![East Jerusalem enclaves](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/East_Jerusalem_enclaves.jpg)
Beit Hanina ( ar, بيت حنينا , he, בית חנינא) is an
Arab Palestinian neighborhood in
East Jerusalem
East Jerusalem (, ; , ) is the sector of Jerusalem that was held by Jordan during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, as opposed to the western sector of the city, West Jerusalem, which was held by Israel.
Jerusalem was envisaged as a separat ...
. It is on the road to
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 ...
, eight kilometers north of central
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
, at an elevation of 780 meters above sea level. Beit Hanina is bordered by
Pisgat Ze'ev
Pisgat Ze'ev ( he, פסגת זאב, lit. ''Ze'ev's Peak'') is an Israeli settlement in East Jerusalem and the largest residential neighborhood in Jerusalem with a population of over 50,000. Pisgat Ze'ev was established by Israel as one of the ci ...
and
Hizma
Hizma ( ar, حزما; is a Palestinian town in the Jerusalem Governorate, seven kilometers from Jerusalem's Old City. The town, mostly located in Area C of the West Bank, borders four Israeli settlements, Neve Yaakov and Pisgat Ze'ev (both offi ...
to the east,
Ramot
Ramot ( he, רָמוֹת, ''lit.'' Heights), also known as Ramot Alon ( he, רמות אלון), is an Israeli settlement and a Jewish neighborhood in the northern part of East Jerusalem. Ramot is one of Jerusalem's so-called " Ring neighborhood ...
,
Ramat Shlomo and
Shuafat
Shuafat ( ar, شعفاط '), also ''Shu'fat'' and ''Sha'fat'', is a mostly Palestinians, Palestinian Arab neighborhood of East Jerusalem, forming part of north-eastern Jerusalem. Located on the old Jerusalem–Ramallah road about three miles no ...
to the south,
Beit Iksa
Beit Iksa ( ar, بيت إكسا;) is a Palestinian village in the Jerusalem Governorate, located northwest of Jerusalem in the West Bank.
The village is surrounded on all sides by the Israeli West Bank barrier, and outside Palestinians are de ...
and
Nabi Samwil
An-Nabi Samwil, also called al-Nabi Samuil ( ar, النبي صموئيل ''an-Nabi Samu'il'', translit: "the prophet Samuel"), is a Palestinian village of nearly 220 inhabitants in the Quds Governorate of the State of Palestine, located in the We ...
to the west, and
Bir Nabala
Bir Nabala ( ar, بير نبالا; he, ביר נבאלא) is a Palestinian enclave town in the West Bank located eight kilometers northeast of Jerusalem. In mid-year 2006, it had an estimated population of 6,100 residents. Three Bedouin tribe ...
,
al-Jib
Al Jib or al-Jib ( ar, الجيب) is a Palestinian village in the Jerusalem Governorate, located ten kilometers northwest of Jerusalem, in the seam zone of the West Bank. The surrounding lands are home to ''Al Jib Bedouin''. Since 1967, Al Jib has ...
,
Kafr Aqab
Kafr 'Aqab ( ar, كفر عقب) is the northernmost Palestinian Arab neighborhood in East Jerusalem. It is part of the area annexed and included in municipal Jerusalem following its occupation by Israel in 1967. This area includes an additional a ...
and
ar-Ram
Al-Ram ( ar, الرّام), also transcribed as Al-Ramm, El-Ram, Er-Ram, and A-Ram, is a Palestinian town which lies northeast of Jerusalem, just outside the city's municipal border. The village is part of the built-up urban area of Jerusalem, the ...
to the north.
Beit Hanina is divided by the
Israeli West Bank barrier
The Israeli West Bank barrier, comprising the West Bank Wall and the West Bank fence, is a separation barrier built by Israel along the Green Line and inside parts of the West Bank. It is a contentious element of the Israeli–Palestinian c ...
into Al-Jadida (the new village), which is located within the Israeli Jerusalem municipality and includes the vast majority of the built-up area, and Al-Balad (the old village), which lies outside the municipality.
[''High Court approves Bir Nabalah enclave'']
B'Tselem, 26 November 2006 The total area of Beit Hanina is 16.3 sq. kilometers (6.3 sq. miles) or 16,284
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 which 2,775 are built up.
