al-Mughayyir () 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 ...

, located 27 kilometers Northeast 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 ...

and 34 kilometers Southeast of

Nablus Nablus ( ; , ) is a State of Palestine, Palestinian city in the West Bank, located approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 156,906. Located between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a ...

, 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 ...

. 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), the village had a population of 2,872 inhabitants in 2017.

Location

Al Mughayyir is located north-east of

. It is bordered by

Fasayil Fasayil or Fasa'il (), ancient Phasaelis, is a Palestinian village in the northeastern West Bank, a part of the Jericho Governorate, located northwest of Jericho and about southeast of Nablus. The closest Palestinian locality is Duma to the ...

to the east, Turmus'ayya and Khirbet Abu Falah to the west,

Duma A duma () is a Russian assembly with advisory or legislative functions. The term ''boyar duma'' is used to refer to advisory councils in Russia from the 10th to 17th centuries. Starting in the 18th century, city dumas were formed across Russia ...

and

Jalud Jalud () is a Palestinian people, Palestinian village in the Nablus Governorate in the northern West Bank. It is approximately south of Nablus and is situated just east of Qaryut, south of Qusra and northeast of Shilo, Mateh Binyamin, Shilo, an ...

to the north, and

Kafr Malik Kafr Malik () is a Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate of the State of Palestine, located 17 kilometers Northeast of Ramallah in the northern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the t ...

and al-Auja to the south.

History

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 ...

'' (SWP) found here "ancient

cistern A cistern (; , ; ) is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. To prevent leakage, the interior of the cistern is often lined with hydraulic plaster. Cisterns are disti ...

s, and a rock-cut winepress near the village, which is well built of hewn stone."

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

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 ...

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a membe ...

and

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 ...

eras have been found here.Finkelstein et al, 1997, pp. 750-1

Ottoman period

In 1517, the village was included in 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 ...

with the rest of

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

, appearing in the 1596 tax-records as Mugayyir, located 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 Jabal Qubal, part of

Nablus Sanjak The Nablus Sanjak (; ) was an administrative area that existed throughout Ottoman Empire, Ottoman rule in the Ottoman Syria, Levant (1517–1917). It was administratively part of the Damascus Eyalet until 1864 when it became part of Syria Vilayet ...

. The population was 7 households and 9 bachelors, all

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 ...

. They paid taxes on wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, occasional revenues, goats and beehives; a total of 4500

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 ...

. Potsherds from the early Ottoman era have also been found here. In 1838 Edward Robinson noted al-Mughayyir was located in the Beitawy district, east of Nablus, while in 1852, he described the village as being of "considerable size", and built of hewn stones. He further noted that the villagers were "quite civil, and readily answered all our inquiries." 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 ...

found it largely deserted by its inhabitants, for lack of drinking water. He especially noticed a small

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 ...

, which had a number of regularly cut stones that seem ancient. There were also several caves, dug in rock, that also seemed old. In 1882, the PEF's ''

'' described it as "a small village of stone houses, on a ridge, with olives to the west, and beautiful corn-land in the ''Merj Sia''. There is also corn-land on the north."

British Mandate period

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 in 1922 by the British Mandate authorities, al-Mughayyir had a population of 179, all Muslims,Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Nablus. p.
25
/ref> increasing in the 1931 census when the village had a population of 204, still all Muslims, in a total of 41 houses.Mills, 1932, p
63
/ref> In the 1945 statistics, al-Mughayyir (including Khirbat Jib'it) had a population of 290 Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p
19
/ref> with total of 33,903

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 of land, according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 361 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 6,908 used for cereals, while 34 dunams were built-up (urban) land.

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 365 inhabitants.

1967-present

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, al-Mughayyir 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 ...

