Hajjah () 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 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 eighteen kilometers west 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

Qalqilya Governorate The Qalqilya Governorate or Qalqiliya Governorate () is an administrative area of Palestine in the northwestern West Bank. Its capital or ''muhfaza'' (seat) is the city of Qalqilya that borders the Green Line. History During the Ottoman pe ...

of the

State 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 ...

. 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 ...

, the town had a population of 2,659 inhabitants in 2017.

Location

Hajja is located east of

Qalqiliya Qalqilya or Qalqiliya () is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, which serves as the administrative center of the Qalqilya Governorate. The city had a population of 51,683 in 2017. Qalqilya is surrounded by the Israeli West Bank wall, with a narr ...

. It is bordered by

Kafr Qaddum Kafr Qaddum () is a Palestinian territories, Palestinian town in the northern West Bank, located 13 kilometers west of Nablus and 17 kilometers east of Qalqilya in the Qalqilya Governorate. Surrounding towns include Jit, Qalqilya, Jit to the east ...

and Immatin to the east,

Al Funduq Jinsafut (, Jinṣāfūṭ) is a Palestinian village in the Qalqilya Governorate of the State of Palestine, in the northeastern West Bank, located east of Qalqilya. increasing in the 1931 census to 315 Muslims, with 76 houses. In the 1945 cen ...

and

Jinsafut Jinsafut (, Jinṣāfūṭ) is a Palestinian village in the Qalqilya Governorate of the State of Palestine, in the northeastern West Bank, located east of Qalqilya. increasing in the 1931 census to 315 Muslims, with 76 houses. In the 1945 cen ...

to the south, Kafr ‘Abbush,

Kafr Laqif Kafr Laqif () is a Palestinian village in the Qalqilya Governorate in the western West Bank, located 22 kilometers southwest of Nablus. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the village had a population of 1,039 inhabitants i ...

and Baqat al Hatab to the west, and

Kur The ancient Mesopotamian underworld (known in Sumerian language, Sumerian as ''Kur'', ''Irkalla'', ''Kukku'', ''Arali'', or ''Kigal'', and in Akkadian language, Akkadian as ''Erṣetu''), was the lowermost part of the Ancient near eastern cosmol ...

to the north.

History and archaeology

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

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 ...

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 ...

and Early Muslim periods have been found at Hajja. Jewish scholars claim that during the

, Hajjah hosted inhabitants from the Israelite Tribe of Menashe.

Hellenistic to Byzantine period

Magen identified Hajja with Kfar Hagai (כפר חגי), an ancient

Samaritan Samaritans (; ; ; ), are an ethnoreligious group originating from the Hebrews and Israelites of the ancient Near East. They are indigenous to Samaria, a historical region of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah that ...

village from the

Hellenistic period 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 ...

. A votive inscription of the third or second century BCE from

Mount Gerizim Mount Gerizim ( ; ; ; , or ) is one of two mountains in the immediate vicinity of the State of Palestine, Palestinian city of Nablus and the biblical city of Shechem. It forms the southern side of the valley in which Nablus is situated, the nor ...

, the holiest site in

Samaritanism Samaritanism (; ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic ethnic religion. It comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Samaritan people, who originate from the Hebrews and Israelites and began to emerge as a relative ...

and then the site of a major temple, reads "That which Ḥaggai son of Qimi from Kfar Ḥaggai offered". In later Samaritan sources, the village is referred to as "Kiryat Hagga (קרית חגה), the current Arabic name being a direct rendition. It was mentioned as the birthplace of

Baba Rabba Baba II Rabba (, ), was a notable Samaritan High Priest. He is believed to have lived during the late third and early fourth centuries; Jeffrey Cohen puts his birth at 288 and his death at 328. The son of High Priest Nethanel III, Baba Rabba ...