[''Lands of Beit Hanina (Al-Balad) village threatened by the Israeli Segregation Wall'']
. Applied Research Institute (ARIJ), 8 August 2006
In 2007, Beit Hanina had a population of over 27,000, including 26,762 Jerusalem residents in the new village and 1,072 under
PNA administration.
Etymology
Literally, Beit Hanina means "House of Hanina," suggesting that it is named after a person, possibly a woman. Some scholars say that "Hanina" is derived from the Assyrian "Han-nina" which means "the one who deserves pity" (''hanan''). It could also be derived from the word ''hana'' meaning "camped."
[
]
Archeology
In June 2013, Israel Antiquities Authority
The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA, he, רשות העתיקות ; ar, داﺌرة الآثار, before 1990, the Israel Department of Antiquities) is an independent Israeli governmental authority responsible for enforcing the 1978 Law of ...
unearthed an 1800-year-old Roman road
Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...
in Beit Hanina. ''The Jerusalem Post
''The Jerusalem Post'' is a broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''The Palestine Post''. In 1950, it changed its name to ''The Jerusalem Post''. In 2004, the paper w ...
'' wrote about this discovery: "According to the Antiquities Authority, the 8-meter-wide road, which dates back to the Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...
, led from Jaffa
Jaffa, in Hebrew Yafo ( he, יָפוֹ, ) and in Arabic Yafa ( ar, يَافَا) and also called Japho or Joppa, the southern and oldest part of Tel Aviv-Yafo, is an ancient port city in Israel. Jaffa is known for its association with the b ...
to Jerusalem and was built with large flat stones and curbstones to create a surface that was comfortable for walking. Some of the stones were highly polished, indicating heavy pedestrian use, the authority added."
History
According to the 19th-century French traveler 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 ...
, Beit Hanina is the biblical Ananiah of the Tribe of Benjamin
According to the Torah, the Tribe of Benjamin () was one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. The tribe was descended from Benjamin, the youngest son of the patriarch Jacob (later given the name Israel) and his wife Rachel. In the Samaritan Pentateuc ...
. Edward Robinson concurred, but W.F. Albright
William Foxwell Albright (May 24, 1891– September 19, 1971) was an American archaeologist, biblical scholar, philologist, and expert on ceramics. He is considered "one of the twentieth century's most influential American biblical scholars." ...
maintained that Ananiah is the village of al-Eizariya
Bethany ( grc-gre, Βηθανία,Murphy-O'Connor, 2008, p152/ref> Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܥܢܝܐ ''Bēṯ ʿAnyā'') or what is locally known as Al-Eizariya or al-Azariya ( ar, العيزرية, " laceof Lazarus"), is a Palestinian town in the West ...
. Guerin also wrote that it was sometimes called Bayt Anina.[Guérin, 1868, p]
394
/ref>[Sharon, 1999, pp.]
9497
/ref>
In 636, Beit Hanina was annexed by the Islamic Caliphate
A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...
led by Umar Ibn al-Khattab
ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb ( ar, عمر بن الخطاب, also spelled Omar, ) was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () as the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate o ...
as a result of a decisive 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 ...
victory over the Byzantines at the Battle of Yarmouk
The Battle of the Yarmuk (also spelled Yarmouk) was a major battle between the army of the Byzantine Empire and the Muslim forces of the Rashidun Caliphate. The battle consisted of a series of engagements that lasted for six days in August 636, ...
. In the early centuries of Islamic
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the mai ...
rule over 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 ...
, Yemenite and Qaisi Arabs migrated to Beit Hanina. The economy was agricultural, based primarily on olive
The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' ...
s, figs
The fig is the edible fruit of ''Ficus carica'', a species of small tree in the flowering plant family Moraceae. Native to the Mediterranean and western Asia, it has been cultivated since ancient times and is now widely grown throughout the world ...
, barley
Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley pr ...
and bulgur
Bulgur (from tr, bulgur, itself from fa, بلغور, bolġur (bolghur)/balġur (balghur), groats ), also riffoth (from biblical he, ריפות, riffoth) and burghul (from ar, برغل, burġul ), is a cracked wheat dish found ...
