Tubas (; ar, طوباس, ''Tûbâs'') is a

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 ...

city in the northeastern

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 ...

, located northeast 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 ...

, west of the

Jordan Valley The Jordan Valley ( ar, غور الأردن, ''Ghor al-Urdun''; he, עֵמֶק הַיַרְדֵּן, ''Emek HaYarden'') forms part of the larger Jordan Rift Valley. Unlike most other river valleys, the term "Jordan Valley" often applies just to ...

. A city of over 63,000 inhabitants, it serves as the economic and administrative center of the

Tubas Governorate The Tubas Governorate ( ar, محافظة طوباس, Muḥāfaẓat Ṭūbās) is an administrative district of the Palestine in the northeastern West Bank. Its district capital or ''muhfaza'' is the city of Tubas. In 2007, the population was 50, ...

of the

State of Palestine Palestine ( ar, فلسطين, Filasṭīn), Legal status of the State of Palestine, officially the State of Palestine ( ar, دولة فلسطين, Dawlat Filasṭīn, label=none), is a state (polity), state located in Western Asia. Officiall ...

. Its urban area consists of 2,271

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 (227 hectares). It is governed by a municipal council of 15 members and most of its working inhabitants are employed in

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

or public services. Tubas has been identified as the ancient town of Thebez (), a

Canaan Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...

ite town famous for revolting against King Abimelech. During the late 19th century, during Ottoman rule in

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 ...

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, ...

clans living in the

came to live in Tubas, and it became a major town in the

District of Nablus The Nablus Sanjak ( ar, سنجق نابلس; tr, Nablus Sancağı) was an administrative area that existed throughout Ottoman rule in the Levant (1517–1917). It was administratively part of the Damascus Eyalet until 1864 when it became part o ...

, particularly known for its timber and cheese-making. It came 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 1922, was annexed by Jordan after their capture of the town in 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 then occupied by Israel since the 1967

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 ...

. 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,

has had control of Tubas since the city was transferred to its jurisdiction in 1995.

History

Ancient era

Edward Robinson thought Tubas to be identical with the

ite/

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 ...

ite town of "Thebez" ( he, תבץ) mentioned in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...

in the

Book of Judges The Book of Judges (, ') is the seventh book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. In the narrative of the Hebrew Bible, it covers the time between the conquest described in the Book of Joshua and the establishment of a kingdom i ...

.Robinson and Smith, 1856, p
305
/ref>Rix, 1907, pp
157
159 It is the namesake of the titular

woman of Thebez The woman of Thebez is a character in the Hebrew Bible, appearing in the Book of Judges. She dropped a millstone from a wall in order to kill Abimelech. Abimlech had laid siege to Thebez and entered the city. The residents had fled into a citade ...

. Archaeological remains such as cemeteries and

olive press Olive oil extraction is the process of extracting the oil present in olive drupes, known as olive oil. Olive oil is produced in the mesocarp cells, and stored in a particular type of vacuole called a lipo vacuole, i.e., every cell conta ...

es indicate that Tubas was inhabited during the Roman era of rule in

.Tubas City Profile
Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem. February 2006.

Jerome Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, th ...

mentioned Thebez being 13

Roman mile The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of distance; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 Engli ...

s east of Neapolis (Nablus). Besides the Biblical story, nothing has been known about Thebez before or after the revolt.

Ottoman era

In 1596 it appeared in the Ottoman tax registers as "Tubas", 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 Jabal Sami in the '' liwa'' of

. It had a population of 41 households and 16 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 wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, occasional revenues, goats, beehives, and a press for olives or grapes; a total of 11,704

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 the late 19th century during Ottoman rule in Palestine, groups of

s belonging to the Daraghmeh clan—mostly shepherds and farmers who lived in the

—migrated northward to the site because of its fertile ground, proximity to several springs, and its high elevation compared to the Jordan Valley and

Wadi al-Far'a Wadi al-Far'a ( ar, وادي الفارعة) is a Palestinian village in the Tubas Governorate in the northeastern West Bank located five kilometers southwest of Tubas. It has a land area of 12,000 dunams, of which 337 is built-up and 10,500 are f ...

