Ajjah

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Ajjah
Municipality type C
Arabic transcription(s)
•  Arabic	عجّه
•  Latin	Ajjah (official) ’Ajja (unofficial)
Ajjah, 2013
Ajjah Location of Ajjah within Palestine
Coordinates: 32°21′42″N35°11′46″E / 32.36167°N 35.19611°E / 32.36167; 35.19611
Palestine grid	168/196
State	State of Palestine
Governorate	Jenin
Government
• Type	Municipality
Population  (2017) [1]
• Total	6,162
Name meaning	Ajjeh, from personal name [2]

Ajjah (Arabic : عجّه) is a Palestinian village in the Jenin Governorate of the State of Palestine, 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 6,162 in 2017. ^[1]

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, Casale Age was mentioned in Crusader sources as 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. 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 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] En-Nabulsi (1641 – 1731), noted Ajjah as "a village on the road from Fahme and er-Rameh". ^[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 described it as a village on a hill with 500 inhabitants, surrounded by olive groves. ^[10] In 1871 (1288 AH), an Ottoman census listed the village in the nahiya (sub-district) of al-Sha'rawiyya al-Sharqiyya. ^[11]

In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described Ajjeh as a small village of ancient appearance, on the edge of a hill with olive groves below and a cistern to the southeast. ^[12]

British mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, the village had a population of 500 Muslims, ^[13] increasing in the 1931 census to 643 Muslims, in 142 houses. ^[14]

In the 1944/5 statistics the population of Ajja was 890 Muslims, ^[15] with a total of 11,027 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey. ^[16] Of this, 737 dunams were used for plantations and irrigable land, 5,605 dunams for cereals, ^[17] while 23 dunams were built-up (urban) land. ^[18]

Jordanian era

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

The Jordanian census of 1961 found 1,190 inhabitants. ^[19]

Post-1967

Since the 1967 Six-Day War, Ajjah has been under Israeli occupation. 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. ^[20]

Demography

Local origins

Residents of Ajjah originally came from many locations, including Jerusalem, Galilee (Alma), and Beita. ^[21]

References

1. Preliminary Results of the Population, Housing and Establishments Census, 2017 (PDF). Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) (Report). State of Palestine. February 2018. pp. 64–82. Retrieved 2023-10-24.
2. Palmer, 1881, p. 178
3. Conder, 1876, pp.141, 147
4. Zertal, 2004, p. 254
5. Dauphin, 1998, p. 758
6. Röhricht, 1893, RRH, pp. 153-154, No. 576
7. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 126
8. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, 2nd app, p. 129
9. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, p. 150
10. Guérin, 1875, p. 217
11. Grossman, David (2004). Arab Demography and Early Jewish Settlement in Palestine. Jerusalem: Magnes Press. p. 254.
12. Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 153
13. Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Jenin, p. 29
14. Mills, 1932, p. 67
15. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 16 Archived 2018-09-05 at the Wayback Machine
16. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 54 Archived 2012-02-29 at the Wayback Machine
17. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 98 Archived 2014-01-04 at the Wayback Machine
18. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 148 Archived 2014-01-04 at the Wayback Machine
19. Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. 25
20. Zertal, 2004, p. 253
21. Grossman, D. (1986). "Oscillations in the Rural Settlement of Samaria and Judaea in the Ottoman Period". in Shomron studies. Dar, S., Safrai, S., (eds). Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishing House. p. 351

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. Vol. 2. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
• Conder, C.R. (1876). "Palestine before Joshua". Quarterly Statement - Palestine Exploration Fund. 8: 140–148.
• Dauphin, C. (1998). La Palestine byzantine, Peuplement et Populations. BAR International Series 726 (in French). Vol. 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). Vol. 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. Archived from the original on 2018-12-08. Retrieved 2014-09-09.
• Hütteroth, W.-D.; Abdulfattah, K. (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. Vol. 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. Vol. 1. Boston: BRILL. ISBN   9004137564.

External links

• Welcome to Ajja
• Aja Welcome to Palestine
• Survey of Western Palestine, Map 11: IAA, Wikimedia commons