.[Beit Hanina Community Center](_blank)
In 1099, Crusader armies captured Jerusalem, including Beit Hanina, inflicting heavy casualties on the Muslim population and causing most of the residents to flee. They later returned to cultivate their orchards and grain fields. The town was recaptured by the Ayyubid Dynasty
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 ...
led by Salah ad-Din
(, plural , romanized: or Old Arabic ͡sˤaˈloːh, ( or Old Arabic ͡sˤaˈloːtʰin construct state) ), also known as ( fa, نماز) and also spelled , are prayers performed by Muslims. Facing the , the direction of the Kaaba ...
. To ensure a Muslim majority and protect it from a renewed Crusader invasion, Salah ad-Din brought powerful Bedouin
The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert and A ...
tribes from the Negev
The Negev or Negeb (; he, הַנֶּגֶב, hanNegév; ar, ٱلنَّقَب, an-Naqab) is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its southe ...
desert and the northern Hejaz
The Hejaz (, also ; ar, ٱلْحِجَاز, al-Ḥijāz, lit=the Barrier, ) is a region in the west of Saudi Arabia. It includes the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif, and Baljurashi. It is also known as the "Western Provin ...
to settle in the area.
The Friday Mosque in Beit Hanina, Sultan Ibrahim Ibn Adham Mosque
The Sultan Ibrahim Ibn Adham Mosque ( ar, مسجد السلطان إبراهيم بن أدهم) is the largest mosque in the Palestinian town of Beit Hanina, located northeast of Jerusalem. It is named after a Muslim man who lived in the town and ...
, is dedicated to Ibrahim ibn Adham
Ibrahim ibn Adham also called Ibrahim Balkhi (); c. 718 – c. 782 / AH c. 100 – c. 165 is one of the most prominent of the early ascetic Sufi saints.
The story of his conversion is one of the most celebrated in Sufi legend, as that of a prin ...
, Guérin had noted it was dedicated to "Sidi Ibrahim".[ In 1927 ]Tawfiq Canaan
Tawfiq Canaan ( ar, توفيق كنعان) (24 September 1882 – 15 January 1964) was a pioneering Palestinian physician, medical researcher, ethnographer, and Palestinian nationalist. Born in Beit Jala during the rule of the Ottoman Empire, he s ...
published the inscription above the gate of the mosque, which commemorated its building in 637/1239-1240 CE.
Ottoman era
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) ...
in 1517 with all 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 ...
, and in 1596 Beit Hanina appeared in Ottoman 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 28 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, vineyards/fruit trees, goats and beehives, in addition to occasional revenues; a total of 10,300 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 ...
. All of the revenue went to a Muslim charitable endowment.
In 1838 Beit Hanina was noted as a Muslim village, located in the immediate surroundings of El-Kuds
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
.[Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p.]
121
/ref>
Guérin, who visited in 1863, estimated that the village had 300 inhabitants.[ ]Socin
Sozzini, Sozini, Socini or Socin is an Italian noble family originally from Siena in Tuscany, where the family were noted as bankers and merchants, jurists and humanist scholars. The family has been described as "the most famous legal dynasty of t ...
found from an official Ottoman village list from about 1870 that Beit Hanina had 65 houses and a population of 240, though the population count included only men. Hartmann found that ''Bet Hanina'' had 79 houses.
In 1883, the Palestine Exploration Fund
The Palestine Exploration Fund is a British society based in London. It was founded in 1865, shortly after the completion of the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem, and is the oldest known organization in the world created specifically for the study ...
'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 it as a "village of moderate size, of stone houses, standing on very rocky ground on the ridge between two valleys. It is surrounded with olives
The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' 'M ...
, and has springs to the west at some little distance. Vineyards also occur near the village."
In 1896 the population of ''Bet Hanina'' was estimated to be about 792 persons.
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, "Bait Hanina" had a population of 996, all Muslims
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 Abraha ...
