Tur'an ( ar, طرعان, he, תֻּרְעָן) is a
local council in the
Northern District of
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 ...
. It is located at the foot of Mount Tur'an and the
Tur'an Valley
Tur'an ( ar, طرعان, he, תֻּרְעָן) is a Local council (Israel), local council in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. It is located at the foot of Mount Tur'an and the Tur'an Valley, near the Highway 77 (Israel ...
, near the
main road from
Haifa
Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...
to
Tiberias
Tiberias ( ; he, טְבֶרְיָה, ; ar, طبريا, Ṭabariyyā) is an Israeli city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's Fo ...
, and about north of
Nazareth
Nazareth ( ; ar, النَّاصِرَة, ''an-Nāṣira''; he, נָצְרַת, ''Nāṣəraṯ''; arc, ܢܨܪܬ, ''Naṣrath'') is the largest city in the Northern District of Israel. Nazareth is known as "the Arab capital of Israel". In ...
. In it had a population of , most of whom are
Israeli Arabs
The Arab citizens of Israel are the largest ethnic minority in the country. They comprise a hybrid community of Israeli citizens with a heritage of Palestinian citizenship, mixed religions (Muslim, Christian or Druze), bilingual in Arabic an ...
.
History
Iron Age
Pottery and building remains from the
Iron Age I
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly a ...
have been excavated in the northwestern part of the village. Apparently Tur'an was at that time (10–9th centuries BCE) surrounded by a city wall. Apparently it was of a considerable size in the late tenth to the mid-ninth centuries BCE. The massive wall, (width c. 2.4 m), probably enclosed an area of about 25 dunams, and has frm pottery remains been dated to Iron Age IIA (ninth century BCE).
The
PEF's
''Survey of Western Palestine'' (SWP) found caves and rock-cut
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 in the village, which they noted appeared to be an ancient site.
Classical Antiquity and Middle Ages
The village was known in the
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
and
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 ...
periods (
Mishna
The Mishnah or the Mishna (; he, מִשְׁנָה, "study by repetition", from the verb ''shanah'' , or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions which is known as the Oral Torah ...
ic and
Talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...
ic times, respectively) as ''Tir'an''. It was a
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
village.
Pottery from the early Islamic (7th century CE), and
Mamluk
Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning " slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') ...
(14th century CE) have been excavated in the village centre, near the old mosque, together with building remains from the same period.
Ottoman era
In 1517, Tur'an was with the rest of Palestine 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) ...
after it was captured from the
Mamluk
Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning " slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') ...
s, and by 1596, it appeared in the 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
Tabariyya
Tiberias ( ; he, טְבֶרְיָה, ; ar, طبريا, Ṭabariyyā) is an Israeli city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's Fou ...
, part of
Sanjak Safad
Safed Sanjak ( ar, سنجق صفد; tr, Safed Sancağı) was a ''sanjak'' (district) of Damascus Eyalet ( Ottoman province of Damascus) in 1517–1660, after which it became part of the Sidon Eyalet (Ottoman province of Sidon). The sanjak was ce ...
. It had a population of 48 households, 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 ...
. They paid a fixed tax rate of 25% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, olive trees, fruit trees, goats and/or beehives; a total of 5,410
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 ...
.
A map from
Napoleon's invasion of 1799 by
Pierre Jacotin
Pierre Jacotin (1765–1827) was the director of the survey for the ''Carte de l'Égypte (Description de l'Égypte)'', the first triangulation-based map of Egypt, Syria and Palestine.
The maps were surveyed in 1799-1800 during the campaign in Eg ...
showed the place, though misplaced, named as ''Touran.''
In 1838, it was noted as a large Muslim, Catholic Christian and Greek Christian village in the Nazareth district.
In 1848,
William F. Lynch
Captain William Francis Lynch (1 April 1801 – 17 October 1865) was a naval officer who served first in the United States Navy and later in the Confederate States Navy.
Personal life
William F. Lynch was born in Virginia. On 2 June 1828, on ...
described Tur'an as "quite a fortification."
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 ...
visited Tur'an in 1870, and estimated it had 350 Muslims and 200 "
Greeks
The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...
".
In 1881, the
PEF's
''Survey of Western Palestine'' (SWP) described it as "A stone village, partly built of basalt, containing about 300 inhabitants, half Christian, half Moslem.
. The village is situated al the foot of the hills, and is surrounded by groves of olives. There is a good spring to the north-west."
A population list from about 1887 showed that ''Tor'an'' had about 600 inhabitants; mixed Christians and Muslims.
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, Tur'an had a population of 768; 542
Muslims
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 Abraha ...
and 226
Christians
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
.
[Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Nazareth, p]
38
/ref> Of the Christians, 52 were Orthodox and 174 were Melkite
The term Melkite (), also written Melchite, refers to various Eastern Christianity, Eastern Christian churches of the Byzantine Rite and their members originating in the Middle East. The term comes from the common Central Semitic Semitic root, ro ...
. The population had increased in the 1931 census to 961; 693 Muslims and 268 Christians, in a total of 188 occupied houses.[Mills, 1932, p]
76
/ref>
In the 1945 statistics the population was 1,350; 1,010 Muslims and 340 Christians,[Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p]
8
/ref> with 29,743 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, 1,153 dunams were for plantations and irrigable land, 11,909 for cereals, while 34 dunams were built-up land.
State of Israel
On 18 July 1948 the Israeli captured Tur'an during the second part of Operation Dekel
Operation Dekel ( he, מבצע דקל , Mivtza Dekel, Operation Palm Tree), was the largest offensive by Israeli forces in the north of Palestine after the first truce of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It was carried out by the 7th Armoured Brigade ...
. The houses of those villagers who fled were later used to house Arab refugees from neighbouring villages. The village remained under Martial Law
Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory.
Use
Marti ...
until 1966.[O'Ballance, 1956, p. 160]
See also
*Arab localities in Israel
Arab localities in Israel include all population centers with a 50% or higher Arab population in Israel. East Jerusalem and Golan Heights are not internationally recognized parts of Israel proper but have been included in this list.
According to ...
References
Bibliography
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External links
Official website
*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 6
IAA
Wikimedia commons
{{North District (Israel)
Arab localities in Israel
Arab Christian communities in Israel
Local councils in Northern District (Israel)
Ancient Jewish settlements of Galilee