Awarta

Awarta (Arabic: عورتا‎) is a Palestinian town located 8 kilometers (5.0 mi) southeast of Nablus, in the northern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 5,623 inhabitants in 2007.[1] Awarta's built-up area consists of 540 dunams and it is governed by a village council.[2]

Awarta
Municipality type C
Arabic transcription(s)
 • Arabicعورتا
 • LatinAworta (official)
Awarta, 2011
Awarta
Location of Awarta within Palestine
Coordinates: 32°09′41″N 35°17′11″E
Palestine grid177/174
StateState of Palestine
GovernorateNablus
Government
 • TypeMunicipality
Area
 • Total540 dunams (0.5 km2 or 0.2 sq mi)
Population
 (2007)
 • Total5,623
 • Density11,000/km2 (29,000/sq mi)

Etymology

According to Palestinian historian Mustafa Dabbagh, the name "'Awarta" derives from the Syriac word 'awra, meaning "windowless" or "hidden".[3] According to E. H. Palmer, "Awarta" is a personal name or unknown word.[4] In Samaritan text, the town was called "Caphar Abearthah". An earlier Arabic name for the village was "'Awert".[5]

History

Awarta has been inhabited since Biblical times and throughout Palestine's rule by the Byzantine Empire, the Islamic Caliphate and during Ottoman rule. Between the 4th and 12th centuries, the town was an important Samaritan center, being the location of one of their main synagogues.[6]

The Hill of Phinehas related in the Bible is associated with the location of the town of Awarta. Three large monuments in the town are attributed to the priestly family of Aaron. According to tradition, they are the burial sites of his sons Ithamar and Eleazar. His grandson Phinehas is believed to be buried at the site alongside his son Abishua — the latter is especially revered by the Samaritans, who believe that he wrote the Torah. The seventy Elders are believed to be buried in a cave near Phinehas' tomb. On the western side of Awarta lies the tomb Muslims attribute to Nabi Uzeir, Ezra the scribe.[6]

Arab geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi records in 1226, while Awarta was under Ayyubid rule, that it was a "village or small town, on the road from Nablus to Jerusalem. According to the Samaritan Chronicle, in Kefr Ghuweirah (now called Awarta) is found the tomb of Yusha (Joshua) ibn Nun. Mufaddal, the son of Aaron's uncle, is also said to be buried here. These lie in a cave, where the seventy prophets are also buried."[7] Conder and Kitchener, citing another Samaritan tradition, say rather that it was Eleazer the priest who was buried a "little way west of Awarta (at al 'Azeir)," while Joshua bin Nun was buried at Kefr Haris.[8]

Ottoman era

Awarta was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517 with all of Palestine, and in 1596 it appeared in the tax registers as being in the Nahiya of Jabal Qubal, part of Nablus Sanjak. It had a population of 50 households, all Muslim. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 33.3% on wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, goats and/or beehives, in addition to for a press for olives or grapes and occasional revenues; a total of 11,194 akçe.[9]

In 1838, Edward Robinson noted the village besides Rujeib and Odela,[10] part of the el-Beitawy district, east of Nablus.[11]

In 1870 Victor Guérin visited the village, and noted that in the upper part there was a mosque, called Djama Mansour, containing a gigantic whitewashed tomb.[12] In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described it as "a village, on the slopes east of the plain, with springs to the east, and olive-groves. It is built of adobe and stone, and is of moderate size."[13]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Awarta had a population of 938 Muslims,[14] increasing at the time of the 1931 census to 1,019, still all Muslim, in 257 houses.[15]

In the 1945 statistics Awarta together with Odala had a population of 1,470, all Muslims,[16] with 16,106 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.[17] Of this, 30 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 9,406 used for cereals,[18] while 132 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[19]

Jordanian era

In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Awarta came under Jordanian rule. It was annexed by Jordan in 1950.

In 1961, the population of Awarta was 2,069.[20]

1967, aftermath

Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Awarta has been under Israeli occupation. The Palestinian National Authority agreed to ensure free access to these sites as specified in the 1995 Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.[21]

According to Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem, much of the land of Awarta has been confiscated by the Israelis, including 2,450 dunums of land which was used for construction of the Israeli settlement of Itamar.[22]

There are frequent reports of violence by Israeli settlers towards Palestinian farmers during the annual olive harvest. However, from 2007, when a group of Israeli activists — Rabbis for Human Rights — agreed to protect the farmers during the harvest, attacks temporarily came to an end.[23] According to Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors West Bank settlements, on 10 July 2013 Israelis from the Itamar settlement used chainsaws to cut down thousands of the villagers' olive trees in a 600-dunam olive grove maintained by 25 Awarta families in an area north of their town.[24] Sami, Iyad N’am ‘Awwad, a local teacher, stated that the affected area has been isolated from the rest of the village by the erection of two Itamar security fences.[25]

