Nabi Salih | |
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Other transcription(s) | |
• Arabic | النبي صالح |
• Also spelled | an-Nabi Salih (official) Nabi Saleh (unofficial) |
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Coordinates: 32°01′0″N 35°7′29″E / 32.016667°N 35.12472°ECoordinates: 32°01′0″N 35°7′29″E / 32.016667°N 35.12472°E | |
Governorate | Ramallah & al-Bireh |
Government | |
• Type | Local Development Committee |
Area | |
• Jurisdiction | 2,797 (in 1,945[1]) dunams (2.8 km2 or 1.1 sq mi) |
Population (2007) | |
• Jurisdiction | 534 |
Name meaning | "The Righteous Prophet"[2] |
Nabi Salih (Arabic: النبي صالح) is a small Palestinian village of over 530 in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the central West Bank.
Contents |
History
In 1596 the village appeared (with the name Dayr Salih) in the Ottoman tax registers as being in the nahiya of Quds in the liwa of Quds. It had a population of 2 households, both Muslim. Taxes were paid on wheat, barley, summer crops and occasional revenues[3]
In The Survey of Western Palestine (1882), Neby Saleh was described as "a village of moderate size on a ridge, with a small mosque and a well to the south. A spring exists about three-quarters of a mile east."[4]
Shrine of Salih
The residents of Nabi Salih identify a blue-color-domed building complex with the shrine of the prophet Salih (Biblical Shelah). It was built in the 19th century during Ottoman rule. It was situated on the remains of a Crusader structure, which was presumably built atop the ruins of a Byzantine-era church. The remains of the Crusader-Byzantine structure, include apses of a three-aisle chapel located behind the shrine complex.[5]
In 2003, under the supervision of architect Yara al-Sharif, the complex was restored. It cost $63,000, primarily funded by Sweden. The prayer hall and tomb room are owned by the Islamic waqf authority, but is rented by the Nabi Salih Cultural Centre. Currently, the complex is composed of three floors (including an underground floor) containing the tomb, a large prayer room, an olive press, a water well, a classroom, a multipurpose hall, a double-vaulted lecture room, a courtyard and two front and back terraces. All entrances are semi-circular pointed arches. The An Nabi Salih Cultural Centre serves as the most significant structure in the village.[5]
Weekly protests
Nabi Salih's residents have hosted weekly demonstrations for three years in protest at the confiscation of the village's lands and the takeover of their spring by the nearby Israeli settlement, Halamish.[6][7] During the protests, there are regular clashes with the Israeli Army who attempt to disperse crowds by using teargas, skunk water, rubber bullets, sound grenades, and other dispersal methods while Palestinian youth respond by hurling stones. The Israeli authorities have launched crackdowns which include carrying out night raids against houses and arresting alleged stone throwers.[8] On December 11, 2011, Mustafa Tamimi was shot in the face by a teargas canister at close range and later died from his injury, becoming the first resident of Nabi Salih to be killed during a demonstration.[9] The following day, a large group of protesters marched to the entrance of Halamish to commemorate Tamimi, but were stopped by the Israeli Army which arrested 15 demonstrators including Palestinians, Israelis and internationals.[8]
Bassem al-Tamimi, one of the leaders of the protests, has been arrested twelve times by Israeli forces,[10] at one point spending more than three years in administrative detention without trial.[11] His most recent arrest took place on March 2011, when he was charged with sending youths to throw stones, holding a march without a permit, incitement, and perverting the course of justice; an Israeli military court found him guilty of the former two charges and not guilty of the latter.[12] His arrest drew international attention, with the European Union describing him as a "human rights defender", and Amnesty International designating him a prisoner of conscience.[13]
On 19 November Rushdi Tamimi, a 28-year old Palestinian protester, was killed by Israeli fire during a demonstration in Nabi Salih in solidarity with the people of the Gaza Strip in light of the recent Israeli offensive against the territory, Operation Pillar of Cloud.[14]
Israeli Army human rights violations
In February 2011, B'Tselem volunteers filmed actions of Israeli soldiers, who came to the homes of Arab residents, woke all the children over the age of 10 and photographed them.[15]
According to a B'Tselem report[16] released in September 2011 Israel’s security forces have infringed the rights of the Palestinian demonstrators in Nabi Saleh in three fundamental ways.