,[Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Jerusalem, p]
14
/ref> increasing in the 1931 census to a population of 1226, still all Muslims, in 317 houses.[Mills, 1932, p]
38
/ref>
In the 1945 statistics Beit Hanina had a population of 1,590, all Muslims,[Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p]
24
/ref> with 14,948 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, 3,072 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 4,304 used for cereals, while 219 dunams were built-up 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,[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 ...](_blank)
ian rule. It was annexed by Jordan in 1950. Under Jordanian rule, new roads and schools were built, and many of the town's émigrés invested in the development of a modern suburb, then known as Ras al-Tariq, located to the east along the Jerusalem-Ramallah highway.
In 1961, the population of Beit Hanina was 3,067, of whom 332 were Christian, the rest Muslim.
Post-1967
The population in the 1967 census conducted by the Israeli authorities was 1,177, of whom 36 originated from the Israeli territory.
Israel expanded the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem to include the eastern section of Beit Hanina, now known as Beit Hanina al-Jadid, and formalized that policy in 1980.
In the post 1967 era, according to Ibrahim Mattar, "The first objective of the Israeli planners in drawing these new boundaries was to maximize the land area and minimize the Palestinian population to be included in greater East Jerusalem. By examining the map, one can identify a number of Palestinian villages which have been excluded from the boundaries of greater East Jerusalem but whose lands have been included in these boundaries. For example, in the west, the villages of Beit Iksa and Beit Hanina are considered outside the boundaries while their lands are inside."
According to ARIJ, Israel has confiscated 2, 927 dunams of land from Beit Hanina (33.1% of the total area) 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:
*1,458 dunams were taken for Pisgat Ze’ev,[Beit Hanina Town Profile](_blank)
pp. 13-14
*686 dunams were taken for Pisgat Amir,[
*551 dunams were taken for Neveh Ya’akov,][
*232 dunams were taken for Ramat Shlomo.]
In addition, Israel confiscated land from Beit Hanina el Balad (the old own):
*134 dunams for Ramot, Jerusalem
Ramot ( he, רָמוֹת, ''lit.'' Heights), also known as Ramot Alon ( he, רמות אלון), is an Israeli settlement and a Jewish neighborhood in the northern part of East Jerusalem. Ramot is one of Jerusalem's so-called " Ring neighborho ...
,[
*53 dunams for Ramat Shlomo][Beit Hanina al Balad Village Profile]
ARIJ, 2012, pp. 16-17
In addition, the 39% of the village land is isolated from the village by the Israeli West Bank barrier
The Israeli West Bank barrier, comprising the West Bank Wall and the West Bank fence, is a separation barrier built by Israel along the Green Line and inside parts of the West Bank. It is a contentious element of the Israeli–Palestinian c ...
.[
]
After 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. ...
, Israel began to build the Israeli West Bank barrier
The Israeli West Bank barrier, comprising the West Bank Wall and the West Bank fence, is a separation barrier built by Israel along the Green Line and inside parts of the West Bank. It is a contentious element of the Israeli–Palestinian c ...
, which separated the Jerusalem section of Beit Hanina from the West Bank. Due to its urban nature, the route near the town is part of the 10% which employs a concrete wall. The area has sometimes been the scene of clashes between the Israeli security forces and Palestinian militant factions.
On 18 April 2012, a Palestinian family, the Natshehs, was evicted from two houses in the wake of an Israeli court decision that the land was owned by Jews. The Israel Land Fund had purchased the buildings in 1977 as part of a plan for a Jewish neighborhood of 50 apartments called "Nof Shmuel."[Lidman, Melani]
Arab family evicted in Jerusalem, Jews move in
''The Jerusalem Post
''The Jerusalem Post'' is a broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''The Palestine Post''. In 1950, it changed its name to ''The Jerusalem Post''. In 2004, the paper w ...
''. 2012-04-18. The Natsheh family stated that the documents were forged and that family members had owned part of the property since the 1940s, but the Israeli court dismissed it citing lack of evidence. The European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
condemned the eviction, and said they were very concerned by the plans to build a new settlement "in the midst of this traditional Palestinian neighborhood."[ On 27 April 2012 about 150 Palestinian, Israeli and foreign activists staged a protest that led to clashes with ]Israeli police
The Israel Police ( he, משטרת ישראל, ''Mišteret Yisra'el''; ar, شرطة إسرائيل, ''Shurtat Isrāʼīl'') is the civilian police force of Israel. As with most other police forces in the world, its duties include crime fightin ...
