Qusin ( ar, قوصين) is a Palestinian town in the

Nablus Governorate The Nablus Governorate ( ar, محافظة نابلس ') is an administrative district of State of Palestine, Palestine located in the Central Highlands of the West Bank, 53 km north of Jerusalem. It covers the area around the city of Nablus ...

in northern West Bank, located 8 kilometers West 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 ...

. 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 1,734 inhabitants in mid-year 2006.

Location

Qusin is located 7.7 km west of

. It is bordered by Beit Iba to the east,

Deir Sharaf Deir Sharaf ( ar, دير شرف) is a Palestinian town in the Nablus Governorate in northern West Bank, located northwest of Nablus. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the town had a population of 2,759 inhabitants ...

to the north, Kafr Qaddum to the west, and Kafr Qaddum and Jit to the south.

History

Ceramics from the Byzantine era have been found here. Yaqut (1179–1229) described ''Kusin'' as a "Village in the Filastin Province, so I believe."

Ottoman era

Qusin, like the rest 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 ...

, was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517, and in the census of 1596 it was a part of the '' nahiya'' ("subdistrict") of Jabal Sami which was under the administration of the ''

liwa Liwa may refer to: Places ; Chad *Liwa (sub-prefecture) in Mamdi Department ; Indonesia *Liwa, Indonesia ; Oman * Liwa, Oman, place in Oman, area around Sohar University *Liwa Province, Oman (wilayah) ; Poland *Liwa, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeshi ...

'' ("district") of

. The village had a population of 15 households and 7 bachelors, 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 ...

. The villagers paid a fixed tax-rate of 33,3% on agricultural products, such as wheat, barley, summer crops, beehives and/or goats, in addition to occasional revenues and a customary tax for people of Nablus area; a total of 6,300

akçe The ''akçe'' or ''akça'' (also spelled ''akche'', ''akcheh''; ota, آقچه; ) refers to a silver coin which was the chief monetary unit of the Ottoman Empire. The word itself evolved from the word "silver or silver money", this word is deri ...

. In 1882, in the PEF's '' Survey of Western Palestine'', Kusein was described as: "A village on the side of a ridge, apparently supplied by the water of the valley on the north, which has a flowing stream. A spring exists about three-quarters of a mile south-east in the valley." They further noted that: "The ruin shown near this place is merely a heap of stones."

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, ''Qusen'' had a population of 147 Muslims,Barron, 1923, Table IX, p
24
/ref> increasing in the 1931 census to 217 Muslims, in 48 houses.Mills, 1932, p
64
/ref> In the 1945 statistics, Qusin had a population of 310 MuslimsGovernment of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p
19
/ref> while the total land area was 4,543

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, 59 dunams were used for plantations and irrigable land, 3,227 for cereals, while 21 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 census of 1961 found 494 inhabitants.

Post 1967

After the Six-Day War in 1967, Qusin came 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 51% of village land is defined 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 ...

land, while the remaining 49% is defined as Area C. Israel has confiscated about 500 dunham of village land for future expansion of

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, and additional land for Israeli bypass roads.Qusin Village Profile
ARIJ, pp. 16-17

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * *

External links

*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 11:
IAAWikimedia commons

Qusin Village Profile
Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem (ARIJ)
Qusin, aerial photo
ARIJ
Development Priorities and Needs in Qusin
ARIJ {{Nablus Governorate Nablus Governorate Villages in the West Bank Municipalities of the State of Palestine