- Violation of the right to demonstrate: B'Tselem's documentation indicates that Israel does not recognize the right of a-Nabi Saleh’s residents to demonstrate. Israeli security forces declares the demonstration illegal at the outset, sometimes even before the procession begins. The Israeli military routinely issues orders declaring the entire village a closed military area, blocks the roads leading to it, thus denying people coming from outside the village their right to join in the demonstration.
- Harm to the civilian population: The army and the Border Police handles the demonstration deploying great amount of forces at the main intersection of the village and using a disproportionate amount of means to disperse the demonstrations. This occurs also when the demonstrators are nonviolent and pose no threat. The forces fire enormous quantities of tear gas inside the built-up area of the village, which is home to hundreds of persons.
- Restrictions on movement in the area that creates difficulties for residents of all the nearby villages every Friday.
- On 31 August 2012 Two demonstrators at the village were injured by bullets when IDF soldiers fired warning shots in the air during a protest gathering. The IDF undertook to investigate and said that soldiers were reacting to stone-throwing.[17]
Geography
The village is situated at an elevation of 570 meters above sea level along the mountainous chain running down the West Bank in southern Samaria. Nabi Salih is located 20 kilometers northwest the cities of Ramallah and al-Bireh.[18] It is adjacent of the Beit Rima part of Bani Zeid in the northwest. Other nearby localities include Kafr Ein in the north, Deir as-Sudan to the northeast, 'Abud to the west, and Deir Nidham to the southwest.[19]
In a 1945 land and population survey by Sami Hadawi, Nabi Salih had a total land area of 2,846 dunams, of which 2,797 was Arab-owned, the remainder public-owned. The built-up area of the village only constituted 11 dunams, while 735 dunams were planted with olive groves.[1]
Ein al-Qaws Spring
Near the village the is a natural spring named Ein al-Qaws ("the Bow Spring") which is owned by an individual of the village, Bashir Tamimi. In 2009 settlers from the nearby illegal settlement of Halamish took control over the spring and it's surroundings and prevented Palestinian access to their land. Subsequently, people of Nabi Salih and the nearby village of Dir Nizam began regular Friday protests for the spring, and against the Israeli occupation in general.[20][21][22]
Demographics
The most prominent family in Nabi Salih is Tamimi. In a 1922 survey by the British Mandate of Palestine, there were 105 people living in Nabi Salih, rising to 144 in the 1931 census.[18] In Hadawi's survey, Nabi Salih had 170 inhabitants in 1945.[1] In 1961, the population was 337, but decreased substantially after the Six-Day War in 1967, due to residents fleeing the site towards other Palestinian localities or Jordan. In 1982, the population reached 179.[18]
In the 1997 census by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), Nabi Salih had a population of 371. Palestinian refugees constituted just 4.3% of the inhabitants.[23] According to the PCBS, the village had a population of 524 inhabitants in mid-year 2006.[24] The 2007 PCBS census recorded a population of 534.[25]
See also
References
- ^ a b c Hadawi, Sami. (1970) Ramallah District Stats p.65.
- ^ Palmer, 1881, p. 240
- ^ Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 112.
- ^ Conder and Kitchener, 1882, vol 2, p. 291
- ^ a b Bshara, Khaldun. An Nabi Saleh Cultural Centre, An Nabi Saleh Riwaq Centre and RehabiMed.
- ^ Tal Niv napshot: (Palestinian) Girl, interrupted,' at Haaretz 8 November, 2012:' For more than three years the residents of Nabi Saleh, a West Bank village near Ramallah, have been protesting, with processions and demonstrations, against the takeover of their well and land by the Halamish settlement.'
