Barta'a (
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
: בַּרְטַּעָה) is an Arab village located in the
northern triangle area and
Nahal Iron, which is split by the Green Line separating
Israel
Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
from the
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 ...
. This division resulted in the separation of the village into two parts: one located within the State of Israel and the other in the West Bank. Historically, the residents of Barta'a faced challenges related to this bifurcation, impacting their social and economic interactions. In recent years, efforts have been made to reunify the village, facilitating the integration of its eastern and western sections.
History
Early history
Ceramics 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 ...
era have been found in Barta'a.
Ottoman era
In 1517 Barta'a 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 ...
with the rest of Palestine. During the
16th and
17th centuries, it belonged to the
Turabay Emirate (1517-1683), which encompassed also the
Jezreel Valley
The Jezreel Valley (from the ), or Marj Ibn Amir (), also known as the Valley of Megiddo, is a large fertile plain and inland valley in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. It is bordered to the north by the highlands o ...
,
Haifa
Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...
,
Jenin
Jenin ( ; , ) is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, and is the capital of the Jenin Governorate. It is a hub for the surrounding towns. Jenin came under Israeli occupied territories, Israeli occupation in 1967, and was put under the administra ...
,
Beit She'an Valley, northern
Jabal Nablus,
Bilad al-Ruha/Ramot Menashe, and the northern part of the
Sharon plain.
In 1882, the
PEF's ''
Survey of Western Palestine'' described it as "a ruined Arabic village on a high hill, with a spring in the valley to the north 400 feet below." The village of Barta'a was established in the middle of the 19th century by members of the Kabha tribe. According to oral traditions, the tribe moved in the middle of the 18th century from
Bayt Jibrin
Bayt Jibrin or Beit Jibrin ( lit. 'House of the Powerful') was an Arab village in the Hebron Subdistrict of British Mandatory Palestine, in what is today the State of Israel, which was depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. It was ...
to
Ya'bad. In the middle of the 19th century, some of the Kabhaites left Ya'bad in search of a living area and purchased the land of Barta'a, where they found a spring and grazing land. In time, Barta'a developed and was built around it by satellite villages, also belonging to the sons of Kabha:
Umm al-Qutuf,
'Ein al-Sahala, Wadi' Ara and Tura al-Arabiya.
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 divis ...
, conducted by the
British Mandate authorities, Barta'a had a population of 468, all Muslim,
[Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Jenin, p.]
30
/ref> increasing in the 1931 census to 692, still all Muslims, in 94 houses.[Mills, 1932, p]
67
/ref>
In the 1945 estimates, the village plus Khirbat Tura el Gharbiya had a population of 1,000 Muslims[Department of Statistics, 1945, p]
16
with 20,499 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. 464 dunams were used for plantations and irrigable land, 1,957 dunams for cereals, while 1,900 dunams were non-cultivable land.
File:Barta'a 1942.jpg, Barta'a 1942 1:20,000
File:Qaffin 1945.jpg, Barta'a 1945 1:250,000
Israel
After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
Events January
* January 1
** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated.
** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...
, the village of Barta'a was divided by the 1949 armistice into eastern and western parts. The western part fell under Israel
Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
i control, while the eastern part fell under Jordanian control
Jordanian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Jordan, a country in the Near East
* Jordanian culture
* Jordanian people, see Demographics of Jordan
* Jordanian cuisine
* Jordanian Arabic
* Royal Jordanian, an airline
See also
* L ...
. From 1949 to 1967, travel between the two halves was practically impossible. In the armistice agreements at the end of the War of Independence, the village was divided into two, on the basis of the Wadi al-Umiya outline, which crosses the village and constitutes a convenient natural border. Its north-western part was transferred to Israel with about a third of the population (500 people), while its eastern-southern part, which is located on the hilltop, was incorporated into Jordan
Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...
with about 1,000 residents. The distance between the houses of Barta'a in Israel and the houses of Barta'a in Jordan was a few dozen meters and in some places only a few meters. In the first years after the 1948 War the villagers moved almost freely between the two parts of the village. The residents of Barta'a used to go to the mosque in the Jordanian section, and the mukhtar was in charge of the two parts of the village. As a result, the village was a convenient place for meetings between Israeli Arabs and their relatives who lived in Jordan. In May 1955, the Jordanian authorities evacuated the refugees who settled in East Barta'a from the area, in order to make it difficult to smuggle into Israel. In March 1956, a serious border incident occurred in which an Israeli policeman and four Arabs from Jordan were killed. During the incident, most residents of East Barta'a fled their homes.
Following the 1967 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 ...
, Israel captured the 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 ...
and the two parts of the town were informally reunited, operating as one municipal unit. Since many of the residents in both parts of the town belong to the same extended family (the Kabha family), the de facto "reunification" was viewed positively by town residents. Residents of East Barta'a began to work in Israel and agriculture became a source of secondary income. Thanks to the proximity to Israel, the standard of living in East Barta'a rose faster than in the rest of the West Bank. In 1978, East Barta'a was connected to electricity from generators, and in 1984, it was connected to the Israeli electricity grid. Barta'a students study at high schools in Ya'abed and Jenin, In 1995, an outline plan for East Barta'a, intended to meet the expansion needs of East Barta'a by 2015, came into effect.
