of Mandatory Palestine, and their descendants, who fled or were expelled from their country over the course of the 1947–49 Palestine war ( 1948 Palestinian exodus) and the Six-Day War ( 1967 Palestinian exo ...

s (5.6%). The gender make-up was 50.2% male and 49.8% female. According to a PCBS estimate, 'Atara had a population of approximately 2,400 inhabitants in mid-year 2006. In the PCBS census in 2007, 'Atara had a population of 2,270, of which 1,139 were males and 1,131 females. There 495 housing units and the average household size consisted of 5.5 family members.2007 Census Final Results

Economy

Until the early 1950s, 'Atara's inhabitants were dependent on agriculture as a main source of income. After 1967, many inhabitants began to work in

. As a result, agricultural production has been further reduced and a substantial portion of 'Atara's economy became dependent residents working abroad. Transportation is an issue in the village, with only one road being able to access through Bir Zeit.Publications: Atara
The Palestinian Association of Cultural Exchange Eggs are a primary agricultural product and there are eleven egg farms in the village. Olives are also widely produced and are delivered to an oil pressing factory in the town of

'Arura ‘Arura ( ar, عاروره, ''‘Arūrā'') is a Palestinian town located in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the northern West Bank, north of Ramallah. Most of the village is situated 500 meters above sea level. History Pottery sherd ...

, where olive oil is produced.

Israeli checkpoint An Israeli checkpoint ( he, מחסום, ''mahsom'', ar, حاجز, ''hajez''), is a barrier erected by the Israeli Security Forces, primarily today part of the system of West Bank closures in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The checkpoints a ...

s around 'Atara, as well as the harvest of 'Atara's olive crop by

Israeli settlers Israeli may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel * Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel * Modern Hebrew, a language * ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008 * Guni Israeli (b ...

from

has effectively strained the village's economy. 40.8% of village land is defined as

land, 43.8% as

, while the remaining 15.4% is defined as Area C. Israel has confiscated 163 dunums of the village land in order to construct the

. Atara Village profile
ARIJ, pp. 17-18

References

Bibliography

* * (p
269
* * * * * * * * * * (Cited in Hamdan Taha) * * * * * * * *

External links

Atara
Welcome to Palestine *Survey of Western Palestine, Map 14:
IAAWikimedia commons Atara factsheet

Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem The Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem (ARIJ; ar, معهد الابحاث التطبيقية - القدس) is a Palestinian NGO founded in 1990 with its main office in Bethlehem in the West Bank. ARIJ is actively working on research project ...

(ARIJ)
Atara Village profile
ARIJ
Atara aerial photo
ARIJ
Locality Development Priorities and Needs in 'Atara Town
ARIJ {{DEFAULTSORT:Atara Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate Villages in the West Bank Municipalities of the State of Palestine