Ajjul () is a

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

village in the

Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate The Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate () is one of 16 governorates of Palestine. It covers a large part of the central West Bank, on the northern border of the Jerusalem Governorate. Its district capital or ''muhfaza'' (seat) is the city of ...

in the northern

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

, located north of

Ramallah Ramallah ( , ; ) is a Palestinians, Palestinian city in the central West Bank, that serves as the administrative capital of the State of Palestine. It is situated on the Judaean Mountains, north of Jerusalem, at an average elevation of abov ...

. There are two archaeological sites or ''khirbets'' to the east of the village. One of the ''khirbets'' is dedicated to a former resident of Ajjul, ''Sheikh Abdul''.Ajjul Village
Ajjul Village Council. (Translated from Arabic) Ajjul is governed by a village council of three members.

Location

Ajjul is located (horizontally) north of

. It is bordered by Atara to the south and east,

Abwein Abwein () is a Palestinian village in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate of the State of Palestine, located about 37 kilometers north of Ramallah, in the northern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Abwein's ...

to the east, Bani Zeid ash Sharqiya to the north, and Deir as-Sudan and

Umm Safa Umm Safa/Kafr Ishwa () or Um Al-Safa is a Palestinians, Palestinian village in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate. Location Umm Safa is located north of Ramallah. It is bordered by 'Ajjul and 'Atara to the east, Deir as Sudan and Ajjul t ...

to the west. Ajjul lies at an altitude of 484 meters above sea level.

History

Ajjul is a village on an ancient site.

Potsherd This page is a glossary of archaeology, the study of the human past from material remains. A B C D E F ...

s from the

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

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 ...

Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

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 Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

Crusader Crusader or Crusaders may refer to: Military * Crusader, a participant in one of the Crusades * Convair NB-36H Crusader, an experimental nuclear-powered bomber * Crusader tank, a British cruiser tank of World War II * Crusaders (guerrilla), a C ...

Ayyubid The Ayyubid dynasty (), also known as the Ayyubid Sultanate, 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 Egyp ...

Mamluk Mamluk or Mamaluk (; (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural); translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave") were non-Arab, ethnically diverse (mostly Turkic, Caucasian, Eastern and Southeastern European) enslaved mercenaries, slave-so ...

and early Ottoman period have also been found.Finkelstein et al, 1997, p. 415 Rock-cut tombs have been found, and ancient architectural fragments have been reused in a mosque.

Crusader/Ayyubid period

In the 12th and 13th centuries, during the Crusader period, Ajjul was inhabited by

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

s, according to the Muslim scholar Diya al-Din (d. 1245). A mosque in the village has an inscription in the south wall, dating it to 1196. The inscription is in

naskhi script. Röhricht (1842–1905 suggested that Ajjul was the Crusader place called ''Gul''; however, Conder (1848–1910) disagreed.

Ottoman period

The village was incorporated into the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

in 1517 with all of Palestine, and in 1596 it appeared in the tax registers as being in the ''

Nahiya A nāḥiyah ( , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiyeh, 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 divisi ...

'' of Quds of the '' Liwa'' of Quds. It had a population of 79 households, all

. They paid a fixed tax rate of 33,3% on agricultural products, which included wheat, barley, summer crops, vineyards and fruit trees, olives, goats and/or beehives; a total of 8,745

akçe The ''akçe'' or ''akça'' (anglicized as ''akche'', ''akcheh'' or ''aqcha''; ; , , in Europe known as '' asper'') was a silver coin mainly known for being the chief monetary unit of the Ottoman Empire. It was also used in other states includi ...

. Half of the revenue went to a

Waqf A (; , plural ), also called a (, plural or ), or ''mortmain'' property, is an Alienation (property law), inalienable charitable financial endowment, endowment under Sharia, Islamic law. It typically involves donating a building, plot ...

.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 117. In the

17th century The 17th century lasted from January 1, 1601 (represented by the Roman numerals MDCI), to December 31, 1700 (MDCC). It falls into the early modern period of Europe and in that continent (whose impact on the world was increasing) was characterized ...

, the village received an influx of refugees from Beit Qufa near

Lydda Lod (, ), also known as Lydda () and Lidd (, or ), is a city southeast of Tel Aviv and northwest of Jerusalem in the Central District of Israel. It is situated between the lower Shephelah on the east and the coastal plain on the west. The ci ...

, who had to abandon their home due to unsettled conditions. In 1838 Ajjul was noted as a Muslim village in the Beni Zeid administrative region.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p
125
/ref> In 1870

Victor Guérin Victor Guérin (; 15 September 1821 – 21 September 1890) was a French people, French intellectual, explorer and amateur archaeologist. He published books describing the geography, archeology and history of the areas he explored, which included ...

passed by the village, which he called ''A'djoul'', and estimated it to have about 300 inhabitants. Around Ajjul he found large fig and carob-trees, besides

pomegranate The pomegranate (''Punica granatum'') is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub in the family Lythraceae, subfamily Punica, Punicoideae, that grows between tall. Rich in symbolic and mythological associations in many cultures, it is thought to have o ...

mulberry ''Morus'', a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of 19 species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions. Generally, the genus has 64 subordinat ...

and

apricot An apricot (, ) is a fruit, or the tree that bears the fruit, of several species in the genus ''Prunus''. Usually an apricot is from the species '' P. armeniaca'', but the fruits of the other species in ''Prunus'' sect. ''Armeniaca'' are also ...

trees. An official Ottoman village list from about the same year showed that Ajjul had 79 houses and a population of 250, though the population count included men, only. 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 completed Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) and in 1880 for the soon abandoned Survey of Eastern Palestine. The ...

