Azzun (also spelled Azzoun) (, from the root word عز ''′izz'' which means honor or esteem) is a Palestinian town in
Qalqilya Governorate
The Qalqilya Governorate or Qalqiliya Governorate () is an administrative area of Palestine in the northwestern West Bank. Its capital or ''muhfaza'' (seat) is the city of Qalqilya that borders the Green Line.
Localities
Municipalities
* Azzu ...
in the northern
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 9 kilometers east of
Qalqilya
Qalqilya or Qalqiliya ( ar, قلقيلية, Qalqīlyaḧ) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank which serves as the administrative center of the Qalqilya Governorate of the State of Palestine. In the 2007 census, the city had a population of 41, ...
and 24 kilometers south of
Tulkarm
Tulkarm, Tulkarem or Tull Keram ( ar, طولكرم, ''Ṭūlkarm'') is a Palestinian city in the West Bank, located in the Tulkarm Governorate of the State of Palestine. The Israeli city of Netanya is to the west, and the Palestinian cities of N ...
. 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 ...
census, Azzun, together with the adjacent villages of Islah and Izbat al-Tabib, had a population of over 8,900 in 2007. The vast majority of the inhabitants are
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 ...
, with a very small
Christian
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 ...
minority.
Location
‘Azzun is located 7-9 km west of
Qalqiliya
Qalqilya or Qalqiliya ( ar, قلقيلية, Qalqīlyaḧ) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank which serves as the administrative center of the Qalqilya Governorate of the State of Palestine. In the 2007 census, the city had a population of 41,73 ...
. It is bordered by
Kafr Laqif
Kafr Laqif ( ar, كفر لاقف) is a Palestinian village in the Qalqilya Governorate in the western West Bank, located 22 kilometers southwest of Nablus. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the village had a population of a ...
and Wadi Qana to the east, Kafr Thulth to the south,
An Nabi Elyas
Nabi Ilyas ( ar, قرية النبي الياس) is a Palestinian village in the Qalqilya Governorate in the western West Bank, located two kilometers east of Qalqilya. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, an Nabi Ilyas had a ...
to the west, and
Jayyus
Jayyus ( ar, جيوس) is a Palestinian village near the west border of the West Bank, close to Qalqilya. It is a farming community. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the village had a population of approximately 3,307 inha ...
and
Khirbet Sir
Sir ( ar, خربة صير) is a Palestinian town in the Qalqilya Governorate in the eastern West Bank, located 8 kilometers east of Qalqilya.
History
Ceramics from the Byzantine era have been found here.
Ottoman era
Sir was incorporated into th ...
to the north.
History
Ottoman era
Just north of the village six -seven dry stone towers were examined in 1873. The best-preserved had six
course
Course may refer to:
Directions or navigation
* Course (navigation), the path of travel
* Course (orienteering), a series of control points visited by orienteers during a competition, marked with red/white flags in the terrain, and corresponding ...
s standing, and part of the roof. The locals stated that they were ancient vineyard towers.
Azzun was a site of battle - part of
Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
Ottoman Syria
Ottoman Syria ( ar, سوريا العثمانية) refers to divisions of the Ottoman Empire within the region of Syria, usually defined as being east of the Mediterranean Sea, west of the Euphrates River, north of the Arabian Desert and south ...
. An Arab poet,
Ibrahim Touqan
Ibrahim Abd al-Fattah Tuqan (1905 ar, إبراهيم طوقان– 2 May 1941) was a Palestinian nationalist poet whose work rallied Arabs during their revolt against the British mandate. Tuqan was born in Nablus, Palestine.nthe blood fFranks
n the
N, or n, is the fourteenth Letter (alphabet), letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabet# ...
mother valley."
When the French army marched into Palestine under the command of Napoleon in February 1799, it faced powerful and unexpected resistance from the inhabitants of Jabal Nablus under the command of their local leaders. They attacked the French army while it was marching towards Acre, especially near the valley of Azzun, taking part in the battle of Tal-Tabur. The participation of the inhabitants and local leaders of Nablus in the struggle against Napoleon reflected a territorial sense in resistance to a foreign army.
Ihsan al-Nimr wrote that “the truth is that onaparte’smorale was weakened around Jabal Nablus, in the valley of Azzun, Qaqun, and al-Marj ... he headed for Acre with disappointment and without determination”. Sheikh Yussuf Jarrar wrote a poem asking the inhabitants, especially the prominent families of Jabal Nablus, to march towards Acre in order to fight the French.