.
After the 1995 accords, 12.2% of the village land is classified 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 87.8% were classified as Area C.
In 2012, a street in Beit Hanina was named for Umm Khulthum. Nasreen Kadari, winner of the TV reality show ''Eyal Golan is Calling You'', sang one of the Egyptian singer's famous songs, "Enta Omri", at the ceremony.
Since 2012, two houses are populated by Jews.
An Israeli news site, Ynetnews.com, reported on 27 February 2014 on a report by the Palestinian newspaper ''Al-Quds'' that claimed that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party (Unite ...
offered in his discussions with Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas ( ar, مَحْمُود عَبَّاس, Maḥmūd ʿAbbās; born 15 November 1935), also known by the kunya Abu Mazen ( ar, أَبُو مَازِن, links=no, ), is the president of the State of Palestine and the Palestinian Natio ...
, president of the Palestinian Authority
The Palestinian National Authority (PA or PNA; ar, السلطة الوطنية الفلسطينية '), commonly known as the Palestinian Authority and officially the State of Palestine, , to make Beit Hanina the capital of a future Palestinian state. According to ''Al-Quds,'' Kerry demanded Abbas to officially recognize Israel as a Jewish state and offered that Beit Hanina neighborhood will be declared as the Palestinian capital instead of the entire east Jerusalem area.
Education
The College of Daawa and Religious Principles was established in Beit Hanina in 1978. A branch of al-Quds University
Al-Quds University ( ar, جامعة القدس) is a Palestinian university with campuses in Jerusalem, Abu Dis, al-Bireh, and Hebron.
Overview
The idea of establishing an institution of higher learning in the outskirts of Jerusalem was con ...
is also located there.
There are four mosques in Beit Hanina: Sultan Ibrahim Ibn Adham Mosque
The Sultan Ibrahim Ibn Adham Mosque ( ar, مسجد السلطان إبراهيم بن أدهم) is the largest mosque in the Palestinian town of Beit Hanina, located northeast of Jerusalem. It is named after a Muslim man who lived in the town and ...
, Bader Mosque, Mosque of Religion College, and Mosque of Teacher's Suburb. Christian school
A Christian school is a school run on Christian principles or by a Christian organization.
The nature of Christian schools varies enormously from country to country, according to the religious, educational, and political cultures. In some countr ...
s include the Rosary Sisters and De La Salle. College des Freres built a new school in Beit Hanina in 2000. The Catholic Church runs a community center and St. Jacob's Church. In 2012, the Beit Hanina Girls School, serving grades 5-12, was renovated with funding from the Japanese government.
Transportation
The neighbourhood's Main Street, Beit Hanina Road, was previously part of route 60. In the 1990s a new route was built to the east of the neighbourhood, a dual carriageway with 3 lanes in each direction, relieving traffic congestion
Traffic congestion is a condition in transport that is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. Traffic congestion on urban road networks has increased substantially since the 1950s. When traffic de ...
along the road. The Jerusalem Light Rail
Jerusalem Light Rail ( he, הרכבת הקלה בירושלים, ''HaRakevet HaKala Birushalayim'', ar, قطار القدس الخفيف, ''Qiṭār Al-Quds Al-Khafīf'') is a light rail system in Jerusalem. Currently, the Red Line is the o ...
has a stop in Beit Hanina.
In 2011, Israel began constructing a road that would link East Jerusalem
East Jerusalem (, ; , ) is the sector of Jerusalem that was held by Jordan during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, as opposed to the western sector of the city, West Jerusalem, which was held by Israel.
Jerusalem was envisaged as a separat ...
neighborhoods, including Beit Hanina, to the center of West Jerusalem
West Jerusalem or Western Jerusalem (, ; , ) refers to the section of Jerusalem that was controlled by Israel at the end of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. As the city was divided by the Green Line (Israel's erstwhile border, established by t ...
. According to the Israeli newspaper, ''Haaretz
''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner f ...
'', "Peace Now representatives argue that the 'road's current route isn't legal, since the plan designates occupied territory for permanent infrastructures for the occupying power, while completely disregarding the needs of the Palestinian residents in Beit Hanina and the area.'"
