Kafr Qasim ( ar, كفر قاسم, he, כַּפְר קָאסִם), also spelled as Kafr Qassem, Kufur Kassem, Kfar Kassem and Kafar Kassem, is a hill-top city 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 ...

with an

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

population. It is located about east of

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

, on the Israeli side of the Green Line separating Israel and the

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 ...

, in the southern portion of the " Little Triangle" of Arab-Israeli towns and villages. In its population was . The town was the site of the

Kafr Qasim massacre The Kafr Qasim massacre took place in the Israeli Arab village of Kafr Qasim situated on the Green Line, at that time, the de facto border between Israel and the Jordanian West Bank on October 29, 1956. It was carried out by the Israel Bor ...

, in which the

Israel Border Police The Israel Border Police ( he, מִשְׁמַר הַגְּבוּל, Mišmar Ha-Gvul) is the gendarmerie and border security branch of the Israel National Police. It is also commonly known by its Hebrew abbreviation Magav (), meaning border gua ...

killed 49 civilians on October 29, 1956. On February 12, 2008, Israeli Minister of the Interior

Meir Sheetrit Meir Sheetrit ( he, מאיר שטרית, born 10 October 1948) is an Israeli politician. He served as a member of the Knesset in two spells for Likud between 1981 and 1988, and again from 1992 until 2005, when he joined Kadima. He remained a Kne ...

declared Kafr Qasim a city in a ceremony held at the town.

History

The town's area was populated in ancient times, based on remains from the

Middle Paleolithic The Middle Paleolithic (or Middle Palaeolithic) is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. The term Middle Stone Age is used as an equivalent or a synonym for the Middle Paleoli ...

period found in the Qesem Cave.

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 ...

s, a winepress and terraced fields have also been documented, together with remains from the

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 ...

era.

Ottoman Empire

In 1838, during the Ottoman period, 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, ''Kefr Kasim'', in ''Jurat Merda'', south of

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 ...

.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p.
126
/ref>

Charles van de Velde Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

visited the site in 1851–52, noting "the many ancient stones used in the construction of the present houses and many other remains indicating an ancient site." 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 ...

visited the village, which he called ''Kafr Kasim''. He found the place to be "the site of a more ancient town, as is shown by cisterns and the mass of rubbish found outside the present village". The village had about four hundred inhabitants. 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 ...

'' described the village as being of moderate size, with buildings constructed principally of

adobe Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for ''mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of e ...

, on low hill in open ground. The survey also noted the existence of a

rock-cut tomb A rock-cut tomb is a burial chamber that is cut into an existing, naturally occurring rock formation, so a type of rock-cut architecture. They are usually cut into a cliff or sloping rock face, but may go downward in fairly flat ground. It was a ...

to the south of the village.

British Mandate

In 1917, during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Kafr Qasim (together with the rest of the area) was captured from the ruling

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) ...

by the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

and was later placed under the

British Mandate of Palestine British Mandate of Palestine or Palestine Mandate most often refers to: * Mandate for Palestine: a League of Nations mandate under which the British controlled an area which included Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan. * Mandatory P ...

. 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 ...

''Kufr Quasem'' had a population of 661, all Muslims,Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Nablus p
26
/ref> increasing in the 1931 census to 989, still all Muslims, in a total of 241 houses.Mills, 1932, p
64
/ref> In

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. Januar ...

the population of Kafr Qasim was 1,460, all Muslims, who owned 12,765

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. 239 dunams were for citrus and bananas, 491 were plantations and irrigable land, and 8,980 were planted with cereals, while 58 dunams were built-up (urban) land. Kfar Qasim 1941

Israel

20th century

Israeli military advances came to a halt at Kafr Qasim during the

1948 Arab-Israeli War Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

. In 1949, Israel annexed the town in accordance with the

1949 Armistice Agreements The 1949 Armistice Agreements were signed between Israel and Egypt,joint Israeli, French and British invasion of Egypt, Israel moved up the time of the local

curfew A curfew is a government order specifying a time during which certain regulations apply. Typically, curfews order all people affected by them to ''not'' be in public places or on roads within a certain time frame, typically in the evening and ...

as it was concerned that nearby Jordan would enter the fighting. After the curfew started, a platoon of

Israeli border police The Israel Border Police ( he, מִשְׁמַר הַגְּבוּל, Mišmar Ha-Gvul) is the gendarmerie and Border guard, border security branch of the Israel Police, Israel National Police. It is also commonly known by its Hebrew abbreviation ...

who had been sent to the area encountered and killed 49 villagers returning to Kafr Qasim from their work in the fields. Though the village head had been informed a half an hour before the military curfew started, he informed the Israeli commander that the

fellahin A fellah ( ar, فَلَّاح ; feminine ; plural ''fellaheen'' or ''fellahin'', , ) is a peasant, usually a farmer or agricultural laborer in the Middle East and North Africa. The word derives from the Arabic word for "ploughman" or "tiller". ...

and shepherds could not be notified in time that the curfew had been imposed. The incident became known as the

. In October 2021, the President of Israel

Isaac Herzog Isaac "Bougie" Herzog ( he, יצחק "בוז׳י" הרצוג, Yitskhak "Buzhi" Hertsog; born 22 September 1960) is an Israeli politician who has been serving as the 11th president of Israel since 2021. He is the first president to be born in ...

made an official apology for the 1956 massacre, on behalf of the state. In 1959, the town was granted local council status by the

Israeli Interior Ministry The Ministry of Interior ( he, משרד הפנים, ''Misrad HaPnim''; ar, وزارة الداخلية) in the State of Israel is one of the government offices that is responsible for local government, citizenship and residency, identity cards ...

