Jayyous

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 inhabitants in 2006.

Location

Jayyus (including Khirbet Sir) is located - northeast of Qalqiliya. It is bordered by Baqat al Hatab and Kafr Laqif to the east, Kafr Jamal, Kafr Zibad and Kafr ‘Abbush to the south, ‘Azzun ‘Izbat at Tabib, An Nabi Elyas and ‘Arab Abu Farda to the west, and the Green Line to the north.

History

At ''Khirbet Sir'', just east of Jayyus, two rock-cut tombs have been found, with a large mound with terraces cut in the sides, and a good well below. Byzantine ceramics have also been found.

Ottoman era

Jayyus was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517 with all of Palestine, and in 1596 it appeared in the tax registers as being in the ''Nahiya'' of Bani Sa'b of the '' Liwa'' of Nablus. It had a population of 24 households and 6 bachelors, all Muslim. The villagers paid taxes on wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, occasional revenues, goats and/or beehives; a total of 11,746 akçe. Half of the revenue went to a Muslim charitable endowment.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 140

In 1838, Robinson noted the village, called ''Jiyus'', as being in the ''Beni Sa'ab'' district, west of Nablus.

In 1882, the PEF's ''Survey of Western Palestine'' described ''Jiyus'' as a "moderate-sized stone village on a ridge, with olives to the south-east. It appears to be an ancient site, having rock-cut tombs and ancient wells."

In the 19th century and early 20th century the village was dominated by the Palestinian el-Jayusah or Jayyusi clan.

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, ''Jaiyus'' had a population of 433, all Muslims,Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Tulkarem, p
28
/ref> increasing in the 1931 census to 569, again all Muslim, in a total of 147 houses.

In the 1945 statistics the population of Jayyus consisted of 830 MuslimsDepartment of Statistics, 1945, p
20
/ref> with a land area of 12,571 dunams according to an official land and population survey.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p
75
/ref> Of this, 1,556 dunams were designated for plantations and irrigable land, 2,155 for cereals, while 22 dunams were built-up areas.

File:Jaiyus 1943.jpg, Jayyous 1943 1:20,000
File:Azzun 1945.jpg, Jayyous 1945 1:250,000

Jordanian era

In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements