al-Badhan ( ar, الباذان) 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

Nablus Governorate The Nablus Governorate ( ar, محافظة نابلس ') is an administrative district of State of Palestine, Palestine located in the Central Highlands of the West Bank, 53 km north of Jerusalem. It covers the area around the city of Nablus ...

in the North 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 ...

, located northeast of

Nablus Nablus ( ; ar, نابلس, Nābulus ; he, שכם, Šəḵem, ISO 259-3: ; Samaritan Hebrew: , romanized: ; el, Νεάπολις, Νeápolis) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank, located approximately north of Jerusalem, with a populati ...

, and to the north of

Elon Moreh Elon Moreh ( he, אֵלוֹן מוֹרֶה) is an Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox Jewish Israeli settlement in the West Bank. Located northeast of the State of Palestine, Palestinian city of Nablus, on the slopes of the Mount Kabir ridge, it falls u ...

. 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 a ...

(PCBS), the village had a population of 2,422 inhabitants in mid-year 2006. The adjacent valley, ''Wadi al-Badhan'' (also known as ''Wadi Sajour''), is a picturesque natural area located 5 km northeast of Nablus on the road leading to the Jordan Valley. The area is characterized by abundant springs and diversity of wildlife. The area is one of the most beautiful natural areas in the

and has a nature reserve to preserve wildlife.

History

Al-Badhan has several sites of archaeological interest including 12 ancient watermills. Scholars today hold that al-Badhan is to be identified with the Badan () citied in the 2nd-century CE

Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; he, מִשְׁנָה, "study by repetition", from the verb ''shanah'' , or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions which is known as the Oral Torah ...

and

Tosefta The Tosefta (Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: תוספתא "supplement, addition") is a compilation of the Jewish oral law from the late 2nd century, the period of the Mishnah. Overview In many ways, the Tosefta acts as a supplement to the Mishnah ( ...

, said to be a place then settled by

Samaritans Samaritans (; ; he, שומרונים, translit=Šōmrōnīm, lit=; ar, السامريون, translit=as-Sāmiriyyūn) are an ethnoreligious group who originate from the ancient Israelites. They are native to the Levant and adhere to Samarit ...

and renowned for its

pomegranates The pomegranate (''Punica granatum'') is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub in the family Lythraceae, subfamily Punicoideae, that grows between tall. The pomegranate was originally described throughout the Mediterranean region. It was introduc ...

. Badan is featured prominently in Samaritan tradition; Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p
231
"Badan - A place where the congregation purified itself after passing Jordan and before going up to Gerizim, according to Samaritan tradition. (See Juynboll's ' Samaritan Book of Joshua,' note p. 314)." According to one of these, the

Israelites The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...

purified themselves at Badan after crossing the

Jordan River The Jordan River or River Jordan ( ar, نَهْر الْأُرْدُنّ, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn'', he, נְהַר הַיַּרְדֵּן, ''Nəhar hayYardēn''; syc, ܢܗܪܐ ܕܝܘܪܕܢܢ ''Nahrāʾ Yurdnan''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Shariea ...

and on their way to

Mount Gerizim Mount Gerizim (; Samaritan Hebrew: ''ʾĀ̊rgā̊rīzēm''; Hebrew: ''Har Gərīzīm''; ar, جَبَل جَرِزِيم ''Jabal Jarizīm'' or جَبَلُ ٱلطُّورِ ''Jabal at-Ṭūr'') is one of two mountains in the immediate vicinit ...

Ottoman period

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 through the region in 1870, where he described its geographical features. Badan, in West Bank

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 446 inhabitants.

1967, aftermath

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, al-Badhan 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

Oslo II Accord The Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip commonly known as Oslo II or Oslo 2, was a key and complex agreement in the Israeli–Palestinian peace process. Because Oslo II was signed in Taba, Egypt, Taba, it is sometimes called the ...

, signed in 1995, divided the

Israeli-occupied West Bank The Israeli occupation of the West Bank began on 7 June 1967, when Israeli forces captured and occupied the territory (including East Jerusalem), then occupied by Jordan, during the Six-Day War, and continues to the present day. The status of ...

into three administrative divisions: Areas A, B and C. According to ARIJ, al-Badhan's village land is divided into 30%

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 ...

, while the remaining 70% is defined as

Area B The Palestinian enclaves are areas in the West Bank designated for Palestinians under a variety of Israeli–Palestinian peace process, U.S. and Israeli-led proposals to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The enclaves are Israel and aparthe ...

. Al Badhan Village profile
ARIJ, p. 17 Since 2003, al-Badhan has been governed by a Village Council which is currently administrated by 10 members appointed by 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,

(PNA).

References

Bibliography

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External links

Welcome To al-BadanWadi al-Badan
Welcome to Palestine *Survey of Western Palestine, Map 12
IAAWikimedia commons Al Badhan Village profile
Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem (ARIJ)
Al Badhan, aerial photo
ARIJ
Development Priorities and Needs in Al Badhan
ARIJ {{DEFAULTSORT:Badhan, al- Nablus Governorate Villages in the West Bank Municipalities of the State of Palestine Ancient Samaritan settlements