Impact of the Israeli occupation

According to the Oslo II Interim Agreement signed between the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel in September 1995, al-Mughayyir village was divided into politically classified area 'B' and area 'C'. Approximately 1,934 dunums (5.9% of the village's total area) is classified as area B, where the

Palestinian National Authority The Palestinian Authority (PA), officially known as the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), is the Fatah-controlled government body that exercises partial civil control over the Palestinian enclaves in the Israeli-occupied West Bank as a c ...

has control over civil matters and Israel continues to have overriding responsibility for security. Area B constitutes most of all inhabited Palestinian areas, including municipalities, villages and some refugee camps. The majority of the village's population resides in Area B which forms a small part compared to the village's total area. The rest of the village's area, constituting 31,121 dunums (94.1% of the total area) is classified as Area C, where Israel retains full control over security and administration related to the territory. In Area C, Palestinian building and land management is prohibited except through consent or authorization by the Israeli Civil Administration. Most of the lands lying within Area C are agricultural areas and open spaces, in addition to Israeli military camps. According to villagers 75% of its land has been confiscated for Israeli settlements, military bases and natural reserves. On 12 November 2014, the al-Mughayyir mosque was damaged extensively when it was torched, reportedly by settlers in what was believed to be a price-tag attack.'Protection of Civilians: 11– 17 NOVEMBER 2014,'

OCHA The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is a United Nations (UN) body established in December 1991 by the General Assembly to strengthen the international response to complex emergencies and natural disaster ...

November According to ''

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...

'' journalist Chaim Levinson, it was the tenth such mosque subject to arson in Israel and the West Bank since June 2011, and no investigation has ever led to an indictment. On the November 25, 2018, another price tag attack left eight cars damaged, and graffiti stating "Death to the Arabs", "Revenge", and "Price Tag".

2019 death

On January 26, 2019, 38-year-old local resident Hamdy Taleb Na'asan was shot in the back and killed, and 10 other Palestinians were wounded. The Israeli army believed that

Israeli settler Israeli settlements, also called Israeli colonies, are the civilian communities built by Israel throughout the Israeli-occupied territories. They are populated by Israeli citizens, almost exclusively of Jewish identity or ethnicity, and hav ...

s from Adei Ad had fired the shots. The head of the al-Mughayyir village council told ''

'': "We're not entirely sure who was hit by military fire and who was hit by settler (shooting), but there undoubtedly are some hit by the settlers, who had attacked the houses unprovoked." The Israeli settlers gave conflicting stories about how the disturbances started, but ended by telling that according to an Israeli hiker, claiming to stabbed, the altercation began some 200 meters from Adei Ad when three Arabs ambushed him and attempted to drag him to the village. The Israeli army expressed "doubts" that the teen was stabbed, while the Aa-Mughayyir villagers flatly denied it, and

Yesh Din Yesh Din (; transcribed into ), full name Yesh Din: Volunteers for Human Rights, is an Israeli organization working in Israel and in the West Bank. The organization was founded in 2005 by a group of women who previously worked with the organizat ...

also said the settlers initiated the disturbances.

2020 death

In December 2020, Ali Ayman Abu Aliya, 13 years old, was killed during protests at the village against "the construction of a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank". Abu Aliya was hit in the abdomen during clashes with the

Israeli army The Israeli Ground Forces () are the Army, ground forces of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The commander is the GOC Army Headquarters, General Officer Commanding with the rank of major general, the ''Mazi'', subordinate to the Chief of the Gen ...

, where the army had used 0.22-inch calibre

Ruger Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc., better known by the shortened name Ruger, is an American firearm manufacturing company based in Southport, Connecticut, with production facilities also in Newport, New Hampshire; Mayodan, North Carolina; and ...

ammunition. The UN Middle East envoy,

Nickolay Mladenov Nikolay Evtimov Mladenov (; born 5 May 1972) is a Bulgarian politician and diplomat, who worked for the United Nations. He served as Bulgaria's Minister of Defense from 27 July 2009 to 27 January 2010 and as the minister of foreign affairs in th ...

, described the killing as "shocking and unacceptable". According to the DCIP; "Ali did not present any threat to Israeli forces at the time he was killed".

Tree wars

According to ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

'' in October 2009, 200 olive trees belonging to villagers from al-Mughayyir were felled by settlers from the illegal settler outpost at Adei Ad, near

Shvut Rachel Shvut Rachel () is a former Israeli settlement in the West Bank, retroactively designated a neighborhood of the settlement of Shilo, in the West Bank. Shvut Rachel sits between the Palestinian villages of Turmus Ayya, Qaryut and Jalud, part of ...

. October is harvest time for olives and is often a time of "tension between Palestinian farmers and Jewish settlers", and ''The Economist'' tied the destruction of trees to the settlers' '

price tag policy The price tag attack policy (), also sometimes referred to as mutual responsibility (), is the name originally given to the attacks and acts of vandalism committed primarily in the occupied West Bank by extremist Israeli settler youths agai ...