People connected to Beit Hanina
Abdel Hamid Shoman, a native of Beit Hanina, founded the Arab Bank
Arab Bank is one of the largest financial institutions in the Middle East, founded in 1930 in Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine, as the first private sector financial institution in the Arab world. Headquartered today in Amman, Jordan, it serves c ...
. His son, Abdul-Majid Shoman, succeeded his father as the chairman of the Arab Bank in 1974. In 2005, ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' reported on the death of Abdul-Majid Shoman and explained that "Mr. Shoman was from a prominent Palestinian family from the West Bank town of Beit Hanina. His father, Abdul-Hamid Shoman, established the first branch of the Arab Bank in Jerusalem in 1930. The bank was a symbol of Palestinian aspirations, representing a drive to create financial institutions for a new nation." According to Lawrence Joffe,"Often Shoman rescued Jordan from fiscal disaster. In 2000 he released funds to support the Jordanian dinar, which had collapsed after King Hussein died."
Guy Delisle
Guy Delisle (born January 19, 1966) is a Canadian cartoonist and animator, best known for his graphic novels about his travels, such as ''Shenzhen'' (2000), '' Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea'' (2003), ''Burma Chronicles'' (2007), and ''Jerusa ...
depicted his 2008-2009 stay in Beit Hanina in Jerusalem (comics).
In 2010, Akiva Eldar
Akiva Eldar ( he, עקיבא אלדר; born 27 November 1945) is a political analyst, author and contributor to Israeli daily Haaretz. He was chief political columnist, editorial writer and US Bureau Chief for the paper,[Salam Fayyad
Salam Fayyad ( ar, سلام فياض, ; born 1951 or 12 April 1952) is a Jordanian-Palestinian politician and former Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority and Finance Minister.
He was Finance Minister from June 2002 to November 2005 and ...]
, lived in Beit Hanina. Eldar wrote: "Last Tuesday we accompanied the Palestinian prime minister during his workday as a state-builder. Early in the morning his black Mercedes left the well-guarded villa in the Beit Hanina neighborhood on Jerusalem's northern outskirts. There Fayyad lives with his wife and his younger son, a student at a high school in the city."
Environmental issues
Since Beit Hanina is an east Jerusalem village, it has the same environmental concerns as the rest of Palestine and Israel. In the journal article,"Scenario Development for 2050 for the Israeli/Palestinian Water Sector," Jonathan Chenoweth describes what can happen as the population increases with regard to water scarcity
Water scarcity (closely related to water stress or water crisis) is the lack of fresh water Water resources, resources to meet the standard water demand. There are two types of water scarcity: physical or economic water scarcity. Physical water ...
. Chenoweth states,"Already Israel and Palestine have very low water resources availability compared to the global average (Food and Agriculture Organization, 2004). In the case of Palestine, this water scarcity directly impacts upon daily life and economic activity for much of the population. With rapid population growth in the region and water resources already inadequate, the long-term hydrological future of region appears problematic."
References
Bibliography
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External links
Palestine Remembered: Welcome To Bayt Hanina
*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 17
IAA
Wikimedia commons
Wikimedia Commons (or simply Commons) is a media repository of free-to-use images, sounds, videos and other media. It is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation.
Files from Wikimedia Commons can be used across all of the Wikimedia projects in ...
Beit Hanina 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 project ...
; (ARIJ)
Beit Hanina Town Profile
ARIJ
Beit Hanina aerial photo
ARIJ
Bayt Hanina Al Balad Village (Fact Sheet)
ARIJ
Beit Hanina al Balad Village Profile
ARIJ
Beit Hanina al Balad aerial photo
ARIJ
Ethnic Cleansing in Beit Hanina
12, September, 2006, ARIJ
Beit Hanina Town, Israeli Settlements' occupying its land … A wall dissecting its people and a new Bypass Road increases the suffering of its people.
09, April, 2009, ARIJ
Two residential Complexes in Beit Hanina city are notified with demolition
08, March, 2011, ARIJ
{{Authority control
Seam Zone
Villages in the West Bank
Jerusalem Governorate
Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem
Municipalities of the State of Palestine