Ash-Shuyukh or al-Shuyukh ( ar, الشيوخ) is a Palestinian town in the
Hebron Governorate
The Hebron Governorate ( ar, محافظة الخليل, Muḥāfaẓat al-Ḫalīl) is an administrative district of Palestine in the southern West Bank.
The governorate's land area is and its population according to the Palestinian Central Bur ...
of the
State of Palestine
Palestine ( ar, فلسطين, Filasṭīn), Legal status of the State of Palestine, officially the State of Palestine ( ar, دولة فلسطين, Dawlat Filasṭīn, label=none), is a state (polity), state located in Western Asia. Officiall ...
, located 6 km northeast of the city of Hebron. 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 ...
, Ash-Shuyukh had a population of over 8,811 in 2007.2007 PCBS Census
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 ...
. p.118.
Like the rest of the Hebron area, ash-Shuyukh is an agricultural area. Primary crops include olives, figs, almonds, lentils, peaches and apricots. Olive groves cover 980
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 while grains and pulses cover 680 dunams. There are about 2,000 sheep and goats in the town raised as livestock.Shuyukh Agriculture, Economy and History In Arabic
History
Ottoman era
During the Ottoman era, in 1838, Edward Robinson noted ''esh-Shiyukh'' as “a well built village”.
French explorer Victor Guérin visited in 1863, and noted that the village was situated on a high rocky hill. It had 200 inhabitants and a small mosque dedicated to a ''"Cheikh Ibrahim el-Hedmi."''
An Ottoman village list of about 1870 counted 33 houses and a population of 99 in ''Schijuch'', though the population count included men only.
In 1883, the PEF's '' Survey of Western Palestine'' described it as a "well-built village standing high, and visible from Tekua. There are a few trees round it, and caves. The water supply is from
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 ...
s, and there is a spring to the north."
British Mandate era
In 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 ...
conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Al Shiukh'' had a population 792 inhabitants, all Muslims.Barron, 1923, Table V, Sub-district of Hebron, p 10 /ref> This had increased at the time of the 1931 census to 925 Muslims, in 180 inhabited houses.Mills, 1932, p 33 /ref>
The first school was established in 1940 by Mohammed Mahmoud Eid.
In the 1945 statistics the population of Ash-Shuyukh was 1,240, all Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p 23 /ref> who owned 22,091
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 of land according to an official land and population survey. 1,713 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 3,365 for cereals, while 24 dunams were built-up (urban) land.
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 It was annexed by Jordan in 1950.
The Jordanian census of 1961 found 1,660 inhabitants in ''Shuyukh''.Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p 23 /ref>
Post 1967
Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Ash-Shuyukh 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 ...
.
Another school was built in 2002 and named in honor of a resident killed during the al-Aqsa Intifada.