Following the second intifada
The Second Intifada (; ), also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada, was a major uprising by Palestinians against Israel and its Israeli-occupied territories, occupation from 2000. Starting as a civilian uprising in Jerusalem and October 2000 prot ...
, the village of Barta'a became an important commercial center for the residents of Wadi Ara
Wadi Ara (, ) or Nahal 'Iron (), is a valley and its surrounding area in Israel populated mainly by Arab citizens of Israel, Arab Israelis. The area is also known as the "Triangle (Israel), Northern Triangle".
Wadi Ara is located northwest of t ...
and a large part of the Galilee residents to buy cheap goods at the prices of the Palestinian Authority after the entry of Israelis into the West Bank. Many businessmen from the West Bank relocated their businesses to East Barta'a as part of the Palestinian Authority but have access to and proximity to the target market for goods in the Wadi Ara area. With the construction of the separation fence, East Barta'a was included in an enclave located on the Israeli side of the fence, and the trend of Israelis traveling to Barta'a for cheap shopping increased. Many of the houses in the village became stores and warehouses for merchandise, and many of the villagers became rich. However, there were also allegations of harm to residents of the village who are forced to move to the towns of Yabed and Jenin via an IDF checkpoint.
The development of Barta'a into an important commercial center resulted in many workers' from the West Bank settling in the village regularly. This led to social tension between foreign workers and residents, who saw workers as a threat to their livelihood. In addition, the prolonged stay of workers, most of whom are young without families, has long been viewed by many as a threat to the conservative customs of the residents. In the absence of recreation and welfare centers in the village, workers tend to spend their free time on the streets of the village and next to the residential areas of the local residents. The proximity between parts of Barta'a was exploited by the terrorist organizations to smuggle people into the State of Israel. For example, the suicide bomber who carried out the attack at the Maxim restaurant crossed the Green Line in Barta'a.
Barta'a enclave
The Israeli West Bank barrier
The West Bank barrier, West Bank wall or the West Bank separation barrier, is a separation barrier built by Israel along the Green Line (Israel), Green Line and inside parts of the West Bank. Israel describes the wall as a necessary securi ...
passes east of Barta'a, separating the town from the rest of the West Bank. The portion of the town lying outside Israeli territory (Eastern Barta'a) is in what is known as the Seam Zone, an area between the Green Line and the barrier. Other towns and villages in this enclave include Umm ar-Rihan, Khirbet 'Abdallah al-Yunis, Khirbet Ash-Sheikh Sa'eed, Khirbet al-Muntar al-Gharbiya, Khirbet al-Muntar ash-Sharqiyya, and Dhaher al-Malik. There are no checkpoints to the west on the border with Israel, but long-term residents of the Barta'a enclave who do not have Israeli citizenship face fines if they leave the enclave to venture into Israel.
Access from the Barta'a enclave to the West Bank is through two entry/exit gates: Barta'a and Shaked. People who want to enter the enclave must also apply for a permit.[
The market in the Barta'a enclave has become a hotspot for customers from Israel. Because the residents do not live under Israeli social system, products are cheaper than in Israel. The area is accessible for Palestinians and Israelis, and thus has become a kind of free-trade zone.Arab town, both Israeli and Palestinian, divided by shopping]
Haaretz on 1. February 2012
Holy sites
In the Palestinian area of Barta'a, the shrine known as ''ash-Seikh Barta'a'', or ''Muhammad al-Barta'wi'', stands without a domed structure or gravestone. Instead, it features two prominent stone blocks, the foremost of which is marked by four rock-cut steps. Adjacent to this shrine is a sacred tree, under which the villagers traditionally performed their rituals. Legend holds that the sheikh was a warrior under Saladin
Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known as Saladin, was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from a Kurdish family, he was the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria. An important figure of the Third Crusade, h ...
, acting as a lookout during battles with the Crusaders
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...
along the coastal plain. Several traditions exist concerning the origin of the saint's name, alongside reports of miraculous events at the site.
See also
* West Bank closures
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Google map
*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 8
IAA
Wikimedia commons
Haaretz article on Barta'a entitled, "A Surreal Visit to an Arab Israeli Town Straddling a Contested Border for the Last 50 Years"
* ttp://www.timesofisrael.com/town-on-israeli-palestinian-border-finds-a-good-balance/ Times of Israel article on Barta'a, entitled "Town on Israeli-Palestinian border finds a good balance"br>Barta'a's entry at Palestine Remembered
{{Authority control
Seam Zone
Villages in the West Bank
Jenin Governorate
Haifa District
Wadi Ara
Divided cities
Populated places in Haifa District