Az-Zawiya ( ar, الزاويه) 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 ...

town in the

Salfit Governorate Salfit governorate ( ar, محافظة سلفيت) is one of 16 Governorates of the Palestinian National Authority. It is located in the northwestern West Bank, held under Israeli occupation, bordered by the governorates of Ramallah and al-Bire ...

in the northern

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 west of

Salfit Salfit ( ar, سلفيت) pronounced "Salfeet" is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank, and the capital of the Salfit Governorate of the State of Palestine. Salfit is located at an altitude of , adjacent to the Israeli settlement of Ariel. A ...

and south of

Qalqilya Qalqilya or Qalqiliya ( ar, قلقيلية, Qalqīlyaḧ) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank which serves as the administrative center of the Qalqilya Governorate of the State of Palestine. In the 2007 census, the city had a population of 41, ...

. 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 ...

, az-Zawiya had a population of 4,754 in 2007.2007 PCBS Census

. p. 112. The town's population is made up of primarily three families: Shuqeir (45%), Muqadi (30%) and Raddad (20%), while the remaining 5% consists of

Palestinian refugee Palestinian refugees are citizens of Mandatory Palestine, and their descendants, who fled or were expelled from their country over the course of the 1947–49 Palestine war ( 1948 Palestinian exodus) and the Six-Day War ( 1967 Palestinian exo ...

families such as Shamlawi, Rabi and Yusif.Location and population
Land Research Center.

Location

Az Zawiya is located (horizontally) west of

. It is bordered by

Biddya Biddya ( ar, بديا) is a Palestinian city in the Salfit Governorate, located 32 kilometers southwest of Nablus and half that distance from Salfit in the northern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), Biddya ...

to the east,

Rafat Rafat or RAFAT may refer to: *Rafat, Jerusalem, Palestinian town in Jerusalem Governorate *Rafat, Salfit, Palestinian town in Salfit Governorate *Rafat (given name) * Rafat (surname) * Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, also known as the Red Arrows. S ...

to the south,

Kafr Qasem Kafr Qasim ( ar, كفر قاسم, he, כַּפְר קָאסִם), also spelled as Kafr Qassem, Kufur Kassem, Kfar Kassem and Kafar Kassem, is a hill-top city in Israel with an Arab population. It is located about east of Tel Aviv, on the Israe ...

to the west, and

Azzun Atma 'Azzun 'Atma ( ar, عزون عتمة) is a Palestinian village in the Qalqilya Governorate in the western West Bank, located 5 kilometers South-east of Qalqilya. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, 'Azzun 'Atma had a populat ...

and

Mas-ha Mas-ha ( ar, مسحة) is a Palestinian village located in the Salfit Governorate in the northern West Bank, 24 kilometers southwest of Nablus. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, it had a population of 2,003 in 2007. increas ...

to the north.

History

Sherd In archaeology, a sherd, or more precisely, potsherd, is commonly a historic or prehistoric fragment of pottery, although the term is occasionally used to refer to fragments of stone and glass vessels, as well. Occasionally, a piece of broken p ...

s from IA II,

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 ...

eras have been found.

Ottoman era

Zawiya 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 Jabal Qubal, part of the

Sanjak 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 ...

. It had a population of 4 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 ...

. The villagers paid a fixed tax-rate of 33.3% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, fruit trees, goats and beehives, in addition to occasional revenues; a total of 800

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 ...

,Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 132 In 1838, Edward Robinson noted it as a village, ''es-Zawieh'', in the ''Jurat Merda'' district, south of Nablus.

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 the village in 1870, and described it as having about 200 inhabitants and a small

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, ...

. In 1882, 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 ...

'' (SWP) described the village as being of moderate size, "probably an ancient place, having rock-cut tombs to the south."Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p
287
/ref>

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, Zawiya (called: Zawiyeh) had a population of 398, 396 Muslims and 2 Christians,Barron, 1923, Table IX, p
26
/ref> both Orthodox,Barron, 1923, Table XV, p
47
/ref> while in the 1931 census it had 122 occupied houses and a population of 513, all Muslim.Mills, 1932, p
66
/ref> In the 1945 statistics the population was 720, all Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p
19
/ref> while the total land area was 11,516

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, 964 were allocated for plantations and irrigable land, 2,055 for cereals, while 41 dunams were classified as built-up (urban) areas. File:Biddya 1941.jpg, Az-Zawiya 1941 1:20,000 File:Biddya 1945.jpg, Az-Zawiya 1945 1:250,000

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 1,170 inhabitants.

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, Az-Zawiya 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 ...

. After the 1995 accords, 9.5% of village land was classified 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 ...

, the remaining 90.5% as Area C. Israel confiscated 662

s of Zawiya land in order to establish an Israeli

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envi ...

to the west of the town.Az Zawiya Town Profile
ARIJ, p. 17 The quarry, (also called the ''Nahal Raba'' quarry, and ''Mazor Atiqa''), is now isolated from az-Zawiya and Rafat behind the

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 ...

in the

Seam Zone Seam Zone ( he, מרחב התפר) is a term used to refer to a land area in the Israeli-occupied West Bank located east of the Green Line and west of Israel's separation barrier, populated largely by Israelis in settlements such as Alfei Menash ...

