Qalqilya
| Qalqilya | |
|---|---|
| Other transcription(s) | |
| • Arabic | قلقيلية |
 |
|
|
|
 Qalqilya
|
|
| Coordinates: 32°11′25.36″N 34°58′06.63″E / 32.1903778°N 34.9685083°ECoordinates: 32°11′25.36″N 34°58′06.63″E / 32.1903778°N 34.9685083°E | |
| Governorate | Qalqilya |
| Government | |
| • Type | City |
| • Head of Municipality | Marouf Zahran |
| Area | |
| • Jurisdiction | 25,637 dunams (25.6 km2 or 9.9 sq mi) |
| Population (2007)[1] | |
| • Jurisdiction | 41,739 |
| Website | www.qalqiliamun.ps |
Qalqilya (Arabic: قلقيلية Qalqīlyaḧ; Hebrew קַלְקִילִיָה) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank. Qalqilyah serves as the administrative centre for the Qalqilya Governorate. In the official 2007 census it had a population of 41,739.[1] Qalqilya is surrounded by the Israeli West Bank barrier with a narrow gap in the east controlled by the Israeli military and a tunnel to Hableh.[2][3]
Contents |
[edit] History
The region has been populated since prehistoric times, as attested to by the discovery of prehistoric flint tools.
In 1596, Qalqili appeared in Ottoman tax registers as a village in the Nahiya of Bani Sa'b in the Liwa of Nablus. It had a population of 13 Muslim households and paid taxes on wheat, barley, summercrops, olives, and goats or beehives.[4]
In the early 1880s, Qalqilya was described as "A large somewhat straggling village, with cisterns to the north and a pool on the south-west. The houses are badly built."[5]
Qalqilya became an independent local council in 1909.[citation needed] At the time of the 1931 census, Qalqilya had 796 occupied houses and a population of 3855 Muslims and 12 Christians.[6]
In 1945, Qalqilya was recognized as a municipal council.[citation needed]
[edit] Arab-Israeli conflict
In 1948, refugees from the Arab villages of Kafr Saba and Abu Kishek settled in Qalqilya and received assistance from UNRWA. In the 1949 Armistice Agreements between Israel and Jordan, the town was included in the Jordanian-occupied area.
On the night of 10 October 1956 the Israeli army launched a raid against Qalqilya police station. The attack was ordered by Moshe Dayan and involved several thousand soldiers. During the fighting a paratroop company was surrounded by Jordanian troops and the survivors only escaped under close air-cover from four Israeli Air Force aircraft. The Israelis suffered 18 killed and 68 wounded; between seventy and ninety Jordanians were killed.[7]
After the conquest of Qalqilya in the Six Day War, the inhabitants were evicted and many buildings were razed. In his memoirs, Moshe Dayan described the destruction as a "punishment" that was designed to chase the inhabitants away.[8] The villagers were eventually allowed to return and the reconstruction of damaged houses was financed by the military authorities.[9] In September 1967, a census found 8,922 persons, of whom 1,837 were originally from Israeli territory.[10]
In 2003, the Israeli West Bank barrier was built, encircling the town and separating it from agricultural lands on the other side of the wall.[11]
In July 2006, the body of Daniel Yaakobi (59), an Israeli doctor from Yakir, was found burnt in the trunk of his car near Qalqilya. According to police, he was apparently kidnapped and murdered by Palestinians.[12]
In March 2008, Israel captured Omar Jabar, the Hamas bomber who masterminded the 2002 Passover massacre in Netanya, an attack in which 30 Israelis were killed and 143 were wounded while celebrating the Passover seder.[13]
[edit] Local government
After the Oslo Accords, administration of Qalqilya was transferred to the Palestinian Authority. Hamas won the 2006 elections in the Qalqilya Governorate and Mayor Wajih Qawas was replaced by a member of Hamas. Qawas sees himself as a victim of a feud between the Islamist movement and Fatah.[14] Human rights groups have criticized both the PA and Hamas for their detentions without trial, dismissals of officials and closure of institutions and charities.[14]
[edit] Economy
Between 1967-1995 almost 80 percent of Qalqilya's labor force worked for Israeli companies or industries in the construction and agriculture sectors. The other 20% engaged in trade and commerce, marketing across the Green Line. Many of the inhabitants are farmers.
Qalqilya Zoo, established in 1986, is the largest zoo in the West Bank and the city's major employer. It houses 170 animals and works closely with zoologists from the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo and the Ramat Gan Safari.[15]
[edit] Notable residents
- Abu Ali Iyad - Fatah field commander in Jordan and Syria
- Walid Husayin
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Population, Housing and Establishment Census 2007 : Census Final Results in The West Bank Summary (Population and Housing).". Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. 2008. http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/Portals/_PCBS/Downloads/book1487.pdf. Retrieved 2010-06-16.
- ^ Dani Filc and Hadas Ziv (2006). "Exception as the Norm and the Fiction of Sovereignty: The Lack of the Right to Health Care in the Occupied Territories". In John Parry. Evil, Law and the State: Perspectives on State Power and Violence. Editions Rodopi B.V.. p. 75. ISBN 9789042017481.
- ^ United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Qalqiliya Closures map for December 2011
- ^ Wolf-Dieter Hütteroth and Kamal Abdulfattah (1977). Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century. Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft. p. 140.
- ^ C. R. Conder and H. H. Kitchener (1883). The Survey of Western Palestine. III. London: The Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund. p. 165.
- ^ E. Mills, ed. (1932). Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas. Jerusalem: Government of Palestine. p. 56.
- ^ Morris, Benny (1993) Israel's Border Wars, 1949 – 1956. Arab Infiltration, Israeli Retaliation, and the Countdown to the Suez War. Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-827850-0. pp. 397–399.
- ^ Morris 2001, p. 328
- ^ Elon 1983, pp. 231–232
- ^ Joel Perlmann. The 1967 Census of the West Bank and Gaza Strip: A Digitized Version. Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y.: Levy Economics Institute of Bard College. November 2011 – February 2012. [Digitized from: Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing, 1967 Conducted in the Areas Administered by the IDF, Vols. 1–5 (1967–70), and Census of Population and Housing: East Jerusalem, Parts 1 and 2 (1968–70). http://www.levyinstitute.org/palestinian-census/.] Vol. 1, Table 2.
- ^ The Wall (Qalqilya) 2003 Relief Web, Retrieved 10th Dec 2009
- ^ Daniel Yaakobi
- ^ Israel: Hamas Mastermind Captured Associated Press, March 26, 2008.[dead link]
- ^ a b Sharp, Heather (October 16, 2009). "Political struggle over West Bank town". http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8307465.stm.
- ^ Splish, splash, new Kalkiya's hippo's takin' a bath, Haaretz
[edit] Bibliography
- Elon, Amos (1983). The Israelis: founders and sons. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-016969-0.
- Hadawi, Sami (1970), Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine, Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center, http://www.palestineremembered.com/Articles/General-2/Story3150.html p. 76
- Morris, Benny (2001). Righteous victims: a history of the Zionist-Arab conflict, 1881-2001. Vintage Books. ISBN 978-0-679-74475-7.
[edit] External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Qalqilyah |
|
