Bani Zeid al-Sharqiya
Encyclopedia
Bani Zeid al-Sharqiya is a Palestinian
town in the northern West Bank
, located north of Ramallah
in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate
. It was formed as a result of a merger of the villages of 'Arura, Mazari al-Nubani, and Abwein
, although the latter separated from the municipality. Bani Zeid al-Sharqiya is 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) north of Ajjul
and other nearby localities include Deir as-Sudan
to the southeast, Kafr Ein
to the east, and Abwein to the southwest.
and Mazari al-Nubani were part of the Bani Zeid
subdistrict in the Sanjak of Jerusalem. The two villages produced a combined 99 qintars of olive oil, the chief agricultural product of the Bani Zeid, and adult males in were taxed a combined 649 akçe
.
s, of which was 26 were built-up areas and 2,550 used for olive
groves. Near, and within the village are three shrines dedicated to Sheikh Radwan, Sheikh Ahmad, and al-Khidr
. Al-Khidr's shrine, in the center of the village, has no relation to al-Khidr
, and his simply dedicated to a holy man with the same name. Al-Khidr or Saint George
is revered throughout Palestine in several towns and villages. Sheikh Ahmad's shrine is to the west of 'Arura.
The Shrine of Sheikh Radwan bin 'Ulayl al-Arsufi, built during the Ayyubid rule of interior Palestine
, is located to the southwest of the village situated on a hill roughly 600 metres (1,968.5 ft) above sea level. Not much is known about Radwan, except that his family was from Arsuf
and he was an important man in the area that died in Egypt
and was transferred to 'Arura for his burial. Muslim scholars suggested that Sheikh Radwan was from the 'Ulayl family. An Arabic inscription written in typical rural Ayyubid style, on the shrine's surface reads that he was transferred to "blessed Syria" (in early Islamic times, Palestine was a province of Syria). A mosque
was constructed adjacent to the shrine.
In the 1922 British survey of Palestine, 'Arura had 426 inhabitants rising to 566 in the 1931 census. There were 660 residents in 1945, according to Sami Hadawi
's land and population survey. There was a sharp decrease in the population from 1961 to 1982, caused by nearly half of 'Arura's inhabitants fleeing the village in the 1967 Six-Day War
. In 1997, 'Arura had a population of 2,087, of which 30 residents (1.4%) were Palestinian refugee
s. The gender make-up was 1,069 males and 1,018 females. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics
, it had a population of approximately 2,967 in mid-year 2006.
church. In the 1922 British survey of Palestine, Mazari al-Nubani had 611 inhabitants rising to 864 in the 1931 census. There were 1,090 residents in 1945, according to Sami Hadawi
's land and population survey. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics
(PCBS), the town had a population of approximately 2,510 inhabitants in mid-year 2006.
was formed after a merger of 'Arura, Mazari al-Nubani, and Abwein prior to the Palestinian municipal elections in 2005. During the elections, Fatima Taher Sihweil from Abwein won and the municipality fell apart with only 'Arura and Mazari al-Nubani remaining.
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
town in the northern West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
, located north of Ramallah
Ramallah
Ramallah is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank located 10 kilometers north of Jerusalem, adjacent to al-Bireh. It currently serves as the de facto administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority...
in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate
Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate
The Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate is one of 16 Governorates of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It covers a large part of the central West Bank, on the northern border of the Jerusalem Governorate. Its district capital or muhfaza is the city of al-Bireh.According to the Palestinian Central...
. It was formed as a result of a merger of the villages of 'Arura, Mazari al-Nubani, and Abwein
Abwein
Abwein is a Palestinian village in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, located about 37 kilometers north of Ramallah in the northern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Abwein had a population of 6,000 inhabitants in 2007. Most of Abwein's population are...
, although the latter separated from the municipality. Bani Zeid al-Sharqiya is 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) north of Ajjul
Ajjul
Ajjul is a Palestinian village in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the northern West Bank, located about nineteen kilometers north of Ramallah. There are two archaeological sites or khirbets to the east of the village. One of the khirbets is dedicated to a former resident of Ajjul, Sheikh...
and other nearby localities include Deir as-Sudan
Deir as-Sudan
Deir as-Sudan is a Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, located 20 kilometers Northwest of Ramallah in the northern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics , the town had a population of approximately 1,991 inhabitants in 2007....
to the southeast, Kafr Ein
Kafr Ein
Kafr Ein is a Palestinian village in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, located northwest of Ramallah in the central West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics , Kafr Ein had a population of 1,743 inhabitants in 2007...
to the east, and Abwein to the southwest.
History
Both AruraArura
Arura or aroura , is a Homeric Greek word with original meaning "arable land", derived from the verb "ἀρόω" , "plough". The word was also used generally for earth, land and father-land and in plural to describe corn-lands and fields...
and Mazari al-Nubani were part of the Bani Zeid
Bani Zeid
Bani Zeid is a Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, located northwest of Ramallah in the north-central West Bank and about south-west of Salfit. A town of 5,515 inhabitants, Bani Zeid was created as a merger between the villages of Deir Ghassaneh and Beit Rima...
subdistrict in the Sanjak of Jerusalem. The two villages produced a combined 99 qintars of olive oil, the chief agricultural product of the Bani Zeid, and adult males in were taxed a combined 649 akçe
Akçe
thumb|250px|AkçeA silver coin, the akçe was the chief monetary unit of the Ottoman Empire. The word "akçe" is derived from the Greek "" , the name of a Byzantine silver or billon coin, current in the region that eventually became the Ottoman Empire. The akçe is hence often called asper in English...