. In her 2009 publication entitled ''Tree Flags'', legal scholar and ethnographer

Irus Braverman Irus Braverman () is a legal scholar and ethnographer and is a professor of law and an adjunct professor of geography at the University at Buffalo (SUNY). She was born in Jerusalem. Education and career Irus Braverman trained in law and crimino ...

describes how Palestinians identify olive groves as an emblem or symbol of their longtime, steadfast agricultural connection ('' tsumud'') to the land. "More than 80,000 Palestinian farmers derive a substantial portion of their annual income from olives. Harvesting the fruit, pressing the oil, selling and sharing the produce is a ritual of life." In January 2019, twenty-five 35-year-old olive trees were cut down by vandals who left vehicle tracks leading to the nearby

Israeli outpost In Israeli law, an outpost (, ''Ma'ahaz'' lit. "a handhold") is an unauthorized or illegal Israeli settlement within the West Bank, constructed without the required authorization from the Israeli government in contravention of Israeli statutes ...

of Mevo Shiloh, but no disciplinary action was taken by Israeli authorities.The sadists who destroyed a decades-old Palestinian olive grove can rest easy
by

Gideon Levy Gideon Levy (, ; born 2 June 1953) is an Israeli journalist and author. Levy writes opinion pieces and a weekly column for the newspaper ''Haaretz'' that often focus on the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. Levy has won prizes ...

and

Alex Levac Alex Levac (; born 1944, Tel Aviv) is an Israeli photojournalist and street photographer. He was awarded the Israel Prize for photography in 2005.Haaretz photographer Alex Levac wins Israel Prize By Smadar Sheffi and Yulie Khromchenko, Ha'aretz ...

. January 24, 2019,

April 2024 settler rampage

On April 12, during the April 2024 Israeli settler rampages following the Killing of Benjamin Achimeir, settlers surrounded the village and about 500 of them (according to the head of the village council) broke into it, burning houses and vehicles, including a fire engine that was called to deal with the fires, and attacking residents with shots and stones. A resident of the village, 26-year-old Jihad Abu Alia was killed and 25 residents were injured in the attack. According to eyewitnesses, military forces arrived at the scene but did not try to stop the attack. The next day the village was attacked again and three of its residents were injured, one of them seriously File:A house set on fire by settlers.webm, A house set on fire by settlers during April 2024 attack File:Aftermath of settlers attack on a sheep pen.webm, Aftermath of settlers attack on a sheep pen File:Setting fire to a garage and a residence.webm, alt=Arson of a garage and a residence, Setting fire to a garage and a residence File:Aftermath of Israeli settler attack on al-Mughayyir.webm, Aftermath of Israeli settler attack on al-Mughayyir, April 24

May 2025 settler violence

Om May 18,

Hilltop Youth Hilltop Youth (, ''No'ar HaGva'ot'') are extremist Hardal Israeli settlements, settler youth operating in the Israeli-occupied territories, Israeli-occupied West Bank. They are known for establishing Israeli outpost, outposts without an Israeli ...

settlers built an illegal outpost 100 meters from the closest house in the village. The 150 palestinian inhabitants were forced to leave their homes. The settlers harassed and threw stones at the Palestinian villagers as they tried to take their belongings and dismantle the buildings. Police and soldiers were present in the village but did not intervene.Israeli settlers force about 150 Palestinians to leave their West Bank village
by Quique Kierszenbaum in Mughayyir al-Deir and Emma Graham-Harrison in Jerusalem. May 23 2025,

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

Families

Principal families in the village include Na'san, Abu Aliya, al-Hajj Muhammad, Abu Na'im, and Abu Assaf.

Footnotes

Bibliography

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

External links

Welcome To al-Mughaiyir PIWP database profile
*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 15:
IAAWikimedia commons

Al-Mughayyir 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
Al Mughayyir Village Profile
ARIJ,
Al-Mughayyir aerial photo
ARIJ
Locality Development Priorities and Needs in Al Mughayyir Village
ARIJ {{DEFAULTSORT:Mughayyir, Ramallah, Al- Villages in the West Bank Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate Municipalities of Palestine