Burqa, Ramallah
Burqa (Arabic: بُرقة) is a Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, located east of Ramallah in the northern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the town had a population of approximately 2,090 inhabitants in the 2007 census.[3]
Burqa | |
---|---|
Municipality type C | |
Arabic transcription(s) | |
• Arabic | بُرقة |
Burqa´s mosque from the north | |
![]() ![]() Burqa Location of Burqa within Palestine | |
Coordinates: 31°53′45″N 35°15′15″E | |
Palestine grid | 174/144 |
State | State of Palestine |
Governorate | Ramallah and al-Bireh |
Government | |
• Type | Municipality |
Elevation | 738 m (2,421 ft) |
Population (200) | |
• Total | 2,090 |
Name meaning | "The speckled ground"[2] |
Location
Burqa is located 5 kilometers (3.1 mi) (horizontally) east of Ramallah. It is bordered by Deir Dibwan to the east and north, Beitin to the north, Al-Bireh to the west, and Mukhmas and Kafr 'Aqab to the south.[1]
History
In 1596, Burqa appeared in Ottoman tax registers as being in the Nahiya of Quds of the Liwa of Quds. It had a population of 28 Muslim households. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 33,3% on various agricultural products, including wheat, barley, olives, fruit trees, goats and/or beehives; a total of 4,940 akçe.[4]
In 1838 Edward Robinson noted it as a Muslim village, Burka, located in the area immediately north of Jerusalem,[5] seeing it "high up on the hill-side".[6]
In 1863 Victor Guérin found it to contain about thirty houses. A Muslim shrine devoted to Sheikh Youseph was also noted.[7]
An Ottoman village list from about 1870 showed that Burka had a population of 152, with a total of 31 houses, though the population count included men, only.[8][9] In 1883, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described Burkah as "a good-sized village standing high on a bare hillside, with a spring in the valley to the south."[10]
In 1896 the population of Burka was estimated to be about 270 people.[11]
British Mandate of Palestine
In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Burqa had a population of 268, all Muslims,[12] increasing in the 1931 census, to 320, still all Muslim, in 66 houses.[13]
In the 1945 statistics, the population was 380, all Muslims,[14] while the total land area was 6,001 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[15] Of this, 1,297 dunams were allocated for plantations and irrigable land, 2,460 for cereals,[16] while 22 dunams were classified as built-up areas.[17]
Jordanian era
In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Burqa came under Jordanian rule.
The Jordanian census of 1961 found 582 inhabitants.[18]
1967 and aftermath
Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Burqa has been under Israeli occupation.
After the 1995 accords, 8.5% of the village land was defined as Area B land, while the remaining 91.5% was defined as Area C.[19] Israel has confiscated land from Burqa for the construction of the Israeli settlement of Kokhav Ya'akov.[1]
The outpost Migron, Mateh Binyamin was located east of Burqa, on land registered as privately owned by inhabitants of Burqa and Deir Dibwan. In 2012 Migron was evacuated and since then the area is deserted.[20][21][22][23]
Footnotes
- Burqa Village profile, ARIJ, p. 4
- Palmer, 1881, p. 292
- 2007 PCBS Census Archived December 10, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. p.112.
- Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 112
- Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol. 3, 2nd appendix, p. 122
- Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 2, p. 118
- Guérin, 1869, p. 57
- Socin, 1879, p. 149 It was also noted to be in the Bire district, located 1 1/2 hour south east of the town
- Hartmann, 1883, p. 127 also noted 31 houses
- Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. 9
- Schick, 1896, p. 121
- Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Ramallah, p. 16
- Mills, 1932, p. 48.
- Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 26
- Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 64
- Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 111
- Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 161
- Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. 24
- Burqa Village profile, ARIJ, p. 16
- Peace now Archived 2007-10-23 at the Wayback Machine
- State: Migron outpost to be evacuated within six months, 23 January 2008, By Yuval Boaz, Ha'aretz
- Settlers leaders to vote on moving Migron outpost 7 August 2008, By Tovah Lazaroff, Jpost
- In Battle Over a Settlement, It's Israelis vs. Israelis 24 December 2003, By Richard Bernstein, The New York Times
Bibliography
- Barron, J.B., ed. (1923). Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922. Government of Palestine.
- Conder, C.R.; Kitchener, H.H. (1883). The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology. 3. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
- Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics (1964). First Census of Population and Housing. Volume I: Final Tables; General Characteristics of the Population (PDF).
- Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics (1945). Village Statistics, April, 1945.
- Guérin, V. (1869). Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine (in French). 1: Judee, pt. 3. Paris: L'Imprimerie Nationale.
- Hadawi, S. (1970). Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine. Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center.
- Hartmann, M. (1883). "Die Ortschaftenliste des Liwa Jerusalem in dem türkischen Staatskalender für Syrien auf das Jahr 1288 der Flucht (1871)". Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins. 6: 102–149.
- Hütteroth, Wolf-Dieter; Abdulfattah, Kamal (1977). Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century. Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft. ISBN 3-920405-41-2.
- Mills, E., ed. (1932). Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas. Jerusalem: Government of Palestine.
- Palmer, E.H. (1881). The Survey of Western Palestine: Arabic and English Name Lists Collected During the Survey by Lieutenants Conder and Kitchener, R. E. Transliterated and Explained by E.H. Palmer. Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
- Robinson, E.; Smith, E. (1841). Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838. 2. Boston: Crocker & Brewster.
- Robinson, E.; Smith, E. (1841). Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838. 3. Boston: Crocker & Brewster.
- Schick, C. (1896). "Zur Einwohnerzahl des Bezirks Jerusalem". Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins. 19: 120–127.
- Socin, A. (1879). "Alphabetisches Verzeichniss von Ortschaften des Paschalik Jerusalem". Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins. 2: 135–163.
External links
- Welcome To Burqa
- Survey of Western Palestine, Map 17: IAA, Wikimedia commons
- Burqa Village (fact sheet), Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem (ARIJ)
- Burqa Village profile, ARIJ
- Burqa - aerial photo, ARIJ
- Locality Development Priorities and Needs in Burqa Village, ARIJ
- The Delusion of evacuating Migron Outpost, 15, October, 2008, POICA
- Israeli Colonists Uproot Olive Trees in Burqa – Ramallah Governorate 14, May, 2011, POICA
- Colonists Use Fraud to Capture Lands 05, July, 2012, POICA
- Me'ron colonists destroy 31 olive trees in Burqa Village, 07/02/2014, POICA
- Unipal: Burqa