Abasan al-Kabira

Abasan al-Kabira
Other transcription(s)
 • Arabic عبسان الكبيرة
Abasan al-Kabira
Abasan al-Kabira
Location of Abasan al-Kabira within Palestine
Coordinates: 31°19′25.35″N 34°20′51.32″E / 31.3237083°N 34.3475889°E / 31.3237083; 34.3475889Coordinates: 31°19′25.35″N 34°20′51.32″E / 31.3237083°N 34.3475889°E / 31.3237083; 34.3475889
Palestine grid 087/081
Governorate Khan Yunis
Government
 • Type City
 • Head of Municipality Mustafah Alshawaf
Population (2006)
 • Jurisdiction 19,000

Abasan al-Kabira in (Arabic: عبسان الكبيرة‎) is a Palestinian city located in the Khan Yunis Governorate in the southern Gaza Strip. It is connected with Khan Yunis city by a local street that crosses other villages like Bani Suheila and Khuza'a. Abasan al-Kabera and the nearby village of Abasan al-Saghira, have in recent years been built up to each other so that they form a larger urban area around Khan Yunis.

The city's population was approximately 19,000 in 2006, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics and depends mostly on agriculture as the main source of income.[1] Moreover, small industry is involved with producing construction supplies like bricks and agricultural implements, while some residents work in commerce. The society is strongly influenced by tribal structure so, there are many extended families such as Qudayh in (Arabic: قديح ‎) (the Ashraaf of the Holy Land), Alshawaf, Al-Daghmah, M'ssabih, Abu Yousef, Abu Mustafa, Abu Tair, Abu Dagga, Abu Tabash, Abu Draz, Abu Mutlaq, Abu Hamed, Abu subha and Abu Amer. The families generally turn to custom to solve disputes amongst themselves.

History

The site of the city was inhabited in the Roman era and under the Byzantine domination (a Greek inscription from 606 CE was founded here), and has several ruins dating from those periods. Furthermore, there are also some archaeological sites that related to Islamic era and the period prior the Islam like "Ibrahim" shrine. Some historians link the people of Abasan to the "Abes family".

Ottoman era

Abasan appeared in the 1596 Ottoman tax registers as being in the Nahiya of Gaza of the Liwa of Gazza. It had a population of 28 households, all Muslim, who paid taxes on wheat, barley, summer crops, fruit trees, occasional revenues, goats and/or bee hives.[2]

In 1886, Abasan al-Kabera was described as a small flourishing village, built of stone. Four ancient white marble pedestals had been excavated at the village site, three remained.[3]

British mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Abassan (presumably both Abasan al-Kabira and Abasan al-Saghira), located in Gaza Subdistrict, had a population of 695; all Muslims,[4] increasing in the 1931 census to 1144, still all Muslim, in 186 houses.[5]

In the 1945 statistics the two Abasans were still counted together, and had a population of 2,230, all Muslims,[6] with 16,084 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.[7] Of this, 92 dunams were for plantations and irrigable land, 15,616 used for cereals,[8] while 69 dunams were built-up land.[9]

1948, and aftermath

While under control of Egyptian authorities, Egypt complained to the Mixed Armistice Commission that on the 7 and 14 October 1950 Israeli military Forces had shelled and machine-gunned the Arab villages of Abasan al-Kabera and Beit Hanoun in Egyptian controlled territory of the Gaza strip. This action caused the death of seven and the wounding of twenty civilians.[10]

References

  1. ↑ Projected Mid -Year Population for Khan Yunis Governorate by Locality 2004- 2006 Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics
  2. ↑ Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 150
  3. ↑ Schumacher, 1886, pp. 191-192
  4. ↑ Barron, 1923, Table V, Sub-district of Gaza, p. 8
  5. ↑ Mills, 1932, p. 2
  6. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 31
  7. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 45
  8. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 86
  9. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 136
  10. ↑ UN Doc S/1459 of 20 February 1950 Report of the Mixed Armistice Commission

Bibliography

  • Barron, J.B., ed. (1923). Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922. Government of Palestine.
  • Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics (1945). Village Statistics, April, 1945.
  • Hadawi, S. (1970). Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine. Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center.
  • Hütteroth, Wolf-Dieter; Abdulfattah, Kamal (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. ISBN 3-920405-41-2.
  • Mills, E., ed. (1932). Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas. Jerusalem: Government of Palestine.
  • Schumacher, G. (1886). "Researches in Southern Palestine". Quarterly statement - Palestine Exploration Fund. 18: 171–194.
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