Ni'lin () 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 ...

town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate 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 ...

, in the central

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 west 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 ...

. Ni'lin is about east of the 1949 Armistice Line (Green Line) bordered by Deir Qaddis, the Israeli settlements of

Nili NILI () was a Jewish espionage network which assisted the United Kingdom in its fight against the Ottoman Empire in the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem between 1915 and 1917, during World War I. NILI was centered in Zikhron Ya'akov, with branches ...

and Na'ale to the northeast, the village of al-Midya and

Modi'in Illit Modi'in Illit (; , lit. "Upper Modi'in") is a Haredi Judaism, Haredi Jewish-Israeli settlement organized as a city council (Israel), city council in the West Bank, situated midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Built on the land of five Palest ...

(Kiryat Sefer) settlement bloc are to the south, Budrus (4 km) and

Qibya Qibya () is a Palestinian village in the West Bank, located northwest of Ramallah and exactly north of the large Israeli city of Modi'in. It is part of the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, and according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Sta ...

(5 km) villages are located to the northwest. The town's total land area consists of approximately 15,000

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 which 660 is urban. Under the Oslo II agreement, 93% of town lands has been classed as ' Area C'.Ni’lin Town (Fact Sheet)
ARIJ, pp. 16–17 Most of the town's inhabitants rely on agriculture for income and prior to the outbreak of 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 ...

, many had jobs in construction in Israel. 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 5,118 inhabitants in 2017. Situated 262 meters (860 feet) above sea level, Ni'lin has mild winters and hot, dry summers with temperatures averaging 32 °C (88 °F) during the day.

Etymology

The name ''Niʽlīn'' likely derives from ''Niḥlin''. This phonological shift was influenced by the settlement of

Samaritans 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 ...

in the area during the late Roman to early Byzantine periods.

History

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

s have been found dating back to the late

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 ...

(8th–7th century B.C.E.), and 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 ...

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/

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 periods. A person named ''Isaac de Naelein'' is mentioned in a Crusader text of the year 1167 in connection to nearby Casale St. Maria ( Aboud).

Ottoman period

In 1517, Ni'lin 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. In 1552, Ni'lin was mentioned as an inhabited village. Haseki Hürrem Sultan, the favourite wife of

Suleiman the Magnificent Suleiman I (; , ; 6 November 14946 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the Western world and as Suleiman the Lawgiver () in his own realm, was the List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman sultan between 1520 a ...

, endowed 18 carats of its the tax revenues to her charitable foundation, the Haseki Sultan Imaret in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. Administratively, the village belonged to the sub-district of

Ramla Ramla (), also known as Ramle (, ), is a city in the Central District of Israel. Ramle is one of Israel's mixed cities, with significant numbers of both Jews and Arabs. The city was founded in the early 8th century CE by the Umayyad caliph S ...

in the district of Gaza. 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

of the '' liwa'' of Gaza. It had a population of 72 households, all

Muslims 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 ...

. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 25% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, fruit trees, goats, and/or beehives, and a press for olives or grapes, in addition to occasional revenues; a total of 3,500 akçe. All 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. 155. In 1838, it was noted as a Muslim village called ''Na'lin'' in the ''Ibn Humar'' area in the district of Er-Ramleh.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p
121
/ref> An Ottoman village list from 1870 showed that Ni'lin had 156 houses and a population of 493, though the population count included only men. It was described as bordering Deir Qaddis. In 1882, the PEF's '' Survey of Western Palestine'' described ''N'alin'' as a "large village on high ground, surrounded by olives, and supplied by cisterns." iIn the beginning of the 20th century, residents from Ni'lin resettled in Deir Abu Salameh and Khirbat al-Duhayriyya in the hills west of the village, establishing satellite villages. On 28 December 1917, during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the village was captured by the British from Ottoman forces. The British held the line from here eastwards to Beitin and westwards to the coast, north of

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 ...

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, the village, called ''Na'lin,'' had a population of 1,160, all Muslims. The

1931 census of Palestine The 1931 census of Palestine was the second census carried out by the authorities of Mandatory Palestine. It was carried out on 18 November 1931 under the direction of Major E. Mills after the 1922 census of Palestine. * Census of Palestine 1931, ...

gives the population as 1249 (one Christian and the rest Muslim), living in 299 houses.Mills, 1932, p
22
/ref> In the 1945 statistics the population of Ni'lin was 1,420, all Muslims, who owned 15,875

s of land according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 5,921 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 3,053 dunams were used for cereals, while 29 dunams were built-up (urban) land. File:Ni'lin 1944.jpg, Ni'lin 1944 1:20,000 File:Deir Abu Mash'al 1945.jpg, Ni'lin 1945 1:250,000

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,annexed by Jordan in 1950. In 1961, the population of Ni'lin was 2,055.

Post 1967

After 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, Ni'lin came under Israeli military occupation. Since the 1995 accords, 93% of town lands has been classed as Area C, and the remaining 7% as Area B. According to the Applied Research Institute in Jerusalem (ARIJ), Israel has confiscated Ni'lin land for the construction of three

Israeli settlements 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 ...

: 945 dunams seized for Hashmona'im, 645 dunams for Mattityahu, and 384 dunams for

. On 22 March 2020, Sufyan Nawwaf al-Khawaja (age 32) from Ni'lin was killed after being shot in the head by the Israeli army. The Israelis said he was throwing stones, while his family said he was buying supplies before the shut-down imposed due to the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Barrier protests

During 2008 and 2009, the residents of Ni'lin and international activists staged weekly demonstrations against a nearby expansion of 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 ...

