Al-Jiftlik

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Al-Jiftlik
Municipality type D (village council)
Arabic transcription(s)
•  Arabic	الجفتلك
•  Latin	Al-Jeftlik (official) El-Jeftlak (unofficial)
UNRWA school in al-Jiftlik, 2011
Al-Jiftlik Location of Al-Jiftlik within Palestine Show map of State of Palestine Al-Jiftlik Location of Al-Jiftlik within the West Bank Show map of the West Bank
Coordinates: 32°08′39″N35°29′36″E / 32.14417°N 35.49333°E / 32.14417; 35.49333
Palestine grid	196/172
State	State of Palestine
Governorate	Jericho
Government
• Type	Village council
• Head of Municipality	Muhammad Omar Jahalin [1]
Area
• Total	185,032  dunams (185.0 km2 or 71.4 sq mi)
Population  (2017) [2]
• Total	3,100
• Density	17/km2 (43/sq mi)

Al-Jiftlik (Arabic : الجفتلك) is a Palestinian village in the Jericho Governorate of the State of Palestine, in the West Bank, located 33 kilometers north of Jericho. Al Jiftlik is bordered by the Jordan River to the east. Nearby Palestinian localities include az-Zubaidat to the northeast, Furush Beit Dajan to the northwest, Beit Furik to the west, Aqraba, Majdal Bani Fadil and Duma to the southwest and al-Fasayil to the south. ^[3] According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), al-Jiftlik had a population of 3,100 in the 2017 census. ^[2]

The village's total area amounts to 185,032 dunams, of which 972 dunams are Palestinian built up areas, 77 are for commercial and industrial transport units, 64,032 are arable lands and 108,606 dunams are open spaces. Israeli settlements, including Massua, Hamra and Argaman and military bases account for 11,293 dunams. ^[3] The remaining land consists of forests and inland water. ^[3]

History

The majority of the land in al-Jiftlik belonged to the al-Masa'id tribe, a powerful Bedouin family whose land spanned from Damia in Transjordan, on the east bank of the Jordan River, to the borders of Jericho in the West Bank. Most of its residents are descendants of the al-Masa'id tribe and immigrants from Tammun to the north. ^[3]

The village's name is derived from the Turkish word chiflik , the term for "land tenure" in the late Ottoman Empire which was applied in this as in many other Ottoman locations. ^[4] It received its name due to the agricultural nature of the village. ^[3] During the mandate period, there was a Tegart fort known as the Jiftlik Police Post just west of the present village. ^[4]

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

Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Al-Jiftlik has been under Israeli occupation. In the aftermath of the war over 800 homes in al-Jiftlik were razed by the Israeli army and its 6,000 inhabitants were ordered to leave. Most of al-Jiftlik's inhabitants, however, returned to the village. ^[5]

After the 1995 Accords between the Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the village was designated as part of Area C. This makes it subject to full Israeli military and civil administration. ^[3] This has allowed the Israelis to commit what Robert Fisk in 2010 called "ethnic cleansing via bureaucracy". According to the head of the village council in Jiftlik, Palestinian requests for building were denied or delayed for years, and anything built without permission was "ruthlessly" torn down by the Israelis. ^[6]

Israeli flag painted by settlers on a Palestinian building in Al-Jiftlik, May 2024

In 2005 a village council was established to administer local affairs. Its nine members are appointed by the Palestinian National Authority. The council maintains a permanent headquarters and owns a waste collection vehicle. Among its responsibilities are building water and electricity networks in al-Jiftlik and providing an ambulance for the village. ^[3]

Land confiscations by Israel

According to ARIJ, Israel has confiscated land from Al-Jiftlik in order to construct several Israeli settlements:

• 2,209 dunams were taken for Masua, ^[7]
• 1,464 dunams were taken for Ma'ale Efrayim, ^[7]
• 1,294 dunams were taken for Yafit, ^[7]
• 645 dunams were taken for Argaman, ^[7]
• 514 dunams were taken for Gitit, ^[7]
• 438 dunams were taken for Mekhora, ^[7]
• 176 dunams were taken for Petza'el. ^[7]

Demographics

In the 2007 census al-Jiftlik had a population of 3,546 with exactly 50% being males and the other 50% females. The total number of households was 578 who lived in 692 housing units. The principal clans in al-Jiftlik are the 'Arab al-Masa'id, 'Arab al-Jahalin, 'Arab al-Ayed, al-Ajajrah, Abu Sureis, Abu Dalakh, Abu Dheila, al-Annuz, al-Rutimat and al-Nafei'at. According to the Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem (ARIJ), about 100 families have left al-Jiftlik since the start of the Second Intifada in 2000. ^[3]

Economy and education

Like several other villages in the Jordan Valley area, al-Jiftlik is subject to Israeli restrictions on construction and movement, and most often requests for building permits are denied. The village lacks electricity and water infrastructure. ^[8] It has primary school managed by the UNRWA with 950 students.

Id'eis

Id'eis is a Palestinian community several kilometres south of Al-Jiftlik, close to the Masua Israeli settlement. In May 2014, there were 23 families in two neighboring compounds made up of 13 families consisting of 75 people in 15 residential structures living in the north-west compound and 10 families consisting of 53 people living in 14 tents in the southern compound. Each compound also has many livestock structures for their flocks of several thousand sheep and goats. The community makes its living from shepherding and settled in the present location in 1982 having left the Hebron area and migrated across the Jordan Valley as they searched for pastureland. On 21 May 2014, the southern compound was demolished by five Israeli Civil Administration bulldozers supported by IDF soldiers and Border Police on the basis that the families did not have building permits. ^[9]

References

1. West Bank Archived 2007-06-30 at the Wayback Machine Local Elections ( Round two)- Successful candidates by local authority, gender and No. of votes obtained, al-Jftalak p 23
2. 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.
3. Al Jiftlik Village Profile. Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem (ARIJ). 2012.
4. Roza El-Eini (2006). Mandated landscape : British imperial rule in Palestine, 1929-1948. Routledge. p. 486. ISBN   978-0-7146-5426-3.
5. Karmi, Ghada (1999). The Palestinian Exodus, 1948-1998. University of London, Centre of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law. Garnet & Ithaca Press. p.90. ISBN   0-86372-244-X.
6. In the West Bank's stony hills, Palestine is slowly dying In the richest of the Occupied lands, Israeli bureaucracy is driving Palestinians out of their homes. Robert Fisk, The Independent, 30 January 2010
7. Al Jiftlik Village Profile p. 17, ARIJ
8. Aid agencies tread gingerly in Area C Archived 2013-04-17 at the Wayback Machine . Ma'an News Agency . 2013-1-13.
9. "Civil Administration demolishes nearly half the homes in community of Id'eis, the Jordan Valley". B'tselem. 29 May 2014.

External links

• Photo of dates grown at Al-Jiftlik on the Palestine Crops website Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
• Al Jiftlik Village (Fact Sheet),(Fact Sheet)], Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem (ARIJ)
• Al Jiftlik Village Profile, ARIJ
• Al Jiftlik aerial photo, ARIJ
• Locality Development Priorities and Needs in Jiftlik, ARIJ
• Survey of Western Palestine, Map 15: IAA, Wikimedia commons