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 ...
town in the central West Bank part of the Jerusalem Governorate, located 12 km. northwest of
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
. 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 ...
, the town had a population of approximately 7,500 inhabitants in 2006. Primary health care for the town is level 2.
Geography and land
Qatanna has an elevation of 650 meters above sea level. Nearby towns and villages include
Biddu
Biddu Appaiah (born 8 February 1944) is a British-Indian singer-songwriter, composer, and music producer who composed and produced many worldwide hit records during a career spanning five decades. Considered one of the pioneers of disco, Euro d ...
to the east and
Beit Liqya
Beit Liqya ( ar, بيت لقيا) is a Palestinian town located in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the northern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, it had a population of approximately 7,710 in 2007, of wh ...
to the north.The effects of the Israeli practices on the Palestinian village of Qatanna 22 June 2006, POICA
Khirbet Kefireh
Khirbet Kefireh, also Khirbet Kefire, Khirbet el-Kefirah, is an archeological site just north of the Palestinian town of Qatanna, West Bank. It is situated atop a hill covering about 4-5 acres. It appears in the Survey of Western Palestine map comp ...
is located just north of Qatanna.
History
In the Roman and Byzantine periods, Qatanna was home to extensive settlement including agricultural institutions, roads, and many burial caves.
Ottoman era
Incorporated into the
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) ...
in 1517 with all of Palestine, Qatanna appeared in the 1596 Ottoman tax registers as being in the ''
Nahiya
A nāḥiyah ( ar, , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level division w ...
'' of Quds of the '' Liwa'' of Quds. It had a population of 12 households, all Muslim, and paid taxes on wheat, barley, olives, occasional revenues, goats and/or beehives.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 113
In 1838 ''Katunneh'' was noted as a Muslim village, part of ''Beni Malik'' district, located west of Jerusalem.
In 1863, 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 ...
found the village to have 250 inhabitants, while an Ottoman village list of about 1870 showed that ''Kattane'' had a population of 300, in 57 houses, though the population count included only men. It was also noted that it was located north of
Abu Ghosh
Abu Ghosh ( ar, أبو غوش; he, אבו גוש) is an Arab-Israeli local council in Israel, located west of Jerusalem on the Tel Aviv–Jerusalem highway. It is situated 610–720 meters above sea level. It takes its current name from the d ...
, in the ''Beni Malik'' district.Socin, 1879, p 156 /ref>
In 1883, 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 it as a "small village in a deep, narrow, rocky valley, surrounded by fine groves of olives and vegetable gardens."
In 1896 the population of ''Katanne'' was estimated to be about 351 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, Qatanneh had a population 633, all Muslims.Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Jerusalem, p. 15 /ref> In the 1931 census it was counted with
Nitaf
Nitaf ( ar, نطاف, ''Natâf'') was a small Palestinian Arab village in the Jerusalem Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on April 15, 1948, during the second stage of Operation Dani. It was ...
, together they had 875 Muslim inhabitants, in 233 houses.Mills, 1932, p 42 /ref>
In the 1945 statistics Qatanna had a population of 1,150, all Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p 25 /ref> with 9,464
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. Of this, 1,829 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 1,603 used for cereals, while 32 dunams were built-up (urban) land.
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.
After the 1948 war, much of Qatanna´s land area was designated as "no-man's land" forming a part of the Demilitarized Zone between the armistice lines of Israeli and
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 territory.
In 1961, the population of Qatanna was 1,897.
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, Qatanna 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 ...
. The population in the 1967 census conducted by the Israeli authorities was 1,594, of whom 151 were refugees.
Currently, the town has a total land area of 3,555
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 677 dunams are designated as built-up area. After the 1995
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 ...
, civil administration of 716 dunams of Qatanna's land (including the built-up zone) was transferred to 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,
.
Qatanna contains three schools, three kindergartens, three clinics, a pharmacy and a medical center run by the
Palestinian Red Crescent
The Palestine Red Crescent Society ( ar,
جمعية الهلال الأحمر الفلسطيني, PRCS) was founded in 1968, by Fathi Arafat, Yasser Arafat's brother. It is a humanitarian organization that is part of the International Red Cro ...
. There is also a sport's club and a women's center in the town. Qatanna is governed by a village council and
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 ...
serves as the town's main urban provider. Four springs — al-Balad, as-Samra, an-Nimr and an-Namous — provide water for the town. The latter spring is completely isolated from the town by the
Israeli West Bank barrier
The Israeli West Bank barrier, comprising the West Bank Wall and the West Bank fence, is a separation barrier built by Israel along the Green Line and inside parts of the West Bank. It is a contentious element of the Israeli–Palestinian c ...
.
36 dunums were confiscated from Qatanna for the
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 ...
of
Har Adar
Har Adar ( he, הַר אֲדָר) is an Israeli settlement organized as a local council in the Seam Zone and the Maccabim sub-region of the West Bank. Founded in 1986, it had a population of in . It is located near Abu Ghosh and the Green Li ...
, built in 1986.
Enclave
Qatanna along with
Biddu
Biddu Appaiah (born 8 February 1944) is a British-Indian singer-songwriter, composer, and music producer who composed and produced many worldwide hit records during a career spanning five decades. Considered one of the pioneers of disco, Euro d ...
,
Beit Duqqu
Beit Duqqu ( ar, بيت دقّو) is a Palestinian village in the Jerusalem Governorate, located northwest of Jerusalem in the central West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 1,600 in 200 ...
,
Beit Surik
Beit Surik ( ar, بيت سوريك) is a Palestinian village in the Jerusalem Governorate, located 12 kilometers Northwest of Jerusalem in the northern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population ...
,
Beit 'Anan
Beit 'Anan ( ar, بيت عنان) is a Palestinian village in the Quds Governorate, located northwest of Jerusalem. In 2010, it had a population of 4,982. Some residents of Beit 'Anan hold Israeli identity cards, while others hold Palestinian iden ...
, al-Qubeiba, Beit Ijza, Kharayib Umm al Lahimand, and at-Tira form the "Biddu enclave". The enclave will be linked to Ramallah by underpasses and a road that is fenced on both sides. From the "Biddu enclave" Palestinians will travel along a fenced road that passes under a bypass road to
Bir Nabala
Bir Nabala ( ar, بير نبالا; he, ביר נבאלא) is a Palestinian enclave town in the West Bank located eight kilometers northeast of Jerusalem. In mid-year 2006, it had an estimated population of 6,100 residents. Three Bedouin tribes ...
enclave, then on a second underpass under Bypass Road 443 to
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 ...
Khirbet Kefireh
Khirbet Kefireh, also Khirbet Kefire, Khirbet el-Kefirah, is an archeological site just north of the Palestinian town of Qatanna, West Bank. It is situated atop a hill covering about 4-5 acres. It appears in the Survey of Western Palestine map comp ...
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 ...