. It has been estimated that the completion of the barrier will remove one third of Ni'lin's land. The first of escalating incidents at the anti-barrier protest demonstrations led to the fatal shooting of 10-year-old Ahmed Moussa on 29 July 2008. The incident occurred when a group of mostly teenage boys had gone to the barrier construction site outside Ni'ilin, where there were no security personnel, the boys began removing razor wire. A preliminary Israeli police probe has found that Israeli border policemen used live ammunition to disperse the group and that one of the bullets likely killed Ahmed Moussa. During the demonstration, 15 others were injured by rubber coated steel bullets. The funeral of Ahmed Moussa was marred by a distinct up-swing in violence. The permanent stationing of a Border Police force, ordered by OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Gadi Shamni, on the outskirts of the village where the daily demonstrations are held, infuriated marchers in the funeral procession. Yousef Ahmed Younis Amera (18) was declared brain-dead in a

hospital on Wednesday 30 July 2008 after being shot in the head with a rubber-coated steel bullet and finally died on Monday 4 August 2008. On 5 August 2008, Israeli police said that they had detained a border policeman and placed him under house arrest in connection with the death of Ahmed Moussa. In the second week of August 2008, twenty-two unarmed civilians (including eight children) were shot with metal-coated rubber bullets at protests in Ni'lin and Bil'in villages (Ramallah). Israeli forces in the occupied territories have begun using a new method of crowd control in Ni'lin. A mix of weak sewage water with animal manure and chemicals has been nicknamed "

skunk Skunks are mammals in the family Mephitidae. They are known for their ability to spray a liquid with a strong, unpleasant scent from their anal glands. Different species of skunk vary in appearance from black-and-white to brown, cream or gi ...

" because of its powerful smell; the mix induces vomiting when sprayed on demonstrators. 2012

On 28 December, during a demonstration against the Israeli assault on Gaza that had started the previous day, Mohamed Khawaja (19) was shot in the head by the Israeli military, and Arafat Khawaja (22) was shot in the back. Mohamed Srour was shot in the leg. Arafat died on the scene while Mohamed Khawaja was declared braindead in hospital and died on 31 December. These incidents were brought to the attention of the

United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict The United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, also known as the Goldstone Report, was a United Nations fact-finding mission established in April 2009 pursuant to Resolution A/HRC/RES/S-9/1 of the United Nations Human Rights Cou ...

by witnesses Mohamed Srour and Jonathan Pollak at the Mission's Public Hearings in Geneva on 5 July 2009. The regular clashes here came more sharply into the international spotlight when a 38-year-old U.S. citizen named Tristan Anderson, of

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

, California was struck in the head by a tear gas canister fired by Israeli forces on 13 March 2009, during demonstrations against the barrier. The impact caused massive damage to Anderson's frontal lobe and to his eye. He required several brain surgeries at a Tel Aviv hospital. On 5 June 2009, Yousef Aqel Srour (36) was shot with 0.22 caliber live ammunition during a demonstration. He was pronounced dead upon arrival at a hospital in Ramallah. On 6 November 2009, activists marking the twentieth anniversary of the

fall of the Berlin Wall The fall of the Berlin Wall (, ) on 9 November in German history, 9 November 1989, during the Peaceful Revolution, marked the beginning of the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the figurative Iron Curtain, as East Berlin transit restrictions we ...

managed to topple a small part of the wall that cuts through the village's land; the first time Palestinian demonstrators succeeded in toppling a part of Israel's concrete barrier. In March 2010, the Israeli army designated Ni'lin, (together with nearby village Bil'in), as a "closed military area" each Friday. This was to last until August 2010.

Omri Borberg

On 7 July 2008, 17-year-old Salam Kanaan filmed an incident where an Israeli battalion commander (Lt. Col. Omri Borberg of Armored Battalion, 71) was holding the arm of a handcuffed and blindfolded Palestinian detainee (Ashraf Abu Rahma of Bil'in) while the subordinate shoots the detainee in the foot. A second polygraph test on Tuesday 29 July 2008 has cast doubts on the testimony of Lt. Col Borberg. After meeting with OC Northern Command Maj.-Gen. Gadi Eizenkot, Borberg agreed to take a 10-day leave of absence while IDF Judge Advocate-General (JAG) Brig.-Gen. Avichai Mandelblitt made the decision of whether or not to press charges against the battalion commander. Accused by the army of "severe moral failure", the Battalion commander is to be reassigned to another post and will face the relatively minor charge of "unworthy conduct". Israeli human rights groups B'Tselem, Yesh Din, the Association for Civil Rights, and the Public Committee Against Torture have criticized the Israeli army's disciplining of Borberg as lenient and have asked the Israeli military Judge Advocate General to suspend legal proceedings against both the lieutenant colonel involved and Staff Sergeant "L" who fired the shot to enable a challenge to be mounted against the decision to charge the two with the relatively light offense of "inappropriate conduct". The Ha'aretz editorial comments that:

The opportunity to send a message of total intolerance of shooting a person in shackles has been missed.

On 19 August 2008, the Military hearing against Borberg and Staff Sergeant "L" was suspended following the B'Tselem petition. On 28 September the Israeli high court asked the JAG to reconsider the charges against Borberg and Staff Sergeant "L".Ha'aretz
28 September 2008 ''High Court to IDF: Reconsider bound Palestinian shooting charges''

Footnotes

Bibliography

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

External links

Throne villages
with Al Khawaja Palace in Ne'leen, RIWAQ
Backgrounder on Ni'lin and effects of the wall at IMEU.netStop the WallNi'lin town's struggle against the wallNi’lin Town (Fact Sheet)
Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem (ARIJ)
Ni’lin Town Profile
ARIJ
Ni'lin, aerial photo
ARIJ
Locality Development Priorities and Needs in Ni’lin Town
ARIJ *Survey of Western Palestine, Map 14
IAAWikimedia commons
{{Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate Towns in the West Bank Articles containing video clips Throne villages Municipalities of Palestine