Ajjah
Ajjah | |
---|---|
Other transcription(s) | |
• Arabic | عجّه |
• Also spelled |
Ajjah (official) ’Ajja (unofficial) |
Ajjah, 2013 | |
![]() ![]() Ajjah Location of Ajjah within Palestine | |
Coordinates: 32°21′42″N 35°11′46″E / 32.36167°N 35.19611°ECoordinates: 32°21′42″N 35°11′46″E / 32.36167°N 35.19611°E | |
Palestine grid | 168/196 |
Governorate | Jenin |
Government | |
• Type | Municipality |
Population (2007) | |
• Jurisdiction | 5,055 |
Name meaning | Ajjeh, from personal name[1] |
Ajjah (Arabic: عجّه) is a Palestinian village in the Jenin Governorate in the northern West Bank, located 19 kilometers southwest of Jenin. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the village had a population of 5,055 in 2007.[2]
History
It has been suggested that this was Aak, or Aaj in the list of places conquered by Thutmose III.[3]
Pottery sherds from Middle Bronze IIB,[4] IA I,[4] IA II,[4] Persian,[4] Hellenistic,[4] early and late Roman,[4] Byzantine[4][5] and early Muslim eras have been found here.[4]
In 1179 the village (named Casale Age) was mentioned together with Fahma in Crusader sources as being among the villages whose revenue were given to the Zion Abbey by Pope Alexander III.[4][6]
Ottoman era
Ajjah, like the rest of Palestine, was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517, and in the census of 1596 it was a part of the nahiya ("subdistrict") of Jabal Sami which was under the administration of the liwa ("district") of Nablus. The village had a population of 13 households, all Muslim. The villagers paid a fixed tax-rate of 33,3% on agricultural products, such as wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, beehives and/or goats, in addition to occasional revenues, a tax for people of liwa Nablus, and a press for olive oil or grape syrup; a total of 3,612 akçe.[7] Pottery sherds from the Ottoman era have also been found here.[4]
In 1830, the people of Ajjah fought against the army of Emir Bashir Shihab II during the siege of Sanur.[4] In 1838, 'Ajjeh was noted as being in the District of esh-Sha'rawiyeh esh-Shurkiyeh, the eastern part.[8][9]
In 1870, Victor Guérin noted it as a village on a hill, covering its summit, with 500 hundred inhabitants, surrounded by olive groves.[10]
In 1882, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine described Ajjeh as: "A village of small size, but of ancient appearance, perched on the edge of a hill, and built of stone, with olive groves below. It has a cistern on the south-east."[11]
British mandate era
In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, the village had a population of 500 Muslims,[12] increasing in the 1931 census to 643 Muslims, in 142 houses.[13]
In the 1944/5 statistics the population of Ajja was 890 Muslims,[14] with a total of 11,027 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.[15] Of this, 737 dunams were used for plantations and irrigable land, 5,605 dunams for cereals,[16] while 23 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[17]
Jordanian era
After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Ajjah came under Jordanian rule.
The Jordanian census of 1961 found 1,190 inhabitants.[18]
Post-1967
Ajjah has been under Israeli occupation along with the rest of the West Bank after the 1967 Six-Day War. In 1978, the Medieval fortress still crowned the summit of the village, and around it were buildings from the 16th and 17th CE, and two mosques.[19]
References
- ↑ Palmer, 1881, p. 178
- ↑ 2007 Locality Population Statistics. Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. p. 106.
- ↑ Conder, 1876, pp. 141, 147
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Zertal, 2004, p. 254
- ↑ Dauphin, 1998, p. 758
- ↑ Röhricht, 1893, RRH, pp. 153-154, No. 576
- ↑ Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 126
- ↑ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, 2nd app, p. 129
- ↑ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, p. 150
- ↑ Guérin, 1875, p. 217
- ↑ Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 153
- ↑ Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Jenin, p. 29
- ↑ Mills, 1932, p. 67
- ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 16
- ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 54
- ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 98
- ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 148
- ↑ Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. 25
- ↑ Zertal, 2004, p. 253
Bibliography
- Barron, J. B., ed. (1923). Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922. Government of Palestine.
- Conder, C.R.; Kitchener, H.H. (1882). The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology. 2. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
- Conder, C.R. (1876). "Palestine before Joshua". Quarterly statement - Palestine Exploration Fund. 8: 140–148.
- Dauphin, Claudine (1998). La Palestine byzantine, Peuplement et Populations. BAR International Series 726 (in French). III : Catalogue. Oxford: Archeopress. ISBN 0-860549-05-4.
- Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics (1964). First Census of Population and Housing. Volume I: Final Tables; General Characteristics of the Population (PDF).
- Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics (1945). Village Statistics, April, 1945.
- Guérin, V. (1875). Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine (in French). 2: Samarie, pt. 2. Paris: L'Imprimerie Nationale.
- 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.
- Palmer, E.H. (1881). The Survey of Western Palestine: Arabic and English Name Lists Collected During the Survey by Lieutenants Conder and Kitchener, R. E. Transliterated and Explained by E.H. Palmer. Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
- Robinson, E.; Smith, Eli (1841). Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838. 3. Boston: Crocker & Brewster.
- Röhricht, R. (1893). (RRH) Regesta regni Hierosolymitani (MXCVII-MCCXCI) (in Latin). Berlin: Libraria Academica Wageriana.
- Zertal, A. (2004). The Manasseh Hill Country Survey. 1. Boston: BRILL. ISBN 9004137564.
External links
- Welcome to Ajja
- Aja Welcome to Palestine
- Survey of Western Palestine, Map 11: IAA, Wikimedia commons