Al-Auja ( ar, العوجا) 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 ...

town in the

Jericho Governorate The Jericho Governorate ( ar, محافظة أريحا, Muḥāfaẓat Arīḥā) is one of 16 Governorates of Palestine. Its capital is Jericho. The governorate is located along the eastern areas of the West Bank, along the northern Dead Sea and ...

in the eastern

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 ...

, located ten kilometers north of

Jericho Jericho ( ; ar, أريحا ; he, יְרִיחוֹ ) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank. It is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It is the administrative seat of the Jericho Gove ...

. The town has a total area of 107,905

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, however its built-up area comprises only 832 dunams. It is situated 230 meters below sea level. Agricultural land makes up over 10% of the town's area, mostly planted with bananas, oranges, and vegetables for which al-Auja is well known. Irrigation water is mainly supplied from the al-Auja spring.

History

The town is built along, and shares the name of, the Wadi al-Auja stream, "al-auja" meaning "the meandering one". This should not to be confused with the other river called in Arabic by the same name, Nahr al-Auja, and known by its

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 ...

and

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

name as the

Yarkon River The Yarkon River, also Yarqon River or Jarkon River ( he, נחל הירקון, ''Nahal HaYarkon'', ar, نهر العوجا, ''Nahr al-Auja''), is a river in central Israel. The source of the Yarkon ("Greenish" in Hebrew) is at Tel Afek (Antip ...

. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

this coincidence led to the term of "the line of the two Aujas" referring to a strategic line connecting the two river valleys.

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Al-Auja, together with

ad-Duyuk Ein ad-Duyuk al-Foqa ( ar, عين الديوك الفوقا), also called Duyuk, is a Palestinian village in the Jericho Governorate in the eastern West Bank situated in the Jordan Valley, located northwest of Jericho. According to the Palestinia ...

and Nweimeh had a population of 332; 322 Muslims and 10 Christians,Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Jericho, p
19
/ref> where the Christians were 7 Orthodox, and 3 Syrian Catholic.Barron, 1923, Table XIV, p
45
/ref> According to the 1931 census, Al-Auja had a population of 253 Muslims, in 100 houses.Mills, 1932, p
45
/ref> In the 1945 statistics, the village's population was 290, while Arab el Nuseirat had 520, Arab el Kaabina had 260, Arab el Ureinat had 210 and Arab el Saayida had 110 members; a total of 1,390; all Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p
24
/ref> and together they had jurisdiction over 106,946

s of land. Of this, 418 dunams were used for citrus and bananas, 2,822 dunams were for plantations and irrigable land, 6,502 for cereals, while a total of 97,204 dunams were classified as non-cultivable 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, al-Auja came under Jordanian rule. It was annexed by Jordan in 1950.

Post 1967

Since the 1967

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 ...

, al-Auja 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 ...

. 30,147 dunams of al-Auja's land was classified as "closed-off area" barred from Palestinian use. According to ARIJ,

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 ...

have confiscated land from Al-Auja in order to construct four

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 ...

s: *993

dunams 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 o ...

for Nativ HaGdud,Al 'Auja Town Profile
p. 19 *499 dunams for

Yitav Yitav ( he, יִיטַ"ב, an abbreviation of ''Yad Yitzhak Tabenkin'') is an Israeli settlement and moshav shitufi in the southern Jordan Valley of the West Bank. Located just north of Jericho and west of the Palestinian village of al-Auja, i ...

. *497 dunams for

Niran Na'aran ( he, נערן), formerly known as Niran () is an Israeli settlement organized as a kibbutz in the West Bank. Located in Area C of the Jordan Valley near Jericho,

, *268 dunams for

Gilgal Gilgal ( he, גִּלְגָּל ''Gilgāl''), also known as Galgala or Galgalatokai of the 12 Stones ( grc-gre, Γαλαγα or , ''Dōdekalithōn''), is the name of one or more places in the Hebrew Bible. Gilgal is mentioned 39 times, in particula ...

. According to 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 ...

, al-Auja had a population of over 4,000 inhabitants in mid-year 2006. In 1997, refugees constituted 24.7% of the population.Palestinian Population by Locality and Refugee Status
(1997)

. The 15.5% of Al-Auja area which is located in "

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 op ...

", was transferred to the

Palestinian National Authority The Palestinian National Authority (PA or PNA; ar, السلطة الوطنية الفلسطينية '), commonly known as the Palestinian Authority and officially the State of Palestine,

in a 1994 deal which also included Jericho and Gaza. The remaining 84.5% of al-Auja is Area C, which remains under total Israeli control.Al 'Auja village
Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem. 21 January 2006.

Archaeology

Archelais

Archelais Archelaïs ( grc, Ἀρχελαΐς) was a town in the Roman province of Palaestina Prima, corresponding to modern Khirbet el-Beiyudat (also spelled Khirbat al-Bayudat). It was founded by Herod the Great's son Archelaus to house workers for h ...

, a

Herodian Herodian or Herodianus ( el, Ἡρωδιανός) of Syria, sometimes referred to as "Herodian of Antioch" (c. 170 – c. 240), was a minor Roman civil servant who wrote a colourful history in Greek titled ''History of the Empire from the Death o ...

town founded by and named after

Herod Archelaus Herod Archelaus (, ''Hērōidēs Archelaos''; 23 BC – ) was ethnarch of Samaria, Judea, and Idumea, including the cities Caesarea Maritima, Caesarea and Jaffa, for a period of nine years (). He was the son of Herod the Great and Mal ...

, is now an archaeological site on the northern outskirts of Auja (Khirbet el-Beiyudat), and is gradually being covered by modern Palestinian construction and devastated by treasure hunters.

References

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

Welcome To al-'Auja
*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 15
IAAWikimedia commonsAl 'Auja Town (Fact Sheet)

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 proje ...

(ARIJ)
Al 'Auja Town Profile
(ARIJ)
Al 'Auja aerial photo
(ARIJ)
Locality Development Priorities and Needs in Al 'Auja
(ARIJ) {{DEFAULTSORT:Auja, Jericho Towns in the West Bank Municipalities of the State of Palestine