, who built several synagogues in the area, including in the village of Hagga. The ''

Tolidah The ''Tolidah'' or ''Tulida'' () is a Samaritan chronicle that is considered the oldest Samaritan historical work. Written mainly in Samaritan Hebrew, with sections in hybrid Samaritan Hebrew and Samaritan Aramaic, the book provides a concise sum ...

'', a Samaritan historical work, mentions a man named Geber Ben-Karmi of Kiryat Hagga.

Mikveh A mikveh or mikvah (, ''mikva'ot'', ''mikvot'', or (Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazic) ''mikves'', lit., "a collection") is a bath used for ritual washing in Judaism#Full-body immersion, ritual immersion in Judaism to achieve Tumah and taharah, ...

s found in the village indicate that Samaritans inhabited the village during the

and Early Islamic periods.

Mamluk period

During the reign of the

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 ...

sultan Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...

An-Nasir Muhammad Al-Malik an-Nasir Nasir ad-Din Muhammad ibn Qalawun (), commonly known as an-Nasir Muhammad (), or by his kunya: Abu al-Ma'ali () or as Ibn Qalawun (1285–1341) was the ninth Mamluk sultan of the Bahri dynasty who ruled Egypt between 12 ...

, in AH 722/1322 CE, a

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 ...

was constructed in the village. A

minaret A minaret is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generally used to project the Muslim call to prayer (''adhan'') from a muezzin, but they also served as landmarks and symbols of Islam's presence. They can h ...

was added to it in AH 735/1334-35 CE. These building were done in the name of ''Muhammed bin Musa bin Ahmed'', a local

imam Imam (; , '; : , ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a prayer leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Salah, Islamic prayers, serve as community leaders, ...

, whose grave stone is also by the mosque, dating his death to AH 749/1348 CE.Sharon (2013), pp
270
277.

Ottoman period

Hajja 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 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 ...

, 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 Bani Sa'b of the '' liwa'' of

. It had a population of 96 households, 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 ...

s. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 33.3% on various agricultural products, such as wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, goats and/or beehives, in addition to "occasional revenues", a press for olive oil or grape syrup, and a tax for people of the Nablus region; a total of 19,200

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 ...

. All of the revenues 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. 139 In 1838,

Robinson Robinson may refer to: People and names * Robinson (name) Fictional characters * Robinson Crusoe, the main character, and title of a novel by Daniel Defoe, published in 1719 Geography * Robinson projection, a map projection used since the 19 ...

noted ''Kuryet Hajja'' as a village in ''Beni Sa'ab'' district, west of Nablus, while 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 ...

noted it from

Fara'ata Far'ata () was a Palestinian village in the Qalqilya Governorate in the Western area of the West Bank, located 16 kilometers Southwest of Nablus. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the village had a population of 872 inhabi ...

. In 1870-71 ( AH 1288), an Ottoman census listed the village in the ''

'' (sub-district) of Bani Sa'b. 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 ...

'' (SWP) noted about ''Kuryet Hajja'': "A good-sized village on high ground, supplied by wells. It has a

rock-cut tomb A rock-cut tomb is a burial chamber that is cut into an existing, naturally occurring rock formation, so a type of rock-cut architecture. They are usually cut into a cliff or sloping rock face, but may go downward in fairly flat ground. It was a ...

on the west, and appears to be an ancient place." The village's en-Naby Rabbah shrine, atop a tell. This site was declared a nature reserve in 1986.

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, ''Qariyet Hajjeh'' had a population of 642 inhabitants, all Muslims,Barron (1923), Table IX, Sub-district of Nablus, p
24
increasing in the 1931 census to 731 Muslims, with 206 houses. In the 1945 statistics, the population was 960 Muslims,Department of Statistics, 1945, p
18
with 13,119

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, 4 dunams were for citrus and bananas, 1,226 dunams were for plantations or irrigated land, 5,045 were for cereals, while 36 dunams were built-up 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 1,093 inhabitants.Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p
25

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, Hajjah 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, 37.2% of village land was assigned as Area B land, while the remaining 62.8% is assigned

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 ...