. A local subsidiary of

HeidelbergCement HeidelbergCement is a German multinational building materials company headquartered in Heidelberg, Germany. It is a DAX corporation and is one of the largest building materials companies in the world. On 1 July 2016, HeidelbergCement AG complete ...

now operates the quarry. In 2004, one Israeli, one Palestinian were arrested and 40 were wounded in anti-

wall A wall is a structure and a surface that defines an area; carries a load; provides security, shelter, or soundproofing; or, is decorative. There are many kinds of walls, including: * Walls in buildings that form a fundamental part of the supe ...

protest at Az-Zawiya. The Israeli outpost Magen Dan was established after settlers forcefully seized 76 dunums of village land from Zawiya. Agriculture is the town's main economic sector with olives, figs, almonds, lentils and wheat being the primary crops. There are over 2,700 dunams of land making up az-Zawiya's jurisdiction, of which 900 is built-up area. Sheep is the main livestock grazed in az-Zawiya. There are also small industries such as sewing, carpentry and metal-working. There are over 120 shops in the town. 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. ...

has drastically decreased revenue from agricultural exports to

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 ...

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 ...

, slashing prices in half.Az Zawiya Village Profile
International Women's Peace Service. 2 May 2004. Az-Zawiya is governed by a

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counci ...

whose members are elected every four years. The town has been a municipality since 1996. Mayor Taleb Raddad (Abu al-Adeeb) has been elected mayor in each local election, serving for three terms. Az-Zawiya has two medical clinics, two boys' schools and two girls' schools. The town will be enclosed on four sides with the completion of the

separation barrier A separation barrier or separation wall is a barrier, wall or fence, constructed to limit the movement of people across a certain line or border, or to separate peoples or cultures. A separation barrier that runs along an internationally recogni ...

forming the az-Zawiya enclave. In 2001

Israeli settler 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 raided the area destroying 25 dunams of olive groves contiguous to

Highway 5 Route 5, or Highway 5, may refer to routes in the following countries: International * Asian Highway 5 * European route E05 * European route E005 Argentina * National Route 5 Australia New South Wales * M5 Motorway (Sydney) * The De ...

Archaeology

Az-Zawiya contains an ancient ruin called Deir Qassis, where

sherd In archaeology, a sherd, or more precisely, potsherd, is commonly a historic or prehistoric fragment of pottery, although the term is occasionally used to refer to fragments of stone and glass vessels, as well. Occasionally, a piece of broken p ...

s from IA I, IA II,

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...

Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...

, Crusader/

Ayyubid The Ayyubid dynasty ( ar, الأيوبيون '; ) was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultan of Egypt, Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. A Sunni ...

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'') ...

eras have been found. Deir Qassis was examined in 1870:

First I examined a great birket 28 paces long and 25 broad; it is partly cut in the rock, and partly constructed of great blocks with a boss and covered with thick cement. Before this basin lies a platform covered with little cubes of white mosaic, which shows that it was formerly paved. The group of houses which once stood in this place form a mass of rubbish of all kinds heaped upon the ground. A little mosque is alone standing: its
lintel A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented structural item. In the case of w ...
is apparently ancient, but the decorations are Arabic. Above the lintel is a pointed
arch An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it. Arches may be synonymous with vaul ...
, whose principal feature is a broad
voussoir A voussoir () is a wedge-shaped element, typically a stone, which is used in building an arch or vault. Although each unit in an arch or vault is a voussoir, two units are of distinct functional importance: the keystone and the springer. The ...
furrowed by little canals
perpendicular In elementary geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at a right angle (90 degrees or π/2 radians). The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the ''perpendicular symbol'', ⟂. It can ...
to the curve, like pipes, arranged to resemble a series of very narrow key-stones separated by deep joints. This disposition is met with in a large number of ancient mosques round and above the doors. It is also found in several churches of Palestine, especially that of the
Holy Sepulchre The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, hy, Սուրբ Հարության տաճար, la, Ecclesia Sancti Sepulchri, am, የቅዱስ መቃብር ቤተክርስቲያን, he, כנסיית הקבר, ar, كنيسة القيامة is a church i ...
and that of
Saint Anne According to Christian apocryphal and Islamic tradition, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary and the maternal grandmother of Jesus. Mary's mother is not named in the canonical gospels. In writing, Anne's name and that of her husband Joachim come o ...
, the Christians having borrowed this method of decoration from the Arabs .'At some distance from the mosque there are ancient quarries and several tombs, rock-cut.

In the late 19th century, the following archeological remains were noted: "On a hill west of the village there are some rude tombs; one is an

arcosolium An arcosolium, plural arcosolia, is an arched recess used as a place of entombment. The word is from Latin , "arch", and , "throne" (literally "place of state") or post-classical "sarcophagus". Early arcosolia were carved out of the living rock ...

, with a

loculus Loculus may refer to: *Loculus (satchel) *Loculus (architecture), a burial niche *An alternative name for a locule, or compartment in an organism. *Loculus of Archimedes or Ostomachion ''Ostomachion'', also known as ''loculus Archimedius'' ...

sunk beneath. The height of the arch is 4 feet 6 inches, the diameter 8 feet, the tomb within 5 feet 6 inches long, and the arch 5 feet to the back." Later examination has revealed that the main remains are from the late

and

eras.Pringle, 1993, p
197
/ref>

References

Bibliography

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

External links

Zawiya
Welcome to Palestine *Survey of Western Palestine, Map 14:
IAAWikimedia commons

Az Zawiya Town (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)
Az Zawiya Town Profile
ARIJ
Az Zawiya aerial photo
ARIJ
Development Priorities and Needs in Az Zawiya
ARIJ
Az Zawiya: A model for non-violent resistance against the construction of the Segregation Wall
August 5, 2004, POICA
Construction works in The Segregation Wall resumed The case of As Sawiya village Salfit governorate
May 21, 2005, POICA
Az Zawiya village lands under unlawful confiscation attack by the Israeli Occupation
November 29, 2005, POICA
More of Az Zawiya village lands confiscated for the construction of a security road
October 9, 2006, POICA {{DEFAULTSORT:Zawiya, Az- Salfit Governorate Towns in Salfit Governorate Municipalities of West Bank Municipalities of the State of Palestine