In Doumani's words, the poet exposes “the cohesiveness of this reign’s social formation and the shared sense of identity among its inhabitants versus the factionalism of multiple territorially based centers of power... The most striking aspect of this poem is what it does not say. Not once in its twenty-one verses does it mention Ottoman rule, much less the need to protect the empire or the glory and honor of serving the sultan”
Pierre Jacotin
Pierre Jacotin (1765–1827) was the director of the survey for the ''Carte de l'Égypte (Description de l'Égypte)'', the first triangulation-based map of Egypt, Syria and Palestine.
The maps were surveyed in 1799-1800 during the campaign in Eg ...
called the village ''Hazoun'' on his map in 1799 from the same campaign.
In 1838, the American scholar Edward Robinson noted ''Azzun'' as a village in the ''Beni Sa'ab'' district, west of Nablus.
In 1852 Robinson visited the village, which he described as having 290 males, all Muslim except for one family of Christians. In 1882, the PEF's'' Survey of Western Palestine'' described Azzun as a "small village lying low on the hill-side, with several wells and olives on every side."
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 ...
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 ...
s and 9 Christians,Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Tulkarem, p 28 /ref> increasing in the 1931 census to 994: 980 Muslim and 14 Christians in a total of 218 houses.Mills, 1932, p 53 /ref>
In the 1945 statistics the population of Azzun together with
Nabi Ilyas
Nabi Ilyas ( ar, قرية النبي الياس) is a Palestinian village in the Qalqilya Governorate in the western West Bank, located two kilometers east of Qalqilya. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, an Nabi Ilyas had a ...
and
Islah
Islah or Al-Islah (الإصلاح ,إصلاح, ') is an Arabic word, usually translated as "reform", in the sense of "to improve, to better, to put something into a better position, fundamentalism, correction, correcting something and removing v ...
was 1,190; 1,170 Muslims and 20 Christians. Residents owned 23,496
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. Of this, 5,494 dunams were for plantations and irrigable land and 1,420 were used for cereals, while 55 dunams were built-up (urban) land.
File:Azzun 1943.jpg, Azzun 1943 1:20,000
File:Azzun 1945.jpg, Azzun 1945 1:250,000
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 2,096 inhabitants in Azzun.
1967 and 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 ...
, Azzun 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 ...
. After the 1995 accords, about 24.7% of the land was classified 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 ...
, the remaining 75.3% as Area C. Israel has expropriated 268 dunums of village land for the construction of 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 ...
of
Ma'ale Shomron
Ma'ale Shomron ( he, מַעֲלֵה שׁוֹמְרוֹן) is an Israeli settlement in the northern West Bank. Located about 300 metres above sea level, it is organised as a community settlement and falls under the jurisdiction of Shomron Regiona ...
.
In 1996 a
municipal council
A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counci ...
was established to administer Azzun's civil affairs. The council has eleven members appointed by the Palestinian government. In 2012, the villages of ''Islah'' and ''Izbat al-Tabib'' were merged into the municipality of Azzun upon decree of the Palestinian Ministry of Local Government. ‘Azzun Town Profile (including ‘Isla & ‘Izbat at Tabib Localities) ARIJ, 2013.
In 2008, the town's unemployment rate was 19%.Israeli Occupation Forces closes the Northern Entrance of the Azzun Al Shamaliyya town Land Research Center 2008-02-20 In 2012, it had increased sharply to 39%.
Today, the town consists of 9,130 dunams of which 1,209 dunams is built-up area. There are four mosques located in the town. Most of the population works in agriculture and herding (40%) or trade and handicrafts (41%), while the 19% work in public sectors. The major families of Azzun are the ‘Adwan, Badwan, Radwan, Salim, Hussein, Sweidan, Zamari (or Zummary), Abu Hanniya, Odah, Hawashah, Tabib, Suleiman, Radi, Mas’ud and Abu Dayyah.
As of 2018, Azzun was reported to be the village "with highest number of child arrests in the West Bank per capita."Azzoun: The Palestinian village filling Israeli jails with children Tessa Fox, 10 August, 2018,
Middle East Eye
Middle East Eye (MEE) is a London-based news website covering events in the Middle East and North Africa. MEE describes itself as an "independently funded online news organization that was founded in April 2014." MEE seeks to be the primary porta ...
References
Bibliography
*al-Nimr, Ihsan, (1938–1975): Tarikh Jabal Nablus wa-l-Balqaʼ istory of Mount Nablus and al-Balqa’(Nablus: Matbaʻat jamiʻat ʻummal al-matabiʻ al-taʻawuniyya),
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