‘Azzun ‘Izbat At Tabib

Azzun (also spelled Azzoun) (, from the root word عز ''′izz'' which means honor or esteem) is a Palestinian town in Qalqilya Governorate in the northern West Bank, located 9 kilometers east of Qalqilya and 24 kilometers south of Tulkarm. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics census, Azzun, together with the adjacent villages of Islah and Izbat al-Tabib, had a population of over 8,900 in 2007. The vast majority of the inhabitants are Muslim, with a very small Christian minority.

Location

‘Azzun is located 7-9 km west of Qalqiliya. It is bordered by Kafr Laqif and Wadi Qana to the east, Kafr Thulth to the south, An Nabi Elyas to the west, and Jayyus and Khirbet Sir to the north.

History

Ottoman era

Just north of the village six -seven dry stone towers were examined in 1873. The best-preserved had six courses standing, and part of the roof. The locals stated that they were ancient vineyard towers.

Azzun was a site of battle - part of Napoleon Bonaparte's campaign in Ottoman Syria. An Arab poet, Ibrahim Touqan was quoted as saying, "by means of Azzun, how soaked nthe blood fFranks n themother valley."

When the French army marched into Palestine under the command of Napoleon in February 1799, it faced powerful and unexpected resistance from the inhabitants of Jabal Nablus under the command of their local leaders. They attacked the French army while it was marching towards Acre, especially near the valley of Azzun, taking part in the battle of Tal-Tabur. The participation of the inhabitants and local leaders of Nablus in the struggle against Napoleon reflected a territorial sense in resistance to a foreign army.

Ihsan al-Nimr wrote that “the truth is that onaparte’smorale was weakened around Jabal Nablus, in the valley of Azzun, Qaqun, and al-Marj ... he headed for Acre with disappointment and without determination”. Sheikh Yussuf Jarrar wrote a poem asking the inhabitants, especially the prominent families of Jabal Nablus, to march towards Acre in order to fight the French.

In Doumani's words, the poet exposes “the cohesiveness of this reign’s social formation and the shared sense of identity among its inhabitants versus the factionalism of multiple territorially based centers of power... The most striking aspect of this poem is what it does not say. Not once in its twenty-one verses does it mention Ottoman rule, much less the need to protect the empire or the glory and honor of serving the sultan” Pierre Jacotin called the village ''Hazoun'' on his map in 1799 from the same campaign.

In 1838, the American scholar Edward Robinson noted ''Azzun'' as a village in the ''Beni Sa'ab'' district, west of Nablus.

In 1852 Robinson visited the village, which he described as having 290 males, all Muslim except for one family of Christians. In 1882, the PEF's''Survey of Western Palestine'' described Azzun as a "small village lying low on the hill-side, with several wells and olives on every side."

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, ''Azzun'' had a population of 700; 691 Muslims and 9 Christians,Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Tulkarem, p
28
/ref> increasing in the 1931 census to 994: 980 Muslim and 14 Christians in a total of 218 houses.Mills, 1932, p
53
/ref>

In the 1945 statistics the population of Azzun together with Nabi Ilyas and Islah was 1,190; 1,170 Muslims and 20 Christians. Residents owned 23,496 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 5,494 dunams were for plantations and irrigable land and 1,420 were used for cereals, while 55 dunams were built-up (urban) land.

File:Azzun 1943.jpg, Azzun 1943 1:20,000
File:Azzun 1945.jpg, Azzun 1945 1:250,000

Jordanian era

In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases