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Beit Ummar

Coordinates:31°37′17″N35°06′08″E/ 31.62139°N 35.10222°E/31.62139; 35.10222
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Beit Ummar
Municipality type B
Arabic transcription(s)
•Arabicبيت اُمّر
•LatinBayt Ummar (official)
Beit Omar (unofficial)
Beit Ummar, in 2011
Beit Ummar, in 2011
Beit Ummar is located in State of Palestine
Beit Ummar
Beit Ummar
Location of Beit Ummar withinPalestinian autonomy
Coordinates:31°37′17″N35°06′08″E/ 31.62139°N 35.10222°E/31.62139; 35.10222
Palestine grid159/114
StateState of Palestine
GovernorateHebron
Government
• TypeMunicipality(from 1997)
• Head of MunicipalityNasri Sabarna
Population
(2017)[1]
• Total16,977
Name meaning"House of Ummar"[2]

Beit Ummar(Arabic:بيت اُمّر) is aPalestiniantown located eleven kilometers northwest ofHebronin theHebron Governorateof theState of Palestine.[3]According to thePalestinian Central Bureau of Statistics,in 2017, the town had a population of 16,977 inhabitants.[1]Over 4,800 residents of the town are under the age of 18. Since theSecond Intifada,unemployment ranges between 60 and 80 percent due mostly to the inability of residents to work inIsraeland a depression in the Palestinian economy.[4]A part of the city straddles Road 60 and due to this, several propositions of house demolition have occurred.[5]

Beit Ummar is mostly agricultural and is noted for its many grape vines. This has a major aspect on their culinary tradition of stuffed grape leaves known aswaraq al-'iniband agrape syrupcalleddibs.[5]Beit Ummar also has cherry, plum, apple and olive orchards.[6]

History

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Antiquity

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Beit Ummar is believed to be the site ofBiblicalvillage of Maarath.[6][7][8][9]Another early name is Beit 'Amra.[10]Locals say they trace their origins back to the era ofAbraham.[11]Ben-Zviraises the possibility that remnants of an ancientJewishpopulation may exist in the village.[10][12]

A church, tentatively dating to the 5th century CE, (but with changes probably done in the 8th century) was excavated in the 1930s atKhirbat Asida,to the east of the centre of Beit Ummar.[13]

Middle ages

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According to some traditions, the town was named after theIslamicCaliphUmar ibn al-Khattabbecause he supposedly frequented the town. Many of the town's predominantlyMuslimresidents are descendants ofArab Christianfamilies who converted during the 7th centuryMuslim conquest.Christian ruins in the old city are a testament to this conversion over 1,000 years ago.[5]

The Mosque of Nabi Matta, 2011

The mainmosquein Beit Ummar houses the tomb ofNabi Matta.Matta refers toAmittai,the father ofJonah.Mujir ad-Dinwrites that Matta was "a holy man from the people of the house of the prophecy." NearbyHalhulhouses the purported tomb of Jonah with the inscription reading "Yunus ibn Matta"or" Jonah son of Amittai ", confirming that Matta is indeed the Arabic name for Amittai (some suggested it referred to theapostle Matthew); the Beit Ummar tomb is dedicated to Amittai.[14][15]

In 1226, theAyyubidsultanal-Mu'azzambuilt a mosque with aminaretunder the supervision ofJerusalemgovernor Rashid ad-Din al-Mu'azzami. TheMamluksconstructed some additions to the mosque and engraved several inscriptions on its surface.[14]

Ottoman period

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While Beit Ummar was mentioned in lists from the early part of the 16th century, there is no evidence of settlement in the second half of the 16th century. However, it was resettled at a later period.[16]In the latter part of the 16th century, its residents were moved to Kuffin, tasked with defending the road.[10]Beit Ummar is also known as "Kuffin al-Fauqa"(" Upper Kuffin ").[10]

In 1838,Edward Robinsonnoted the village fromAl-Dawayima.[17]

Victor Guérinvisited the village in 1863, and found it to have about 450 inhabitants.[18]Swiss orientalistAlbert Socin,noting an official Ottoman village list circa 1870, wrote that Beit Ummar had a total of 44 houses and a population of 133, though the population count included only men.[19]Hartmannfound thatBet Ummarhad 60 houses.[20]

