Kafr ad-Dik ( ar, كفر الديك) is a Palestinian town located 9.5 kilometers west of Salfit in the Salfit Governorate, 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 ...

and eight kilometers east of the

Green Line Green Line may refer to: Places Military and political * Green Line (France), the German occupation line in France during World War II * Green Line (Israel), the 1949 armistice line established between Israel and its neighbours ** City Line ( ...

. 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 ...

(PCBS), the town had a population of 4,453 in 2007.2007 PCBS Census

. p. 112.House Demolitions warnings in Kafr ad Dik village
Applied Research Institute Jerusalem 2007-05-07. Approximately 70% of the families in Kafr ad-Dik are dependent on agriculture as the main source of income, while the remaining 30% work in the private and public sectors. The unemployment rate in the town is 60%. The town's total land area consists of 15,228

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 578 dunams are built-up. However, 119 of those dunums is located outside Kafr ad-Dik's jurisdiction. There are five

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 built on 1,448 dunams of Kafr ad-Dik's land and the population of the settlers is 2,062. As a result of the

Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip The Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip commonly known as Oslo II or Oslo 2, was a key and complex agreement in the Israeli–Palestinian peace process. Because Oslo II was signed in Taba, it is sometimes called the Taba Agree ...

, the Palestinian National Authority controls the civil affairs of 1,953 dunums of Kafr ad-Dik's land (

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 ...

), while 13,275 dunams are classified as Area C, which is under full Israeli control.

Location

Kafr ad Dik located west of Salfit. It is bordered by Bruqin to the east, Bani Zaid to the south,

Rafat Rafat or RAFAT may refer to: *Rafat, Jerusalem, Palestinian town in Jerusalem Governorate *Rafat, Salfit, Palestinian town in Salfit Governorate *Rafat (given name) * Rafat (surname) * Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, also known as the Red Arrows. S ...

and Deir Ballut to the west, and Biddya and Sarta to the north.

History

It has been suggested that this is the place mentioned in Crusader sources under the name of ''Caphaer''; a village connected with the Casale Santa Maria. In 1175, Crusader sources mentions a former

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 ...

-keeper of the village. In 1176, the revenues from ''Caphaer'' (=Kafr ad-Dik) and ''caslia S. Maria'' (= Aboud) were given for the provision of white bread for the sick in the Hospital in Jerusalem. The

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

the

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'') ...

Sultan

Qaitbay Sultan Abu Al-Nasr Sayf ad-Din Al-Ashraf Qaitbay ( ar, السلطان أبو النصر سيف الدين الأشرف قايتباي) (c. 1416/14187 August 1496) was the eighteenth Burji Mamluk Sultan of Egypt from 872 to 901 A.H. (1468–14 ...

(1468-1496 C.E.) have been found in a

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

in the village.

Ottoman era

It has been suggested that this village is the ''Kafr Bani Hamid'' of the 1596 Ottoman tax records, with 83 Muslim families. In 1838 it was noted as a village ''el-Kufr'', part of the ''Jurat Merda'' district, south of Nablus. In 1870

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 ...

found here very considerable remains. They included two birkets cut in the rock, one 15 paces long by 12 broad, the other not quite so large; about 30

s and 20 tombs cut in the rock, some with sepulchral chambers, their walls pierced with

loculi Loculi ( sc, Lòcula) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Nuoro in the Italian region Sardinia, located about northeast of Cagliari and about northeast of Nuoro. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 538 and an area of . ...

, others simple graves, either intended for a single body or having right and left vaulted tombs with arcosolia. These graves were formerly covered with stone slabs. There were also several

lintel A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented structural item. In the case of w ...

s, decorated with the rectangular

cartouche In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an oval with a line at one end tangent to it, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The first examples of the cartouche are associated with pharaohs at the end of the Third Dynasty, but the fea ...

, on either side of which were triangles, and in the middle a cross. There are four mosques, built with stones and

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

s belonging to a Christian church. There is also a square tower, measuring 7 paces on each side. It is lit by loopholes, and is covered with immense slabs forming a roof, and supported by vaulted arcades. Within it is a cistern. On the lintel is a cross with equal branches inserted in a circle near four semicircles, which lie in a four-leaved rose. This tower formed part of a larger building, now destroyed. Guérin noticed houses which were constructed from red and white stone masonry, as in

Deir Ghassaneh 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 ...

and

Beit Rima 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 ...

. In 1882, the PEF's '' Survey of Western Palestine'' described the village as being "of moderate size on the hillside, and an ancient site, having rock-cut tombs to the east."

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, Kufr al-Dik had a population of 487, all

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 ...

,Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Nablus, p
26
/ref> increasing in the 1931 census to 665, still all Muslim, in 139 houses.Mills, 1932, p
61
In the 1945 statistics the population was 870, all Muslims, while the total land area was 15,308

s, according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 2,075 were used for plantations and irrigable land, 2,603 for cereals, while 58 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,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 ...

ian rule. It was annexed by Jordan in 1950. In 1961, the population was 1,365.

1967-present

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, Kafr ad-Dik 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, 14.5% of village land was classified as

, the remaining 85.5% as Area C. Israel has confiscated land from Kafr ad-Dik for

s numerous times, including: *594 dunams for Pedu'el, *300 dunams for Alei Zahav, *144 dunams for Har Alei Zahav, and *246 dunams for an industrial zone, near Pedu'el. After an Israeli court approved the expropriation of 3,000 dunams (750 acres) of private Palestinian land in Kafr ad-Dik's Thahir Subih neighborhood, bulldozers were called in and reportedly uprooted dozens of olive trees and fruit trees while leveling over 10,000 dunams (2,500 acres). The Israel Civil Administration spokesperson said the works related to a state-backed plan to develop the area's agriculture. In Israel's view, the spokesperson added, these are Israeli state lands.'Israeli bulldozers 'level Palestinian land, uproot trees' near Salfit,'
Ma'an News Agency 29 June 2014.

References

Bibliography

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

External links

Welcome To Kafr al-DikKufr ad-Dik
IWPS *Survey of Western Palestine, Map 14:
IAAWikimedia commons

Kafr Ad Dik Town (Fact Sheet)
Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem (ARIJ)
Kafr ad Dik Town Profile
ARIJ
Kafr ad Dik aerial photo
ARIJ
Kfar Ad Dik and Deir Ballut in Salfit Governorate receive New Land confiscation Order
10, January, 2007, POICA
More of Bruqin's and Kafr Ad dik's land are targeted by the Segregation Wall
05, March, 2007, POICA
House Demolitions warnings in Kafr ad Dik village
07, May, 2007, POICA
The Israeli Occupation Forces re-closes Kafr ad Dik main entrance
05, February, 2010, POICA
Colonial Expansion amplified on Lands of Kafr ad Dik village
03, December, 2010, POICA
Expansions in Eli Zahav and Bedouil Colonies in Kafr ad Dik
05, July, 2011, POICA
Demolishing 22 Structures in Kafr ad Dik town - Salfit Governorate
06, October, 2011, POICA
Demolition Orders in Kafr ad Dik- Salfit Governorate
11, October, 2011, POICA
Blocking Kafr ad Dik Entrance
28, January, 2012, POICA
Demolishing Cisterns and Sheds in Kafr ad Dik
19, April, 2012, POICA
Kafr ad-Dik
{{Authority control Towns in Salfit Governorate Salfit Governorate Municipalities of West Bank Municipalities of the State of Palestine