plain;

Mount Gerizim Mount Gerizim (; Samaritan Hebrew: ''ʾĀ̊rgā̊rīzēm''; Hebrew: ''Har Gərīzīm''; ar, جَبَل جَرِزِيم ''Jabal Jarizīm'' or جَبَلُ ٱلطُّورِ ''Jabal at-Ṭūr'') is one of two mountains in the immediate vicinit ...

was visible from the area. The Daraghmeh clan had lived in the Jordan Valley since the 15th century and in addition to Tubas, they founded or inhabited the nearby hamlets of Kardala, al-Farisiya, Khirbet al-Malih, Kishda, Yarza, and

Ras al-Far'a Ras al-Far'a ( ar, راس الفارعة) is a Palestinian town in the Tubas Governorate in the Northern area of the West Bank, located 5 kilometers South west of Tubas. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a pop ...

. Soon after being established in Tubas, Arabs from

Najd Najd ( ar, نَجْدٌ, ), or the Nejd, forms the geographic center of Saudi Arabia, accounting for about a third of the country's modern population and, since the Emirate of Diriyah, acting as the base for all unification campaigns by the H ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

Transjordan Transjordan may refer to: * Transjordan (region), an area to the east of the Jordan River * Oultrejordain, a Crusader lordship (1118–1187), also called Transjordan * Emirate of Transjordan, British protectorate (1921–1946) * Hashemite Kingdom of ...

Hebron Hebron ( ar, الخليل or ; he, חֶבְרוֹן ) is a Palestinian. city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies above sea level. The second-largest city in the West Bank (after East J ...

and nearby

came to settle in the area. During this period, Tubas became the site of clashes between the 'Abd al-Hadi and Tuqan families of Nablus and suffered incursions by

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert and A ...

s from areas east of the city.Finn, 1867/1877, pp
92
��93 The

Jarrar family Jarrar ( ar, جرار) is a large Palestinian family that served as rural landlords and tax-collectors ('' mutasallims'') in the Jenin area during Ottoman rule in Palestine. During this era, they were the most powerful of the rural families in Pale ...

did not inhabit, but administrated Tubas, as it was located within the ''

'' ("subdistrict") of Mashariq al-Jarrar.Doumani, 1995, p
The Hinterland of Nablus: Local Trade Networks
/ref> Tubas was one of the largest villages in the

. Most of the inhabitants resided in mud-built houses or tents in order to work on their distant lands in the Jordan Valley and to graze their sheep and goat flocks.Doumani, 1995
Notes
/ref> According to traveler Herbert Rix, compared to other towns of its size in

Samaria Samaria (; he, שֹׁמְרוֹן, translit=Šōmrōn, ar, السامرة, translit=as-Sāmirah) is the historic and biblical name used for the central region of Palestine, bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The first- ...

, Tubas was "well-to-do" and had abundant amounts of

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...

which was harvested for firewood. Tubas, unlike the villages in the rest of the district, depended on livestock and not

olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' ...

s for income. Livestock products included cheese, clarified butter, woolen rugs, tents, ropes, and cloth bags.Doumani, 1995
The Hinterland of Nablus
/ref> In 1882 a boys' school was established in the town. In 1877 Lieutenant Kitchener, of the

Palestine Exploration Fund The Palestine Exploration Fund is a British society based in London. It was founded in 1865, shortly after the completion of the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem, and is the oldest known organization in the world created specifically for the study ...

survey team, reported uncovering an Arabic inscription buried in the wall of the village mosque recording its building and dedication. He also wrote that the villagers had paid a bribe of £100 in gold to the Pasha of Nablus to avoid their young men being conscripted into the Turkish army fighting in

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

. He noted that they would probably have to repeat the payment. The

noted that the Samaritans believed that the tomb of

Asher Asher ( he, אָשֵׁר ''’Āšēr''), in the Book of Genesis The Book of Genesis (from Greek ; Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית ''Bəreʾšīt'', "In hebeginning") is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. I ...

, known locally as Nabi Tota ("the good prophet"), was located in Tubas. The tomb served as a shrine in local Muslim tradition.