.
'Arura
'Arura 32°02′29.82"N 35°10′17.51"E is situated 500 metres (1,640.4 ft) above sea level. In 1945, its total land area was 10,978 dunamDunam
A dunam or dönüm, dunum, donum, dynym, dulum was a non-SI unit of land area used in the Ottoman Empire and representing the amount of land that can be plowed in a day; its value varied from 900–2500 m²...
s, of which was 26 were built-up areas and 2,550 used for olive
Olive
The olive , Olea europaea), is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin as well as northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the...
groves. Near, and within the village are three shrines dedicated to Sheikh Radwan, Sheikh Ahmad, and al-Khidr
Al-Khidr
Khidr or Al-Khidr is a revered figure in Islam, whom the Qur'an describes as a righteous servant of God, who possessed great wisdom or mystic knowledge, represented iconically by a fish...
. Al-Khidr's shrine, in the center of the village, has no relation to al-Khidr
Al-Khidr
Khidr or Al-Khidr is a revered figure in Islam, whom the Qur'an describes as a righteous servant of God, who possessed great wisdom or mystic knowledge, represented iconically by a fish...
, and his simply dedicated to a holy man with the same name. Al-Khidr or Saint George
Saint George
Saint George was, according to tradition, a Roman soldier from Syria Palaestina and a priest in the Guard of Diocletian, who is venerated as a Christian martyr. In hagiography Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Catholic , Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and the Oriental Orthodox...
is revered throughout Palestine in several towns and villages. Sheikh Ahmad's shrine is to the west of 'Arura.
The Shrine of Sheikh Radwan bin 'Ulayl al-Arsufi, built during the Ayyubid rule of interior Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
, is located to the southwest of the village situated on a hill roughly 600 metres (1,968.5 ft) above sea level. Not much is known about Radwan, except that his family was from Arsuf
Arsuf
Arsuf also known as Arsur or Apollonia, was an ancient city and fortress located in Israel, about 15 kilometres north of modern Tel Aviv, on a cliff above the Mediterranean Sea. The city site, Tel Arsuf, was intensively excavated from 1994...
and he was an important man in the area that died in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
and was transferred to 'Arura for his burial. Muslim scholars suggested that Sheikh Radwan was from the 'Ulayl family. An Arabic inscription written in typical rural Ayyubid style, on the shrine's surface reads that he was transferred to "blessed Syria" (in early Islamic times, Palestine was a province of Syria). A mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
was constructed adjacent to the shrine.
In the 1922 British survey of Palestine, 'Arura had 426 inhabitants rising to 566 in the 1931 census. There were 660 residents in 1945, according to Sami Hadawi
Sami Hadawi
Sami Hadawi was a Palestinian scholar and author. He is known for documenting the effects of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War on the Arab population in Palestine and published statistics for individual villages prior to Israel's establishment. Hadawi worked as a land specialist until he was exiled from...
's land and population survey. There was a sharp decrease in the population from 1961 to 1982, caused by nearly half of 'Arura's inhabitants fleeing the village in the 1967 Six-Day War
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War , also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War, or Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt , Jordan, and Syria...
. In 1997, 'Arura had a population of 2,087, of which 30 residents (1.4%) were Palestinian refugee
Palestinian refugee
Palestinian refugees or Palestine refugees are the people and their descendants, predominantly Palestinian Arabic-speakers, who fled or were expelled from their homes during and after the 1948 Palestine War, within that part of the British Mandate of Palestine, that after that war became the...
s. The gender make-up was 1,069 males and 1,018 females. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics
Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics
The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics is the statistical organization under the umbrella of the Palestinian Cabinet of the Palestinian National Authority....
, it had a population of approximately 2,967 in mid-year 2006.
Mazari al-Nubani
Mazari al-Nubani 32°02′57.29"N 35°09′57.25"E is situated along the same height as 'Arura. Mazari al-Nubani has been identified as the possible site of a CrusaderCrusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...
church. In the 1922 British survey of Palestine, Mazari al-Nubani had 611 inhabitants rising to 864 in the 1931 census. There were 1,090 residents in 1945, according to Sami Hadawi
Sami Hadawi
Sami Hadawi was a Palestinian scholar and author. He is known for documenting the effects of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War on the Arab population in Palestine and published statistics for individual villages prior to Israel's establishment. Hadawi worked as a land specialist until he was exiled from...
's land and population survey. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics
Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics
The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics is the statistical organization under the umbrella of the Palestinian Cabinet of the Palestinian National Authority....
(PCBS), the town had a population of approximately 2,510 inhabitants in mid-year 2006.
Local government
The municipalityMunicipality (Palestinian Authority)
In the territories administrated by the Palestinian Authority, a municipality is an administrative unit of local government similar to a city. They were established and decided after the creation of the Local Government Ministry of the Palestinian National Authority in 1994. All municipalities are...
was formed after a merger of 'Arura, Mazari al-Nubani, and Abwein prior to the Palestinian municipal elections in 2005. During the elections, Fatima Taher Sihweil from Abwein won and the municipality fell apart with only 'Arura and Mazari al-Nubani remaining.