.Hajja village profile
ARIJ, p. 17. Israel has confiscated 216 dunums of land from Hajja to establish two

Israeli settlement 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 Israeli Jews, Jewish identity or ethni ...

Karne Shomron Karnei Shomron (, lit. "Rays (of light) of Samaria") is an Israeli settlement organized as a local council established in 1977 in the West Bank, east of Kfar Saba. Karnei Shomron is located northeast of Tel Aviv and north of Jerusalem. In it ...

and

Neve Oramin Karnei Shomron (, lit. "Rays (of light) of Samaria") is an Israeli settlement organized as a Local council (Israel), local council established in 1977 in the West Bank, east of Kfar Saba. Karnei Shomron is located northeast of Tel Aviv and nor ...

, with the remainder of the land for these two settlements taken from

and

Deir Istiya Deir Istiya () is a Palestinians, Palestinian town of 3,696 in the Salfit Governorate of the State of Palestine, in the northern West Bank, southwest of Nablus. The Built up area, built-up area of Deir Istiya is 74 dunams, and its old city has ab ...

). Israel has also confiscated land from Hajja to build bypass roads and 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 ...

Demographics

Hajjah is considered the initial center of the Bani Sa'b tribe. Historically, it has absorbed

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...

s from the Arab al-Jabarat group.Grossman, D. (1986). "Oscillations in the Rural Settlement of Samaria and Judaea in the Ottoman Period". in Shomron studies. Dar, S., Safrai, S., (eds). Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishing House. p. 353 The current residents of Hajjah trace their ancestry to

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

and

Jaffa Jaffa (, ; , ), also called Japho, Joppa or Joppe in English, is an ancient Levantine Sea, Levantine port city which is part of Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel, located in its southern part. The city sits atop a naturally elevated outcrop on ...

. They are united in several clans (''"hamulas"''), including the Bata-Hamed, Masalha, Da'as, Ta'ayun and Farhat clans, among others. Some families in the village are believed by locals to be the descendants of

families which had lived in the village until the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, when they

converted to Islam Reversion to Islam, also known within Islam as reversion, is adopting Islam as a religion or faith. Conversion requires a formal statement of the '' shahādah'', the credo of Islam, whereby the prospective convert must state that "there is none w ...

Sites

A tell topped by a

shrine A shrine ( "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred space">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...: ''escri ...

, known as en-Naby Rabbah, is situated 419 meters west of the village. Local residents claim that this shrine marks the tomb of a saint, identified as one of

Jacob Jacob, later known as Israel, is a Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions. He first appears in the Torah, where he is described in the Book of Genesis as a son of Isaac and Rebecca. Accordingly, alongside his older fraternal twin brother E ...

's grandsons. This saint lacks recognition within mainstream Islam, and no tomb is present at the site.

Moshe Sharon Moshe Sharon (; born December 18, 1937) is an Israeli historian of Islam. He is currently Professor Emeritus of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem where he serves as Chair in Baháʼí Studies. Education, ...

suggests that the saint's name may preserve the memory of

, a prominent

leader from the 4th century known for constructing a synagogue at Hajjah. The locals believe that the saint acts as a guardian for their crops. The site and its surroundings were designated as a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

in 1986.

Notable people

* Mahmoud Da'as aka Abu Khalid (1934–2009), high-ranking Palestine Liberation Organisation commander

References

Bibliography

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

External links

Welcome to Hajja Hajjah
Welcome to Palestine *Survey of Western Palestine, Map 11:
IAAWikimedia commonsHajja 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)
Hajja village profile
ARIJ
Hajja, aerial photo
ARIJ
Development Priorities and Needs in Hajja
ARIJ {{Qalqilya Governorate Villages in the West Bank Qalqilya Governorate Municipalities of Palestine Ancient Samaritan settlements