British Mandate era

In 1917, the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

captured Palestine from the Ottomans. After rule under a

military government A military government is generally any form of government that is administered by military forces, whether or not this government is legal under the laws of the jurisdiction at issue, and whether this government is formed by natives or by an occup ...

, it was reorganized in 1922–23 Tubas was incorporated into the

. 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 ...

Tubas had a population of 3,449; 3,441 MuslimsBarron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Nablus, p
24
/ref> and 7 Orthodox Christians. In the 1931 census, Tubas, (including Kashda and Jabagia) had 773 occupied houses and a population of 4,097, mostly Muslims, but also including 29 Christians. In

Sami Hadawi Sami Hadawi ( ar, سامي هداوي; March 6, 1904 – April 22, 2004) was a Palestinian people, Palestinian scholar and author. He is known for documenting the effects of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War on the Palestinian people, Arab population ...

's 1945 statistics land and population survey, Tubas and nearby Bardala had a combined population of 5,530; 5,470 Muslims and 60 Christians,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p
19
/ref> with 313,123

s of land, according to an official land and population survey.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p
61
/ref> Of this, 18,498 dunams were used for plantations and irrigable land, 98,518 dunams for cereals, while 204 dunams were built-up (urban) land. In 1947, the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

drew up a partition plan to divide Palestine into Jewish and Arab states; Tubas and the surrounding villages and hamlets were to be included in the Arab state. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War,

Fawzi al-Qawuqji Fawzi al-Qawuqji ( ar, فوزي القاوقجي; 19 January 1890 – 5 June 1977) was a leading Arab nationalist military figure in the interwar period.The Arabs and the Holocaust: The Arab-Israeli War of Narratives, by Gilbert Achcar, (NY: Hen ...

led 750

Arab Liberation Army The Arab Liberation Army (ALA; ar, جيش الإنقاذ العربي ''Jaysh al-Inqadh al-Arabi''), also translated as Arab Salvation Army, was an army of volunteers from Arab countries led by Fawzi al-Qawuqji. It fought on the Arab side in th ...

(ALA) soldiers to Tubas from

and set up base there; Tubas would serve as the ALA's headquarters in central Palestine throughout the war.Pipes, 1990, p
57
/ref>

Jordanian era

In the wake of the

, and after the

1949 Armistice Agreements The 1949 Armistice Agreements were signed between Israel and Egypt,Jordanian rule. In 1955 the first girls' school was opened. In 1961, the population was 5,709, while in 1964, Tubas alone had a population of 5,880.

Post-1967

Since the

in 1967, Tubas 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 ...

. Tubas was transferred to

(PNA) control in 1995 under 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 ...

. During the Jordanian and Israeli periods, the city was under the administration of 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 ...

, but in 1996, the PNA declared Tubas and the immediate area to be an electoral district, and later, an independent administrative area—the

.Bio Data - Tubas

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is a United Nations (UN) body established in December 1991 by the General Assembly to strengthen the international response to complex emergencies and natural disaster ...

. Tubas has not seen as much violence in the

Israeli–Palestinian conflict The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is one of the world's most enduring conflicts, beginning in the mid-20th century. Various attempts have been made to resolve the conflict as part of the Israeli–Palestinian peace process, alongside other ef ...

as nearby

and

Jenin Jenin (; ar, ') is a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank. It serves as the administrative center of the Jenin Governorate of the State of Palestine and is a major center for the surrounding towns. In 2007, Jenin had a population of app ...

, but a number of incidents occurred during 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. ...