21st century

Sheikh Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonly designates a chief of a ...

Abdullah Nimar Darwish Sheikh Abdullah Nimar Darwish (1948 – 14 May 2017) was the founder of the Islamic Movement in Israel. Biography Darwish was born in Kafr Qasim in 1948. After completing his religious studies in Nablus, he returned to Kafr Qasim and began advoc ...

started the Islamic Movement. Israeli parliamentarian

Ibrahim Sarsur Sheikh Ibrahim Sarsur ( ar, ابراهيم صرصور, he, אִבְרָהִים צַרְצוּר; born 2 February 1959) is an Israeli Arab politician. A former leader of the United Arab List, he represented the party in the Knesset from 2006 to ...

, a native of Kafr Qasim, served for a decade on the

town council A town council, city council or municipal council is a form of local government for small municipalities. Usage of the term varies under different jurisdictions. Republic of Ireland Town Councils in the Republic of Ireland were the second ti ...

and heads the southern faction of the Islamic Movement of Israel since 1999. In December 2007, President

Shimon Peres Shimon Peres (; he, שמעון פרס ; born Szymon Perski; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the ninth president of ...

formally apologised for the Kafr Qasim massacre.President Peres apologizes for Kafr Qasem massacre of 1956
Haaretz, 21 December 2007 In 2007 development plans for the industrial and logistical area Lev HaAretz were approved. Development started in 2008.

Steimatzky Steimatzky ( he, סטימצקי) is the oldest and largest bookstore chain in Israel. History Under Tzvi Steimatzky, 1920–25 The first store was opened by Tzvi Steimatzky in 1920 in Tel Aviv, 6 Herzl St. Under Yechezkel Steimatzky, 1925–63 ...

is one of many companies who moved into this area. Also in 2008, the Ministry of the Interior announced that Kafr Qasim would become a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

.Majadele: New Arab city will bolster our sense of belonging
/ref>

Demographics

According to the

Israel Central Bureau of Statistics The Israel Central Bureau of Statistics ( he, הלשכה המרכזית לסטטיסטיקה, ''HaLishka HaMerkazit LiStatistika''; ar, دائرة الإحصاء المركزية الإسرائيلية), abbreviated CBS, is an Israeli government ...

, the town had 21,100 mostly

inhabitants at the end of 2012. There are 936 females for every 1,000 males. The population increases at an annual rate of 2.7%. The social-economic rank of the town is relatively low (3 out of 10). Only 50.2% of 12th graders were eligible for graduation (''Bagrut'') certificates in 2000. The average monthly wage in 2000 was 3,633

NIS Nis, Niš, NiS or NIS may refer to: Places * Niš, a city in Serbia * Nis, Iran, a village * Ness, Lewis ( gd, Nis, links=no), a village in the Outer Hebrides islands Businesses and organizations * Naftna Industrija Srbije, Petroleum Industry o ...

, as opposed to the national average of 6,835 NIS at that time. Bodek Architects Kfar Qassem Football Stadium

Culture

Kafr Qasim served as the primary filming location for the Israeli political thriller television series ''

Fauda ''Fauda'' (, from ''fawḍā'', meaning "chaos") is an Israeli television series developed by Lior Raz and Avi Issacharoff drawing on their experiences in the Israel Defense Forces. The series premiered on February 15, 2015. It tells the sto ...

''.

Sports

F.C. Kafr Qasim plays in the Leumit League (second division). Following their promotion to the national league, it plays home matches at the

Lod Municipal Stadium Lod Municipal Stadium ( he, אצטדיון עירוני לוד, ''Itztadion Ironi Lod'') is a football stadium in Neot Itzhak neighborhood of Lod, Israel. It is currently the home stadium of Hapoel Bnei Lod. The stadium was built in the 1960s t ...

in Lod. A new stadium is under construction.

Notable people

Walid Badir Walid Badir ( ar, وليد بدير, he, ואליד באדיר; born 12 March 1974) is an Arab-Israeli former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He won four league titles in five seasons with Maccabi Haifa before joining Hapoe ...

, international footballer *

, founder of the

Islamic Movement in Israel The Islamic Movement in Israel (also known as the Islamic Movement in 48 Palestine) is an Islamist movement that advocates for Islam in Israel, particularly among Arabs and Circassians. The movement was established and led by Abdullah Nimar Darw ...

Issawi Frej Issawi Frej ( ar, عيساوي فريج, ; born 14 December 1963) is an Arab-Israeli politician who currently serves as a minister and was a member of the Knesset for Meretz in 2021 and was also an MK for the party between 2013 and 2019. As of Ju ...

, Knesset member * Samah Mar'ab, international footballer * Rubel Sarsour, international footballer *

, Knesset member

References

Bibliography

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