Beit Liqya

Beit Liqya (Arabic: بيت لقيا‎) is a Palestinian town located in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the northern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, it had a population of approximately 7,710 in 2007, of whom 3,799 were male and 3,911 were female.[2]

Beit Liqya
Municipality type C
Arabic transcription(s)
 • Arabicبيت لقيا
 • LatinBeit Liqya (official)
Bayt Liqya (unofficial)
Beit Liqya
Location of Beit Liqya within Palestine
Coordinates: 31°52′09″N 35°04′01″E
Palestine grid156/141
StateState of Palestine
GovernorateRamallah and al-Bireh
Government
 • TypeMunicipality
 • Head of MunicipalityAreej Assi
Population
 (2011)
 • Total11,500
Name meaning"The house of Likia"[1]

Location

Beit Liqya is located 13.5 km southwest of Ramallah. It is bordered by Beit ‘Anan and Beit ‘Ur al Foqa to the east, Kharbatha al Misbah to the north, Beit Sira and Beit Nuba to the west, and Beit Nuba and Kharayib Umm al Lahim to the south.[3]

History

In the early 1200, the revenues from Beit Liqya were given as a waqf designated for the Al-Haram al-Sharif.[4]

Ottoman era

Beit Liqya, like the rest of Palestine, was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517, and in 1557 the revenues of the village were designated for the new waqf of Hasseki Sultan Imaret in Jerusalem, established by Hasseki Hurrem Sultan (Roxelana), the wife of Suleiman the Magnificent.[5][6]

In 1838 Beit Lukia was noted as a Muslim village, located in the Beni Malik area, west of Jerusalem.[7]

The French explorer Victor Guérin visited the village in the 1863, and estimated that it had around five hundred inhabitants. He also noted a wali for a Sheikh Abou Ismail.[8] An official Ottoman village list from about 1870, showed that "Bet Lukja" had a total of 109 houses and a population of 347, though the population count included only men.[9][10]

In 1883, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described Beit Likia as a "small village on a main road at the foot of the hills, supplied by cisterns. There are ancient foundations among the houses."[11]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Beit Leqia had a population of 739, all Muslim,[12] increasing by the time of 1931 census, when Beit Liqya had 209 occupied houses and a population of 858, still all Muslim.[13]

In the 1945 statistics the population was 1,040, all Muslims,[14] while the total land area was 14,358 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[15] Of this, 1,918 were allocated for plantations and irrigable land, 6,469 for cereals,[16] while 39 dunams were classified as built-up (urban) areas.[17]

  • Beit Liqya 1944 1:20,000 from 1919 survey
  • Beit Liqya 1945 1:250,000 (bottom right quadrant)

Jordanian era

In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Beit Liqya came under Jordanian rule.

In 1961, the population of Beit Liqya was 1,727.[18]

Post-1967

Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Beit Liqya has been under Israeli occupation.

After the 1995 accords, 10.4% of the land of Beit Liqya was classified as Area B, the remaining 89.6% as Area C.[19]

Jamal 'Asi (15 years old) and U'dai 'Asi (14 years old) were killed by the Israeli Army in 2005 near the Israeli West Bank barrier.[20] UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan welcomed Israel's announcement that an involved IDF officer was suspended, and that a full investigation of the incident would take place.[21]

Later the same year, their 15-year-old cousin Mahyoub al-Asi was killed by a civilian security guard, "whom he knew." He was tending the family vineyard. His brother was also killed by a mine explosion near the village several years ago.[20]

On October 16, 2014, Israeli forces shot and killed the 13-year-old Palestinian boy Bahaa Badr in the village near the dividing line with Israel. Bahaa Badr was shot in the chest and died 20 minutes after arriving at the hospital.[22][23][24]

References
  1. Palmer, 1881, p. 286
  2. 2007 PCBS Census. Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. p.115.
  3. Beit Liqya Town Profile, ARIJ, p. 4
  4. Shihab al-Umari, 1932, p. 49
  5. Singer, 2002, p. 50, citing TSAE-7816/8. (TSAE=Topkapi Saray Arsivi, Evrak) This document reiterate what was transferred on 14 Ramazan 963 AH.
  6. Toledano, 1984, p. 290, has Bayt Liqya and Bayt Luqua at location 31°52′15″N 35°03′55″E .
  7. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. 124
  8. Guérin, 1868, p. 347
  9. Socin, 1879, p. 146 It was also noted to be in the Beni Malik area
  10. Hartmann, 1883, p. 118 also noted 109 houses
  11. Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. 16
  12. Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Ramallah, p. 16
  13. Mills, 1932, p. 62.
  14. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 26
  15. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 64
  16. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 111
  17. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 161
  18. Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. 24
  19. Beit Liqya Town Profile, ARIJ, pp. 16-17
  20. Security guard shoots Palestinian teen in family vineyard, Jul.10, 2005, Haaretz
  21. Secretary-General 'saddened' by killing of two teens near Ramallah
  22. Palestinian boy killed by Israeli forces in West Bank, Oct.16, 2014, Reuters
  23. Israeli Troops Are Suspected in Shooting of a Teenager, Jodi Rudoren, Oct. 16, 2014, The New York Times
  24. Palestinian family says it has proof boy shot by IDF troops posed no threat, By Jack Khoury, 26.10.14, Haaretz

Bibliography
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