, which began in 2000. In April 2002, the

Israeli forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

(IDF) killed six active

Hamas Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Bri ...

members in the town, including Ashraf Tamza Daraghmeh—the chief Hamas commander in Tubas and the surrounding area. On August 31, 2002, an Israeli Apache helicopter fired four

Hellfire missile The AGM-114 Hellfire is an air-to-ground missile (AGM) first developed for anti-armor use, later developed for precision drone strikes against other target types, especially high-value targets. It was originally developed under the name '' Heli ...

s at a civilian car suspected of carrying a local

al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades () is a coalition of Palestinian armed groups in the West Bank. The organization has been designated as a terrorist organization by Israel, the European Union, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, and the United States. L ...

commander and a nearby home. The strike instead killed five civilians, including two children, two teenagers and a 29-year-old

Fatah Fatah ( ar, فتح '), formerly the Palestinian National Liberation Movement, is a Palestinian nationalist social democratic political party and the largest faction of the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and ...

activist accused of being a member of the al-Aqsa Brigades. The

Israeli Defense Minister The Ministry of Defense ( he, מִשְׂרַד הַבִּטָּחוֹן, Misrad HaBitahon, Ministry of Security, acronym: he, משהב"ט) of the government of Israel, is the governmental department responsible for defending the State of Isra ...

Binyamin Ben-Eliezer Binyamin "Fuad" Ben-Eliezer (, he, בנימין "פואד" בן אליעזר; 12 February 1936 – 28 August 2016) was an Iraqi-born Israeli politician and general. He served as a member of the Knesset between 1984 and 2014, and held several min ...

, issued a statement expressing "regret" over "harming" civilians in Tubas. Ben-Eliezer described the raid in Tubas as a "mistake", and promised that the army would investigate the incident. On August 21, 2009, a clash between the Sawafta clan and another city clan left a member of the former dead and 38 others injured. Five homes were also burnt and Palestinian Security Forces arrested five people in connection to the death.

Geography

Tubas is located in the northern West Bank with an elevation of above sea level, whereas most of the Tubas Governorate is located within the

to the south. In a 1945 land survey, Tubas along with nearby Bardala and Kardala consisted of 313,123

s (31,312 hectares) of which 220,594 was Arab-owned and the remainder being public property. , its total land area consists of 295,123 dunams (29,512 hectares), of which 2,271 is classified as built-up, roughly 150,000 used for agricultural purposes and about 180,000 has been expropriated by

for military bases and buffer zone.Tubas City Fact Sheet
Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem. Tubas is located to the northeast of

, and west of the

. Nearby localities include the town of Aqqaba to the north, Tayasir and

Aqabah Aqabah ( ar, العقبة, and also called Al Aqabah, Aqaba, or Al Aqaba) is a Palestinian village in the northeastern West Bank, which is being targeted for demolition by the Israeli Civil Administration (the IDF agency responsible for controllin ...

villages to the northeast,

to the southwest, the

Palestinian refugee camp Camps are set up by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to accommodate Palestinian refugees registered with UNRWA, who fled or were expelled during the 1948 Palestinian ...

Far'a Far'a, Faraa or al-Fari'ah ( ar, مخيّم الفارعة) is a Palestinian refugee camp in the foothills of the Jordan Valley in the northwestern West Bank, located 12 kilometers south of Jenin and 2 kilometers south of Tubas, three kilometers ...

to the south and the al-Bikai'a village cluster to the southeast. It has a moderate climate; the summer is hot and dry, and the winter is cold and wet. The average annual temperature is , and the average annual

humidity Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present. Humidity depe ...

rate is 56%.

Demographics

About 1,100 residents fled Tubas after the 1967

mostly to the Souf refugee camp in Jordan, while 260 immigrated there and in 1981 its population was 5,300. In 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) first official census in 1997, Tubas had a population of 11,760 inhabitants. The gender make-up was 50.8% male and 49.2% female. Tubas has an overwhelmingly young population with 52.7% of the city's residents below the age of 20. People between the ages of 20 and 34 constitute 24.7%, 17.7% between the ages of 35 and 64, while people above the age of 64 constituted 4.9% of the population. The census also revealed that

refugee A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

s made up 6.1% of the total residents. In the 2007 census by the PCBS, Tubas had a population of 16,154,2007 PCBS Census

. p.107. increasing around 33% from 1997. The city represents roughly a third (33.4%) of the

's total population. The city's modern-era founders, the Daraghmeh clan, constitute 70% of Tubas' inhabitants. The clan has several smaller branches, including the Mslamany, Abd al-Razeq and Abu Khazaran families. The Sawafta family make up 25%, the Husheh make up 3% and the Fuquha represent the remaining 2%. The inhabitants of Tubas are predominantly Muslims, but there is a community of approximately 60

Palestinian Christian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

s, all belonging to the

Greek Orthodox Church The term Greek Orthodox Church (Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the entire body of Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christianity, sometimes also call ...