- ^ Amira Hass,Defying the occupation with a camcorder, at Haaretz, 23 July 2012.
- ^ a b Israel detains 15 at Nabi Saleh protest. Ma'an News Agency. 2011-12-16.
- ^ Hasson, Nir. Palestinian dies after hit by tear gas canister. Haaretz. 2011-12-11.
- ^ Harriet Sherwood (20 May 2012). "Palestinian protester cleared of incitement charge". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/20/palestinian-protester-tamimi-cleared-incitement?newsfeed=true. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
- ^ Amira Hass (28 March 2011). "Mighty Israel and its quest to quash Palestinian popular protest". Haaretz. http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/mighty-israel-and-its-quest-to-quash-palestinian-popular-protest-1.352248. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
- ^ Steve Weizman (20 May 2012). "West Bank activist Tamimi convicted of stoning charge". Agence France-Presse. Google News. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gar87dqIgfksqSyAmRUigZYru1jQ?docId=CNG.2fb50e36a68614c4405d2849d39d09d3.151. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
- ^ "Israel military court convicts Palestinian protest leader of urging youths to hurl rocks". The Washington Post. Associated Press. 20 May 2012. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/israel-army-court-convicts-palestinian-protest-leader-of-urging-youths-to-hurl-rocks/2012/05/20/gIQA3QxEdU_story.html. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
- ^ Palestinian dies of wounds in Nabi Saleh protest. Ma'an News Agency. 2012-11-19.
- ^ B'Tselem report, February 15, 2011 ,
- ^ B'Tselem. "Show of Force: Israeli Military Conduct in Weekly Demonstrations in a-Nabi Saleh". report. B'Tselem. http://www.btselem.org/publications/summaries/201109_show_of_force. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
- ^ Elior Levy, Report: 2 Palestinians injured by IDF fire, at Ynet, 31 August, 2012.
- ^ a b c Welcome to al-Nabi Salih Palestine Remembered.
- ^ Satellite view of al-Nabi Salih
- ^ A spa for Samaria. The 'white intifada' is spreading. After Bil'in and Na'alin, the village of Nabi Saleh has joined the popular protest. Every Friday, villagers demonstrate against the expropriation of a spring. By Gideon Levy, 22.04.10, Haaretz
- ^ Protest in Nabi Salih - Israeli Channel 10, January 8th 2010
- ^ How dispossession happens. The humanitarian impact of the takeover of Palestinian springs by Israeli settlers, March 2012, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs occupied Palestinian territory
- ^ Palestinian Population by Locality and Refugee Status Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS).
- ^ Projected Mid -Year Population for Ramallah & Al Bireh Governorate by Locality 2004- 2006 Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS).
- ^ 2007 PCBS Census. Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. p.113.
Bibliography
- Conder, Claude Reignier; Kitchener, H. H. (1882). The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology. 2. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund. http://www.archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp02conduoft.
- Hadawi, Sami (1970). Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine. Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center. http://www.palestineremembered.com/Articles/General-2/Story3150.html.
- Wolf-Dieter Hütteroth and Kamal Abdulfattah (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.
- E. Mills, ed. (1932). Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas. Jerusalem: Government of Palestine. http://ia701204.us.archive.org/15/items/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas/PalestineCensus1931.pdf.
- 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. http://www.archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp00conduoft.
External links
- Nabi Salih Factsheet, ARIJ
- Nabi Salih profile, ARIJ
- Nabi Salih areal photo, ARIJ
- Mighty Israel and its quest to quash Palestinian popular protest The military has delegated its best soldiers, investigators and judges to safeguarding Israel against the organizer of Nabi Saleh's popular uprising, by Amira Hass, 28.03.11, Haaretz
- Brian Wood. Nabi Saleh village, Palestine
- Nabi Saleh, from the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee
- An Nabi Saleh, from ISM