In 1883, thePEF'sSurvey of Western Palestine(SWP)described Beit Ummar as a "small but conspicuous village standing on the watershed, and visible from some distance on the north. An ancient road passes through it. Half a mile north-east is a good spring, ‘Ain Kufin. The mosque has a small tower to it. The surrounding neighbourhood is covered with brushwood."[21]

British Mandate

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In the1922 census of Palestine,conducted by theBritish Mandate authorities,Bait Ummar had a population of 829 inhabitants, all Muslims,[22]increasing in the1931 censusto 1,135, still entirely Muslim, in 217 inhabited houses.[23]

In the1945 statisticsthe population of Beit Ummar was 80 Jews and 1,600 Muslims, and the total land area was 30,129dunamsof land, according to the official land and population survey.[24][25]2,912 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 12,879 were for cereals,[26]while 55 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[27]

Jordanian rule

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In the wake of the1948 Arab–Israeli War,and after the1949 Armistice Agreements,Beit Ummar came underJordanianrule. It wasannexed by Jordanin 1950.

In 1961, the population of Beit Ummar was 2,103.[28]

Post-1967

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Demonstration against land expropriation, Beit Ummar, December 2011

Since theSix-Day Warin 1967, Beit Ummar has been underIsraeli occupation.The population in the 1967 census conducted by the Israeli authorities was 2,630.[29]

Beit Ummar became a municipality on April 17, 1997, after the dismantlement of the Israeli village council and Hussein Badr was appointed by thePalestinian National Authority.[5]The current mayor is Nasri Sabarna.[30]The town is currently located inArea B(civil affairs administered by the PNA) andArea C(civil and military affairs controlled byIsrael).[5]Israel has confiscated[31]orexpropriated[32]approximately 4,000dunamsof village land in order to construct Israeli bypass roads and severalIsraeli settlements:Karmei Zur,Migdal Oz,Kfar EtzionandEfrat.

The town is governed by amunicipal councilconsisting of thirteen members including the mayor.

Several people in the village have been shot and killed by Israeli soldiers or settlers duringIsraeli occupation.

  • In January 2011, 17-year-old Yousef Ikhlayl was shot and killed during an altercation withIsraeli settlersfromBat Ayin.[33][34]
  • In August 2014, 3 Palestinians were killed on the same day by an IDF sharpshooter during a local protest: Abdul Hamid Bregeith, a 32-year-old father of three, Sultan Zaqiq, 29, a father of two, and Hashem Abu Maria, aged 45.[35]Abu Maria worked forDefence for Children International.[35][36]
  • In April 2015, Ziyad Awad, aged 27, was shot and killed in a demonstration which started after the funeral of his cousin.[37][38][39]
  • In July 2015, Falah Abu Maria, aged 52, was shot and killed by Israeli forces.[40]
  • In July 2021, Mohammed al-Alami, aged 12, was shot and killed by an Israeli soldier while he was riding in a car with his father and sister.[41][42]Shawqat 'Awad, aged 22, was shot and killed during al-Alami's funeral.[43][44]

Jala

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The nearby site of Jala, which belongs to Beit Ummar, was recorded as a village in 1525/6 and 1538/9 but not afterwards. Today it has aBedouinpopulation. In 1975, it had 228 residents.[10]