. The Christian community worships at the Holy Trinity Church in the city and is serviced by a priest from nearby

Zababdeh Zababdeh or Zababida ( ar, الزبابدة) is a Palestinian town in the northern West Bank located southeast of Jenin and from the Arab American University. History Sherds from Middle Bronze Age II, Iron Age I & II, through to the Byz ...

.Irving, 2012, p. 236. According to the 2017 census by the PCBS, the population of Tubas was 60,186, forming 1.3% of the total population of Palestine.

Economy

The economical situation Tubas during the 1993–99 period was prosperous, however since the start of the

in 2000–01, Tubas' income level has decreased by roughly 40%. Prior to the Intifada, the average household income was 2,500

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 ...

; it has since receded to about 1,500 NIS. A major factor that has resulted from the conflict was the confiscation of agricultural land located within the city's or its governorate's jurisdiction by Israeli settlements or military authorities. According to the PCBS, in 1999, approximately 52% of the citizens were within the working age (15-64). Of the city's labor force, 48% are females. The unemployment rate increased dramatically from 20% in 1999 to 70% after the year 2000. Prior to the Intifada, 35% of the total labor force worked in Israel.Toubas
(2005) Health Work Committees. Currently, agriculture constitutes 60% of Tubas' economic activity, public services comprise 17%, trade is 10%, Israeli labor is 8%, construction and industry make-up the remaining 5%. In the city, there are 240 shops and stores, 70 service institutions and one big ready mix concrete factory 30 small ones. The main economic sector in Tubas is

. There is a total of 150,000 dunams of

arable land Arable land (from the la, arabilis, "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.''Oxford English Dictionary'', "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Alternatively, for the ...

, of which 124,450 dunams are covered by forests and 10,604 dunams cultivated. Although the land is fertile, there is a lack of water for irrigation. The only spring used is in nearby Ein Far'a. Field crops account for 49% of the cultivable land, while fruit orchards account for 40% and vegetables make-up 11%. Israeli trenches around the neighboring villages of Ras al-Ahmar and Khirbet al-'Atuf prevent access to nearly 40% of Tubas' arable lands. Many Tubas residents keep livestock, mostly sheep; in 2005, there was a total 6,670 sheep. Other livestock owned include 96 heads of cattle, 880 goats and 126,500 poultry. In addition, 123 beehives were kept. In 2006 the Golden Sheep Dairy factory was founded in Tubas with help from UCODEP, an Italian NGO. The factory specializes in the production of

Italian cheese :''This page lists more than 1,000 types of Italian cheese but is still incomplete; you can help by expanding it.'' This is an article of Italian cheeses. Italy is the country with the highest variety of cheeses in the world, with over 2500 tradi ...

and primarily targets cosmopolitan consumers in

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 ...

Bethlehem Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital o ...

and

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

as well as international workers and diplomats living in the West Bank.

Government

Tubas serves as the ''muhfaza'' ("capital" or "seat") of the Tubas Governorate. Since 1995, Tubas has been located in

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 ...

, giving the PNA full control over its security, administration and civilian affairs. Tubas has been governed by a municipal council since 1953, when it was granted permission to do so by

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 authorities who controlled the

at the time. The council is made up of 15 members including the mayor, and is headquartered in the municipal hall in the center of the town. The municipality has over 60 employees. Responsibilities of the municipality include civil administration, urban planning and development, social development services, distribution of social services, the issuing of building permits and infrastructural maintenance: water, electricity and solid waste collection. Auqab Daraghmeh was succeeded by Jamal Abdel Fattah Mahmoud Abu Mohsin, an independent candidate, elected in the 2005 Palestinian municipal elections. During the elections, women won two seats, and though Tubas is normally a

stronghold, all seats were won by independent political lists.

