Kafr Ein ( ar, كفر عين) is a
Palestinian 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 northwest 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 ...
in the central
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 ...
. 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), Kafr Ein had a population of 1,743 inhabitants in 2007. Most of the village's population comes from the
Barghouti, Rifa' and Rafati clans.
Location
Kafr 'Ein is located 17.7 km northwest 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 ...
. It is bordered by
Qarawat Bani Zeid,
Bani Zeid ash Sharqiya
Bani Zeid al-Sharqiya ( ar, بني زيد الشرقية) is a Palestinian town in the northern West Bank, located north of Ramallah in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate. It was formed as a result of a merger of the villages of 'Arura, Mazari ...
and
Deir as Sudan to the east,
Bruqin to the north,
Bani Zeid to the west, and
An Nabi Salih to the south.
History
Kafr Ein is transliterated as "spring village". The village contains ten springs and ten reservoirs, one of which was recently damaged.
It is believed that there is an ancient site at the top of a local mountain known as ''Haraek'', which contains a church and a mosque. According to local legend, the site was destroyed during the
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...
and the single villager who survived its destruction came down to found Kafr Ein.
[Kafr Ein Village Profile](_blank)
International Women's Peace Service
Ottoman era
Potsherd
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 early
Ottoman era have been found. It is noted in the Ottoman
tax records of the 16th century as being located in the
Sanjak
Sanjaks (liwāʾ) (plural form: alwiyāʾ)
* Armenian language, Armenian: նահանգ (''nahang''; meaning "province")
* Bulgarian language, Bulgarian: окръг (''okrǔg''; meaning "county", "province", or "region")
* el, Διοίκησι ...
of
Al-Quds
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
.
Kafr Ein was ruled by the
Barghouti family throughout the later half of the Ottoman rule 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 ...
, located within the sheikhdom of
Bani Zeid. It produced 52 ''
qintars'' of
olive oil
Olive oil is a liquid fat obtained from olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea''; family Oleaceae), a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin, produced by pressing whole olives and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking: f ...
annually, exporting it to
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
or
Nablus
Nablus ( ; ar, نابلس, Nābulus ; he, שכם, Šəḵem, ISO 259-3: ; Samaritan Hebrew: , romanized: ; el, Νεάπολις, Νeápolis) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank, located approximately north of Jerusalem, with a populati ...
mainly for
traditional soap-making.
In 1838, it was noted under the name of ''Kefr Iyan'' 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 District of ''Beni Zaid,'' north of Jerusalem.
[Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p.]
125
/ref>
The French explorer 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 ...
passed by the village in 1870, and noted that it "did not seem very considerable," while an Ottoman village list of about the same year showed a population of 260, in 69 houses, though the population count only included men.
In 1882, the PEF's '' Survey of Western Palestine'' described "Kefr Ain" as a "small hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
on a hill-slope, supplied by the ''Ain Mathrun''."
In 1896 the population of ''Kefr ‘ain'' was estimated to be about 516 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, the village, called ''Kufr 'Ain,'' had a population of 376, 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 ...
s,[Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Ramallah, p.]
16
/ref> increasing in the 1931 census where ''In Kafr'' had a population of 494, still all Muslims, in a total of 133 houses.[Mills, 1932, p]
49
/ref>
In the 1945 statistics, the population was 550 Muslims, while the total land area was 7,145 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. Of this, 4,928 were allocated for plantations and irrigable land, 724 for cereals, while 19 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 annexation of the West Bank formally occurred on 24 April 1950, after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, during which Transjordan occupied territory that had previously been part of Mandatory PalestineRaphael Israeli, Jerusalem divi ...](_blank)
.
The Jordanian census of 1961 found 1,095 inhabitants in ''Kafr 'Ain''.
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 Ein has been held 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, 97.4% of Kafr Ein land was classified as Area A
Area is the quantity that expresses the extent of a region on the plane or on a curved surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while '' surface area'' refers to the area of an open s ...
land, 1.4% 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 ...
, while the remaining 1.2% is classified as Area C.Kafr 'Ein (Village profile)
ARIJ, 2012, p. 15
Economy
Historically, like most Palestinian villages, Kafr Ein's inhabitants worked mostly as farmers and traders. Prior to 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. ...
, around 10% of the village's residents worked in Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
. Kafr Ein's main cash crop is olives. However, lentil
The lentil (''Lens culinaris'' or ''Lens esculenta'') is an edible legume. It is an annual plant known for its lens-shaped seeds. It is about tall, and the seeds grow in pods, usually with two seeds in each. As a food crop, the largest pro ...
s, grains and vegetables are also grown. There are an estimated 200 sheep and goats in the village.
In 1980, electricity was connected to Kafr Ein. There are ten shops and a school in the village, as well another shared with Qarawat Bani Zeid. Many residents receive aid from the Red Cross
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...
and the UNRWA
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is a UN agency that supports the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees. UNRWA's mandate encompasses Palestinians displaced by the 1948 P ...
.
Government
Kafr Ein is governed by a village council. The council is made up of six residents who represent the four major families. The current mayor, Mohammed Rifa', was appointed by the Palestinian National Authority
The Palestinian National Authority (PA or PNA; ar, السلطة الوطنية الفلسطينية '), commonly known as the Palestinian Authority and officially the State of Palestine, in 1998.
References
Bibliography
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External links
Welcome To Kafr 'Ayn
*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 14:
IAA
Wikimedia commons
Kafr 'Ein (Fact Sheet)
Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem (ARIJ)
Kafr 'Ein (Village profile)
ARIJ
Kafr 'Ein (aerial photo)
ARIJ
Locality Development Priorities and Needs in Kafr 'Ein Village
ARIJ
{{Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate
Villages in the West Bank
Municipalities of the State of Palestine