'Aqqaba

'Aqqaba (Arabic: عقّابة‎) is a Palestinian town located on a slope in the Jordan Valley in the northern West Bank, 15 kilometers northeast of Jenin in the Tubas Governorate. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the town had a population of 6,598 inhabitants in the 2007 census.[2]

'Aqqaba
Municipality type C
Arabic transcription(s)
 • Arabicعقّابة
 • Latinal-Aqaba (official)
Akkaba (unofficial)
'Aqqaba
Location of 'Aqqaba within Palestine
Coordinates: 32°21′03″N 35°20′59″E
Palestine grid183/195
StateState of Palestine
GovernorateTubas
Government
 • TypeMunicipality
Population
 (2007)
 • Total6,548
Name meaningthe steep or mountain road[1]

History

Pottery remains from the Persian, Hellenistic and Byzantine eras have been found here.[3]

Ottoman era

'Aqqaba, like the rest of Palestine, was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517, and in the census of 1596, the village was located in the Nahiya of Jabal Sami of the Liwa of Nablus. The population was 22 households and 5 bachelors, all Muslim. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 33.3% on various agricultural products, such as wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, goats and/or beehives, in addition to "occasional revenues"; a total of 5,982 akçe.[4]

In 1870 Victor Guérin found the village to have 130 inhabitants, who had a mosque in the eastern part of the village.[5]

In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described it as "a good sized village on the northern slope of Ras el Akra. It is surrounded with brushwood on the hills, but has arable land below."[6]

British Mandate of Palestine

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, 'Aqqaba had a population of 330; 322 Muslims and 8 Christian[7] Orthodox,[8] increasing in the 1931 census to 411; 9 Christians and 403 Muslims, in a total of 89 houses.[9]

In the 1945 statistics the population was 600; 20 Christians and 580 Muslims,[10] with 8,068 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.[11] Of this, 1,259 dunams were used for plantations and irrigable land, 4,284 dunams were for cereals,[12] while 54 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[13]

Jordanian era

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

In 1961, the population had reached 1,164.[14]

Post 1967

Since the Six-Day War in 1967, 'Aqqaba has been held under Israeli occupation.

'Aqqaba is made up of three main families: Abu Arra, Abu Ghannam and al-Masri. During clear weather, Haifa could be seen from the west on the Mediterranean Sea as well as the summit of Jabal ash-Sheikh in Lebanon, while from the east the mountains of Ajloun in Jordan are clearly seen day and night. 'Aqqaba is the highest point in the Tubas Governorate. 'Aqqaba lies five kilometers east the Arab American University.

References
  1. Palmer, 1881, p. 198
  2. 2007 PCBS Census. Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. p.106.
  3. Zertal, 2007, pp. 149-150
  4. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 125
  5. Guérin, 1874, p. 354
  6. Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 227
  7. Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Nablus, p. 24
  8. Barron, 1923, Table XV, p. 47
  9. Mills, 1932, p. 59
  10. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 18
  11. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 59
  12. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 105
  13. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 155
  14. Government of Jordan, 1964, p. 26

Bibliography
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