Ya'bad

Ya'bad ( ar, يعبد) is a Palestinian town in the northern West Bank, 20 kilometers west of Jenin in the Jenin Governorate. It is a major agricultural town with most of its land covered with olive groves and grain fields. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 13,640 in 2007. Its mayor is Samer Abu Baker who was elected in 2005. The Israeli settlement of Mevo Dotan is built on Ya'bad's land.

History

Pottery sherds from the Persian, Hellenistic, early Roman, Byzantine, early Muslim and the Medieval eras have been found here.

Ottoman era

In 1596 Ya'bad appeared in the Ottoman tax registers as being in the ''nahiya'' of Jabal Sami in the '' liwa'' of Nablus. It had a population of 62 households, all Muslim. They paid a tax rate of 33.3% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, occasional revenues, goats and beehives, and a press for olives or grapes; a total of 18,085 akçe. Half of the revenue went to a waqf dedicated to '' Halil ar-Rahman''. In 1694, Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi, a Muslim traveler, passed by Ya'bad and noted it as "a village between Jenin and Arrabeh".

In the 17th-18th centuries, Ya'bad was well known for producing the best cheese in Jabal Nablus. Politically it was ruled by the Qadri clan allied with the powerful Abd al-Hadi clan. In 1838, it was noted as a Muslim village, ''Ya'bud'', located in the ''esh–Sha'rawiyeh esh–Shurkiyeh'' District.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol. 3, 2nd appendix, p
129
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In 1870 Victor Guérin noted Ya'bad situated "on a hill", while in the PEF's ''Survey of Western Palestine'' (1882), ''Yabid'' was described as "a good-sized stone village, with some Christian families and two factions of Moslems, called respectively the 'Abd el Hady and the Beni Tokan, living in separate quarters. The village stands on a ridge, with a well to the south and a small separate quarter on the east, in which is a small Mukam."Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p
47
/ref>

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, ''Yabid'' had a population of 1,733, all Muslims,Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Jenin, p
30
/ref> increasing in the 1931 census to a population of 2,383, still all Muslim, in 418 occupied houses.Mills, 1932, p
71
/ref>

In 1935 the prominent Arab resistance leader Izz ad-Din al-Qassam and a few of his men were killed in a cave near Ya'bad during a firefight with the British.Segev, 2013, pp
360
-362

In the 1945 statistics the population of Ya'bad (including Khirbat el Khuljan, Khirbat et Tarim, Khirbat Tura ash Sharqiya, Nazlat Sheik Zeid and Khirbat Umm Rihan) was 3,480, all Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p
17
/ref> with 37,805 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey. 6,035 dunams were used for plantations and irrigable land, 9,955 dunams for cereals, while 92 dunams were built-up (urban) land.

Jordanian era

In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreementsian rule.

The Jordanian census of 1961 found 4,709 inhabitants in Ya'bad.

Post-1967

Since the 1967 Six-Day War, Ya'bad has been under Israeli occupation. The population of Ya'bad in the 1967 census conducted by Israel was 4,857, of whom 581 originated from the Israeli territory.

In May 1985 five village women set up a Women's Work Committee which opened a kindergarten for 60 children and started a sewing course with 32 young women.Middle East International No 272, 4 April 1986, Publishers Lord Mayhew, Dennis Walters. Joost R. Hiltermann p. 16

A major charcoal mine is located near Ya'bad and most of its workers come from the town.Palestinians struggle in dire straits
Martin Asser ''BBC News'' Since the establishment of "closed-off areas" and the construction of the West Bank Barrier in the northern West Bank, Ya'bad and surrounding cities and towns have seen an increase in unemployment which reached to 88% in 2006. The annual average income has dropped "dramatically" by one-third according to the World Bank.

See also

*List of cities in Palestinian Authority areas

References

Bibliography

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External links

Welcome To Ya'bad Yabad
Welcome to Palestine
*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 8:
IAAWikimedia commons

The Israeli Checkpoints in the Northern Districts of the West Bank
24, August, 2003, POICA
Hundreds of dunums confiscated for bypass road construction
07, May, 2007, POICA
Confiscating a Truck in Ya'bad Village - Jenin Governorate
06, November, 2011, POICA

{{Cities in the West Bank

Jenin Governorate
Cities in the West Bank
Municipalities of the State of Palestine