Notable people

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References

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  1. ^abPreliminary 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.Retrieved2023-10-24.
  2. ^Palmer, 1881, p.389
  3. ^Beit Ummar: Town Statistics and Facts
  4. ^Beit Omar Background
  5. ^abcdeSample Area Background: Beit UmmarArchived2007-12-12 at theWayback Machine(2000) Campaign for Secure Dwellings, Christian Peacemaker Teams
  6. ^abBeit Ummar: Where Dreams Come True Aging with Dignity in Palestinian VillagesQleibo, Ali.This Week in Palestine.
  7. ^Armstrong, 1889, p.119
  8. ^Hastings, James (2004) [1898].A Dictionary of the Bible: Volume III: (Part II: O -- Pleiades)(reprint). Honolulu, Hawaii: University Press of the Pacific. p. 648.ISBN978-1-4102-1727-1.The ninth group is in the mountains north of Hebron, including Halhu (Halhul), Bethzur (Beit Sur), Maarath (Beit Umar), Beth-anoth (Beit Ainun), and Eltekon - perhaps Tekoa (Tekua).
  9. ^Wilson, John (1847).The Lands of the Bible Visited and Described, Volume 1.Edenburgh: William Whyte. pp.386– 387.OL20556861M.Beit-Ummar is on a heights to the left. It is apparently a considerable village... At least four of these villages are thus given in juxtaposition in Joshua, "Halhul, Beth-Zur and Gedor and Maarath, and Beth-Anoth, and Eltekon."
  10. ^abcdeGrossman, D. (1986). "Oscillations in the Rural Settlement of Samaria and Judaea in the Ottoman Period". InShomron studies.Dar, S., Safrai, S., (eds). Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishing House. p. 367
  11. ^Tal, Uri (2023).Muslim Shrines in Eretz Israel: History, Religion, Traditions, Folklore.Jerusalem: Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi. p. 286.ISBN978-965-217-452-9.
  12. ^Ben-Zvi, Itzhak(1967).שאר ישוב: מאמרים ופרקים בדברי ימי הישוב העברי בא "י ובחקר המולדת[She'ar Yeshuv] (in Hebrew). תל אביב תרפ "ז. p. 409.
  13. ^BaramkiandAvi-Yonah,1934, pp.17–19
  14. ^abSharon, 1999, pp.161-164
  15. ^Clermont-Ganneau, 1899, p.456
  16. ^Grossman, D. "The expansion of the settlement frontier of Hebron's western and southern fringes".Geography Research Forum,5, 1982, p. 62.
  17. ^Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol2, p.401
  18. ^Guérin, 1869, p.298
  19. ^Socin, 1879, p.145
  20. ^Hartmann, 1883, p.142
  21. ^Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p.303
  22. ^Barron, 1923, Table V, Sub-district of Hebron, p.10
  23. ^Mills, 1932, p.27
  24. ^Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p.23
  25. ^Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics.Village Statistics, April, 1945.Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p.50
  26. ^Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics.Village Statistics, April, 1945.Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p.93
  27. ^Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics.Village Statistics, April, 1945.Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p.143
  28. ^Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p.15
  29. ^Perlmann, Joel (November 2011 – February 2012)."The 1967 Census of the West Bank and Gaza Strip: A Digitized Version"(PDF).Levy Economics Institute.Retrieved24 June2016.
  30. ^Municipality GuideNablus Municipality Official WebsiteArchivedDecember 4, 2007, at theWayback Machine
  31. ^Beit Ummar Town Profile,ARIJ, pp. 15–16
  32. ^Agencies, IMEMC News &."Soldiers Invade Beit Ummar".Retrieved2020-02-22.
  33. ^"Palestinian killed in clashes with settlers near Hebron".The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com.2011-01-29.Retrieved2023-11-26.
  34. ^"Court releases hikers suspected of killing Palestinian teen".The Jerusalem Post.2011-02-03.Retrieved2023-11-26.
  35. ^ab"A Bullet Through the Heart of a Palestinian Man - and an Entire Community".Haaretz.Retrieved2023-11-26.
  36. ^"Fresh West Bank clashes".Al Jazeera.Retrieved2023-11-26.
  37. ^"27-year-old Palestinian killed near Hebron after funeral of his cousin".Middle East Eye.Retrieved2023-11-26.
  38. ^"Palestinian killed in clashes with Israeli forces".AP News.2015-04-10.Retrieved2023-11-26.
  39. ^"Palestinians: One Killed, Six Wounded in Clashes With Israeli Forces".Haaretz.Retrieved2023-11-26.
  40. ^Israeli Forces Shoot and Kill Palestinian During West Bank Raid,Diaa Hadid, July 23, 2015,The New York Times
  41. ^"Israeli troops shoot dead 12-year-old Palestinian boy: Ministry".Al Jazeera.Retrieved2023-11-26.
  42. ^"Beit Ommar: They killed his child and immediately took his working permit".Machsomwatch.Retrieved2023-11-26.
  43. ^"Israeli forces kill young Palestinian man during funeral of 12-year-old boy".Middle East Eye.Retrieved2023-11-26.
  44. ^Border Police raid home of Beit Ummar resident, order her to stand by them on roof while stones were thrown at them, and force her to carry military equipment,14 September 2021,B'Tselem

Bibliography

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