Education

In 2004–05, Tubas had twelve schools; four for males, three for females and five co-educational. There were 4,924 students and 191 teachers. In addition, six kindergartens are located in the city, and have a total of 620 pupils. In 1997, the

literacy rate Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...

was 86%; females comprised 78.3% of the illiterate population. Of the literate population, 25.7% completed

elementary education Primary education or elementary education is typically the first stage of formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary school. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or firs ...

, 23.3% completed preparatory education and 22.1% completed secondary or higher education. Many students throughout the Jordan Valley receive their education in Tubas. The

Al-Quds Open University Al-Quds Open University ( ar, جامعة القدس المفتوحة) is an independent, distance education public university in Palestine. It was created by a decree issued by the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1991. QOU is the f ...

, based in Jerusalem, has a campus in Tubas known as Al-Quds Open University-Tubas Educational Region. In 2006, 1,789 students were enrolled in the university, it had 90 professors and 24 other employees.

Local infrastructure

Tubas contains six

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, ...

s. The main mosques are the Abd ar-Rahan Mosque, the al-Tawled Mosque, Umar ibn al-Khattab Mosque, and Shaheed Mosque. The Holy Trinity Orthodox Church is also located in Tubas, in the northern part of the city. The church was built in 1976 to serve the small Orthodox Christian community. It consists of a prayer room, a fellowship hall, an office, and a library for children. Since Tubas is the capital and largest city in the Tubas Governorate, it acts as the main provider of services to the towns and villages of the governorate. All Palestinian National Authority offices that serve the governorate are located in the city. There are 21 government institutions in Tubas, including a post office, the Palestinian Ministry of Labor office, the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture office, the Palestinian Ministry of Social Affairs office, the fire department and a police station.

Transportation

Buses and taxis are the primary means of transportation in Tubas. The total length of paved roads is , whereas there are of deteriorating paved roads and of road that are entirely unpaved. Tubas is located on Highway 588 connected to the main Ramallah-Nablus road (Highway 60) by a network of northeastern offshoots of the road, that pass through the villages of

Azmut ’Azmut ( ar, عزموط) is a Palestinian people, Palestinian village in the Nablus Governorate in the eastern West Bank, located five kilometers northeast of Nablus. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the village h ...

, al-Badhan and

. It is connected to

from a northern road which passes through 'Aqqaba,

and finally to Jenin. Travel to

is through Highway 57 which is connected with Highway 588 just to the south of Tubas.Satellite view of Tubas
/ref>

Health care

The city contains five health centers run by various organizations including 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 are no

hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...

s in Tubas, nor in the Tubas Governorate; Residents must travel to Nablus for hospital treatment, but there are two ambulances in Tubas for emergency transportation. There are four clinics in the city: Two are run by

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

s, one by the

and one is privately owned. The clinics lack modern equipment and specialists, however. In addition, ten pharmacies exist in Tubas.

Utilities

Approximately 60% of the residents have a telephone connection, and roughly 90% are connected to the water. The Tubas Municipality administers all water resources in and around the city. In addition to the water network, there is one spring (

) in the immediate area which is the main provider of water for use in households. The city also has a water reservoir with a capacity of . This is primarily used to provide water to the urban areas of the city during Summer, and is only available once on a weekly basis. From 1963 to 1997 local municipal-owned electric generators provided Tubas with all of its electricity needs. In 1997, the city connected with the Tubas Area Electricity Network which is provided by the Israeli Electric Cooperation. In that period, 99% of households in the city were connected with electricity. Solid waste management in Tubas is operated by the municipality and Joint Services Council. It is collected 3-4 times daily from the residential area, which is sent to a shared dumping site from the city. The main disposal method used is burning. Tubas is not connected to the sewage network, therefore all households dispose of their waste water in cesspits, a major source of pollution in groundwater.

References

Bibliography

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

External links

Welcome To The City of TubasTubas City
Welcome to Palestine
Tubas City (Fact Sheet)

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 ...

, ARIJ
Tubas City profile
ARIJ *Survey of Western Palestine, Map 12:
IAAWikimedia commonsTubas Bio Data - United Nations (pdf file)
{{Good article Tubas Governorate Cities in the West Bank Municipalities of the State of Palestine