Burham ( ar, بُرهام) 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

Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate The Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate ( ar, محافظة رام الله والبيرة ') is one of 16 governorates of Palestine. It covers a large part of the central West Bank, on the northern border of the Jerusalem Governorate. Its district ...

located twelve kilometers north of

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 ...

. The largest nearby town is

Bir Zeit Birzeit ( ar, بيرزيت), also Bir Zeit, is a State of Palestine, Palestinian Palestinian Christians, Christian town north of Ramallah, in the central West Bank. Its population in the 2007 census was 4,529. Birzeit is the home to Birzeit Unive ...

located to the southeast. The average elevation of Burham is 680 meters above sea level.Welcome to Burham
/ref> The village was established during the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

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 ...

Location

Burham is located 9.8 km north of

. It is bordered by

'Atara Atara ( ar, عطارة ''Atâra'') is a Palestinian village in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, located 15 kilometers north of Ramallah in the central West Bank. A village of nearly 2,300 inhabitants, it is situated along a mountain ridge l ...

and

to the east,

Umm Safa Umm Safa/Kafr Ishwa ( ar, أم صفا) or Um Al-Safa is a Palestinian village in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate. Location Umm Safa is located north of Ramallah. It is bordered by 'Ajjul and 'Atara to the east, Deir as Sudan and Ajj ...

and

Jibiya Jibia, (or Jibiya), is a town and Local Government Area (LGA) in Katsina State, northern Nigeria. The population of the LGA was approximately 125,000 as of 2003, and the area is 1037 km2. The postal code of the area is 822. Jibia sits alo ...

to the north,

Kobar Kobar ( ar, كوبر) is a Palestinian village in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the northern West Bank. Kobar is located at an altitude of above sea level with a mean annual rainfall of 669.8 mm. The average annual temperature is 1 ...

to the west, and Bir Zeit and Kobar to the south.

History

Sherd In archaeology, a sherd, or more precisely, potsherd, is commonly a historic or prehistoric fragment of pottery, although the term is occasionally used to refer to fragments of stone and glass vessels, as well. Occasionally, a piece of broken p ...

s from the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

and

Mamluk Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning " slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') ...

eras have been found here.Finkelstein and Lederman, 1997, p. 408

Ottoman era

Sherds from the early Ottoman era have also been found. Under the name of ''Dayr Burhan'' it was listed in the 1538-1539

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

. In 1838 it was noted as a

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 ...

village in the

Bani Zeid Bani Zeid ( ar, بني زيد) is a Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the north-central West Bank, located northwest of Ramallah, about 45 kilometers northwest of Jerusalem and about southwest of Salfit. A town of ov ...

administrative region.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p.
125
/ref> In 1863

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 ...

noted that it was divided into three parts. He further noted "an ancient rock-cut tomb consisting of a rough sepulchral chamber containing only one ''koka'', and preceded by a vestibule. Here and there are old foundations built of badly quarried stones. There are also remains, probably of an ancient church." An official Ottoman village list of about 1870 showed that it had a total of 14 houses and a population of 69, though the population count included men, only. In 1882, the PEF'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 ...

'' (SWP) described ''Khurbet Burheim'' as: "A few houses on high ground."Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p
290
/ref> They further noted that it was "A ruined village, with caves. It is still inhabited by a few peasants."Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p
330
/ref>

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, ''Burham'' had a population of 74 Muslims,Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Ramallah, p
16
/ref> increasing at the time of the 1931 census to 122, still all Muslim, in 26 houses.Mills, 1932, p
48
/ref> In the 1945 statistics, the population was 150 Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p
26
/ref> while the total land area was 1,589

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, according to an official land and population survey.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p
64
/ref> Of this, 191 were for plantations and irrigable land, 787 for cereals, while 6 dunams were classified as built-up 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 The 1949 Armistice Agreements were signed between Israel and Egypt,Jordanian rule. The Jordanian census of 1961 found 167 inhabitants.

Post-1967

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, Burham 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, 98% of village land 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 ...

land, while the remaining 2% is defined as Area C. 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 ...

, Burham had a population of 565 in mid-year 2006. In the 2007 census by the PCBS, there were 616 people living in the town.2007 PCBS Census

. p.112.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

Welcome to Burham
*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 14
IAAWikimedia commons

Burham village (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)
Burham village profile
ARIJ
Burham, aerial photo
ARIJ
Locality Development Priorities and Needs in Burham Village
ARIJ
Untold stories: Said Arouri
IMEU {{Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate Villages in the West Bank