'' described Ajjul as a "village of moderate size, with a well. It is on high ground, with olives round it, and ancient tombs. An ancient road leads towards it on the south." In 1896 the population of Ajjul was estimated to be about 468 persons.

British Mandate

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 divis ...

conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Ajjul had a population of 202, all Muslim.Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Ramallah, p
16
/ref> By the time of the 1931 census, Ajjul had 79 occupied houses and a population of 292, still all Muslim.Mills, 1932, p
47
In the 1945 statistics, the population was 350 Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p
26
/ref> and the total land area was 6,639

dunam A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; ; ; ), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area analogous in role (but not equal) to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amo ...

s, according to an official land and population survey.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p
64
/ref> Of this, 3,507 were allocated for plantations and irrigable land, 863 for cereals, while 14 dunams were classified as built-up areas.

Jordanian period

In the wake of the

1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, also known as the First Arab–Israeli War, followed the 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine, civil war in Mandatory Palestine as the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. The civil war becam ...

, and after the

1949 Armistice Agreements The 1949 Armistice Agreements were signed between Israel and Egypt,Jordanian rule. The Jordanian census of 1961 found 600 inhabitants here.

Post 1967

Since the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 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, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...

in 1967, Ajjul has been under

Israeli occupation Israel has occupied the Golan Heights of Syria and the Palestinian territories since the Six-Day War of 1967. It has previously occupied the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt and southern Lebanon as well. Prior to 1967, control of the Palestinian terr ...

. After the 1995 accords, 48.3% of Ajjul land is defined as Area A land, 27.2% is Area B, while the remaining 24.5% is defined as

Area C Area C (; ) is the fully Israeli-controlled territory in the West Bank, defined as the whole area outside the Palestinian enclaves (Areas A and B). Area C constitutes about 61 percent of the West Bank territory, containing most Israeli settle ...

. Israel has confiscated 363 dunams of village land in order to construct the Israeli settlement of

Ateret Ateret () is an Israeli settlement organized as a community settlement in the West Bank. Located in the municipal jurisdiction of the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council, it is located on a hilltop, at an elevation of 760 metres, occupying land con ...

Demographics

According to the

Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS; ) is the official statistical institution of Palestine. Its main task is to provide credible statistical figures at the national and international levels. It is a state institution that provid ...

(PCBS), Ajjul had a population of 1,402 inhabitants in 2017. In a 1997 PCBS census, 4.2% of Ajjul's population — which was 1,026 — were

Palestinian refugee Palestinian refugees are citizens of Mandatory Palestine, and their descendants, who fled or were expelled from their country, village or house over the course of the 1948 Palestine war and during the 1967 Six-Day War. Most Palestinian refug ...

s. The largest age group in the village were infants to 14-year-olds, making up 44.2% of the population. About 25.3% of the population is between the ages of 15 and 29, 24.2% between 30 and 64 and residents 65 or older represent 6.3% of the population. There were slightly more males (51.7%) than females (49.3%) in Ajjul's gender make-up. In the 2007 PCBS census, the figures of Ajjul's population showed a smaller population of 1,237 people, of which 601 were males and 636 were females.2007 PCBS Census

. p.113.

Infrastructure

Ajjul contains a clinic that is primarily involved in blood testing. Most of the residents receive medical help from the Palestinian Red Crescent stationed in nearby

Sinjil Sinjil () is a Palestinian town northeast of Ramallah in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate of the State of Palestine, in the central West Bank. Location Sinjil is located north-east of Ramallah. It is bordered by Turmus ayya to the east, ...

. The nearest hospital is in Ramallah. Two

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

s are located in Ajjul: a modern one and an older renovated one. There is a mixed-gender secondary school in the village, in which 400 students are enrolled. Students attend science and literature classes at the Prince Hassan School in

Bir Zeit Birzeit (), also Bir Zeit, is a Palestinian Christian town north of Ramallah, in the West Bank. Its population in the 2017 census was 5,878. Birzeit is home to Birzeit University and to the Birzeit Brewery. Location Bir Zeit is located north ...

. Ajjul has about 50 college and university students. There is no postal service in the village.

References

Bibliography

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

External links

Welcome To 'AjjulAjjul
Welcome to Palestine *Survey of Western Palestine, Map 14
IAA

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'Ajjul Village (Fact Sheet)

Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem The Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem (ARIJ; ) is a Palestinian NGO founded in 1990 with its main office in Bethlehem in the West Bank. ARIJ is actively working on research projects in the fields of management of natural resources, water m ...

(ARIJ)
'Ajjul Village Profile
ARIJ
'Ajjul aerial photo
ARIJ {{Authority control Villages in the West Bank Municipalities of Palestine