In 2010, two cousins from Awarta, Salah Qawariq, 18, and Muhammad Qawariq, 19, were killed by an Israeli (IDF) soldier who emptied his magazine, shooting them 29 times. The autopsies reveal that both had been shot at close range.[26] Palestinian sources claim the teenagers were executed by Israeli soldiers, while out working their land. Israeli accounts varied over time: they were on their land when Avri Ran noted them on the property and forced them to sit down, called up a settlement security coordinator, who in turn called the IDF in. After two hours of communications between the soldiers and headquarters, the men were shot: on interrogation the other soldiers said they had not witnessed the shooting. The IDF announced that a terrorist attempt involving an attempt to attack soldiers with a pitchfork had been foiled. This was subsequently revised to an assault with a bottle and a syringe. It emerged later that they had not got IDF clearance to work their land.[27][28]

Israeli soldiers patrolling Awarta on the day after the Itamar attack

Awarta made international headlines after the Itamar attack of 11 March 2011, when five members of the same family were killed in the nearby Israeli settlement of Itamar. Awarta was subsequently declared a closed military zone, due to suspicions that the perpetrators were residents of the village.[29] According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Palestinian sources reported that Israeli military forces took all of Awarta's men in for questioning, including two officers of the Palestinian security forces, making "wholesale arrests".[30] As a reaction to the attack, masked Israeli settlers infiltrated the village and threw stones at homes, before being dispersed by the Israel Defense Forces.[31] Two young Awarta residents, Hakim Maazan Niad Awad and Amjad Mahmud Fauzi Awad were arrested on 5 and 10 April 2011 and confessed to the killings.[32] The village council chief condemned the murder, however he voiced doubts over the Israeli findings and claimed that the two suspects confessed under duress.[33] The two were sentenced to five consecutive life sentences and another five and seven years respectively in prison.[34][35]

Economy

Awarta has about sixty businesses, most of them active in the fields of trade and small recycling industries. Approximately 40% of the labor force used to work in Israel before the Second Intifada, while 15% worked in the agriculture and animal husbandry sectors. The rate of unemployment is almost 35%. The town does not have a water or sewage utility system.[2] There is a public well that is under the control of the Nablus Municipality. Road networks have been hampered by the IDF due to the area being a militant stronghold. Awarta has three schools - a secondary school for boys, a secondary school for girls and a coeducational primary school.[2]

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References
  1. 2007 PCBS Census. Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. p.109.
  2. Awarta Archived October 9, 2007, at the Wayback Machine Health Work Committees.
  3. "'Awarta Village Profile" (PDF). ARIJ. 2014.
  4. Palmer, 1881, p. 225
  5. Conder, 1876, p. 196
  6. Biblical Holy Places: An Illustrated Guide (2000) Gonen, Rikva. Paulist Press. pp.44-45. ISBN 978-0-8091-3974-3
  7. Le Strange, 1890, p. 404
  8. Conder and Kitchener, 1882, pp. 218 - 219
  9. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 130
  10. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, p. 94
  11. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, 2nd appendix, p. 128
  12. Guérin, 1874, pp. 461 -462
  13. Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 288
  14. Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Nablus, p. 25
  15. Mills, 1932, p. 59
  16. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 18
  17. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 59
  18. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 105
  19. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 155
  20. Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. 15
  21. Interim Agreement Annex III: Protocol Concerning Civil Affairs.
  22. ‘Awarta Village Profile, ARIJ, p. 15
  23. Harvesting Unlikely Allies MSNBC. 2007-11-14.
  24. Settlers cut down 1,150 olive trees in Nablus
  25. Israeli Setters Chop Down Some 1,155 Palestinian Olive Trees in ‘Awarta, 18، Jul 2013, Al-Haq
  26. Palestinian Village Under Siege Following Settler Killings Archived 2011-05-18 at the Wayback Machine
  27. PA accuses Israel of killing Palestinian teens 'in cold blood', Haaretz 21 March 2010.
  28. John Brown and Noam Rotem, 'License to Kill: Why did the IDF shoot the Qawarik cousins 29 times?,' +972 magazine 19 May 2015.
  29. Praise for Itamar massacre desecrates tombstones
  30. Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff: “IDF continues mass West Bank arrests in wake of Itamar massacre”. Haaretz, 15 March 2011
  31. Yair Altman (14 March 2011). "Hooded settlers throw stones in Palestinian village". Ynetnews. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
  32. Greenberg, Hanan (17 April 2011). "Itamar massacre solved; 2 arrested". Ynetnews. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
  33. Levy, Elior (17 April 2011). "Awarta stunned over Itamar attack revelation; 'They're just kids'". Ynetnews. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
  34. Raved, Ahiya (13 September 2011). "Fogel family murderer gets 5 life sentences". Ynetnews.com. Retrieved 13 September 2011.
  35. Buchnik, Maor (16 January 2012). "Second Fogel family killer gets 5 life sentences". Ynetnews. Retrieved 2 May 2012.

Bibliography
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