Kharbatha al-Misbah

Kharbatha al-Misbah (Arabic: خربثا المصباح‎) is a Palestinian town in the central West Bank, located 12.5 kilometers (7.8 mi) west of Ramallah in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 5,211 in 2007.[4] It has a total land area of 4,431 dunams, of which 644 are built-up areas and the remainder agricultural lands and forests.[5]

Kharbatha al-Misbah
Municipality type D (Village council)
Arabic transcription(s)
 • Arabicخربثا المصباح
 • LatinKharbatha al-Misbah (official)
Khirbet al-Misbah, Khurbetha ibn es Seba (unofficial)
Kharbatha al-Misbah, east entrance
Kharbatha al-Misbah
Location of Kharbatha al-Misbah within Palestine
Coordinates: 31°53′5″N 35°04′18″E
Palestine grid156/143
StateState of Palestine
GovernorateRamallah and al-Bireh
Government
 • TypeVillage council
 • Head of MunicipalitySa'di Jabir Ibrahim Daraj[1]
Area
 • Total4,431 dunams (4.4 km2 or 1.7 sq mi)
Elevation390 m (1,280 ft)
Population
 (2007)
 • Total5,211
 • Density1,200/km2 (3,100/sq mi)
Name meaning"The Ruins of the son of the wild beast, or "of seven""[3]

Location

Kharbatha al Misbah is located 12.5 kilometers (7.8 mi) west of Ramallah. It is bordered by Beit Ur al Fauqa to the east, Beit Ur at Tahta to the north, Beit Sira to the west, and Beit Liqya to the south.[2]

History

In 1838 it was noted as a Muslim village called Khurbata in the Lydda administrative region.[6][7]

In 1863 Victor Guérin found the village to have 400 inhabitants. He further noted five or six cisterns, and ancient tombs. Guérin thought that this was an ancient place.[8]

Socin found from an official Ottoman village list from about 1870 that the village, called Charabta, had a population of 194, with a total of 71 houses, though the population count included only men.[9] Hartmann found that Charabta had 78 houses.[10]

In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described the village, then called Khurbetha ibn es Seba, as "a small village on a ridge, with a well to the east."[11]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Kherbet al-Mesbah had a population of 369, all Muslim.[12] In the 1931 census it had increased to a population of 488, still all Muslim, in 121 inhabited houses.[13]

In the 1945 statistics, the population of Khirbat el Misbah was 600, all Muslims,[14] who owned 4,438 dunams of land according to an official land and population survey.[15] 1,026 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 2,133 used for cereals,[16] while 25 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[17]

  • Khirbat el Misbah 1944 1:20,000 from 1919 survey
  • Khirbat el Misbah 1945 1:250,000 (bottom right quadrant)

Jordanian era

In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Kharbatha al-Misbah came under Jordanian rule.

The Jordanian census of 1961 found 942 inhabitants in Kh. Misbah.[18]

There are two mosques in the town: Omri Mosque and al-Kawthar Mosque. The former was built atop the ruins of an ancient church and was renovated in 1965. Within the town, still lay Ancient Roman cemeteries. It has been governed by a village council.[19]

1967-present

Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Kharbatha al-Misbah has been under Israeli occupation.

After the 1995 accords, 19% of village land was classified as Area B, while the remaining 81% was classified as Area C. Israel has confiscated 61 dunams of village land in order to build the Israeli settlement of Beit Horon.[20]

See also

References
  1. West Bank Archived 2008-12-19 at the Wayback Machine Local Elections ( Round two)- Successful candidates by local authority, gender and No. of votes obtained, Kharbatha Misbah p 22
  2. Kharbatha al Misbah Village Profile, ARIJ, p. 4
  3. Palmer, 1881, p. 313
  4. 2007 PCBS Census Archived 2010-12-10 at the Wayback Machine. Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. p.113.
  5. New Colonial Road to be constructed on lands of western Ramallah Villages Archived 2007-08-14 at the Wayback Machine Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem. 16 January 2006.
  6. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. 121
  7. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, p. 66
  8. Guérin, 1875, p. 347
  9. Socin, 1879, p. 149 Also noted that it was located in the Lydda District
  10. Hartmann, 1883, p. 138
  11. Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 15
  12. Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Ramallah, p. 17
  13. Mills, 1932, p. 50
  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. 65
  16. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 112
  17. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 162
  18. Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. 24
  19. History of the Village Palestine Remembered.
  20. Kharbatha al Misbah Village Profile, ARIJ, p. 16

Bibliography
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