Al-Yamun () is a

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

town located nine kilometers west of

Jenin Jenin ( ; , ) is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, and is the capital of the Jenin Governorate. It is a hub for the surrounding towns. Jenin came under Israeli occupied territories, Israeli occupation in 1967, and was put under the administra ...

in the Jenin Governorate of

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

, in the northern

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

. Al-Yamun's land area consists of approximately 20,000

dunam A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; ; ; ), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area analogous in role (but not equal) to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amo ...

s, of which 1,300 dunams is built-up area. Israeli army's terror and Sabotage actions in Al Yamun town, Jenin District
Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem (ARIJ). 2004-07-05. According to the

Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS; ) is the official statistical institution of Palestine. Its main task is to provide credible statistical figures at the national and international levels. It is a state institution that provid ...

, the town had a population of 16,383 inhabitants in the 2007 census and 20,774 by 2017.2007 Locality Population Statistics

(PCBS). The population is formed mainly of a number of families such as Frehat, Khamaysa, Samudi, Hushiya, Abu al-Hija, Samara, 'Abahra, Zaid, Jaradat, Sharqieh and Nawahda that sourced many inspirational figures such as Jad and Ayham Frihat.

History

The town is an ancient one, where two

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member ...

s and two capitals have been reused at the door of the

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

. Potsherds from the early and late

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

, early

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

and the Middle Ages have been found here.Zertal, 2016, pp
188190
/ref>

Ottoman era

In 1517 al-Yamun was incorporated into the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

with the rest of Palestine. During the 16th and 17th centuries, it belonged to the Turabay Emirate (1517-1683), which encompassed also the

Jezreel Valley The Jezreel Valley (from the ), or Marj Ibn Amir (), also known as the Valley of Megiddo, is a large fertile plain and inland valley in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. It is bordered to the north by the highlands o ...

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

, Beit She'an Valley, northern Jabal Nablus, Bilad al-Ruha/Ramot Menashe, and the northern part of the Sharon plain. In the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 1596, the village appeared as “Yamoun”, located in the ''

nahiya A nāḥiyah ( , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiyeh, nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level divisi ...

'' of Sha'ara in the '' liwa'' of

Lajjun Lajjun (, ''al-Lajjūn'') was a large Palestine (region), Palestinian Arab village located northwest of Jenin and south of the remains of the biblical city of Tel Megiddo, Megiddo. The Israeli kibbutz of Megiddo, Israel was built 600 metres ...

. It had a population of 28 households, all

. They paid a fixed tax rate of 25% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, goats and beehives, in addition to occasional revenues; a total of 15,000

akçe The ''akçe'' or ''akça'' (anglicized as ''akche'', ''akcheh'' or ''aqcha''; ; , , in Europe known as '' asper'') was a silver coin mainly known for being the chief monetary unit of the Ottoman Empire. It was also used in other states includi ...

. Potsherds from the Ottoman era have also been found here. According to local tradition, modern al-Yamun was established in the era of Zahir al-Omar, the 18th century Arab governor of Galilee, while the region was part of the

.Grossman, D. (1986). "Oscillations in the Rural Settlement of Samaria and Judaea in the Ottoman Period". in Shomron studies. Dar, S., Safrai, S., (eds). Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishing House. p. 349 In 1799, al-Yamun was named the village ''Ellamoun'' on the map

Pierre Jacotin Pierre Jacotin (1765–1827) was the director of the Surveying, survey for the ''Carte de l'Égypte (Description de l'Égypte)'', the first triangulation-based map of Egypt, Syria and Palestine. The maps were drafted in 1799–1800 during Napole ...

made during the

French campaign in Egypt and Syria The French invasion of Egypt and Syria (1798–1801) was a military expedition led by Napoleon Bonaparte during the French Revolutionary Wars. The campaign aimed to undermine British trade routes, expand French influence, and establish a ...

. In 1838 Edward Robinson noted it on his travels, and in 1870

Victor Guérin Victor Guérin (; 15 September 1821 – 21 September 1890) was a French people, French intellectual, explorer and amateur archaeologist. He published books describing the geography, archeology and history of the areas he explored, which included ...

found that Yamun had 500 inhabitants, and was divided into two quarters, each commanded by its own

sheikh Sheikh ( , , , , ''shuyūkh'' ) is an honorific title in the Arabic language, literally meaning "elder (administrative title), elder". It commonly designates a tribal chief or a Muslim ulama, scholar. Though this title generally refers to me ...

. In 1870/1871 (1288 AH), an Ottoman census listed the village in the ''nahiya'' of Shafa al-Gharby. In 1882 the PEF's '' Survey of Western Palestine'' described it as “A large village, with olives round it, standing on high ground, with a

well A well is an excavation or structure created on the earth by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...

on the east. This appears to be the 'Janna of the Onomasticon,’ 3 miles south of

Legio Legio was a Roman military camp south of Tel Megiddo in the Roman province of Galilee. History Following the Bar Kokhba revolt (132-136 CE), Legio VI Ferrata was stationed at Legio near Caparcotna. The approximate location of the camp of the L ...

; does not exactly agree, being 7 English miles."

British Mandate era

In the

1922 census of Palestine The 1922 census of Palestine was the first census carried out by the authorities of the British Mandate of Palestine, on 23 October 1922. The reported population was 757,182, including the military and persons of foreign nationality. The divis ...

, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Yamun had a population of 1,485; all Muslims except one ChristianBarron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Jenin, p
30
/ref> who was Orthodox.Barron, 1923, Table XV, p
47
/ref> The population increased in the 1931 census to 1,836; all Muslim, in a total of 371 houses.Mills, 1932, p
71
/ref> In the 1945 statistics the population was 2,520; all Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p
17
/ref> with 20,361

s of land, according to an official land and population survey. 6,036 dunams were used for plantations and irrigable land, 11,121 dunams for cereals, while a total of 58 dunams were built-up, urban land.

Jordanian era

In the wake of the

1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, also known as the First Arab–Israeli War, followed the 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine, civil war in Mandatory Palestine as the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. The civil war becam ...

, and after the

1949 Armistice Agreements The 1949 Armistice Agreements were signed between Israel and Egypt,Jordanian rule. Some of al-Yamun inhabitants descended from Abu-Hija, a commander who came to Palestine with

Saladin Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known as Saladin, was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from a Kurdish family, he was the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria. An important figure of the Third Crusade, h ...

. After 1948, al-Yamun received fellow Abu-Hija descendants from the depopulated village of

Ein Hod Ein Hod () is a village in Haifa District in northern Israel. Located at the foot of Mount Carmel and southeast of Haifa, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof HaCarmel Regional Council and has the status of community settlement (Israel), comm ...

, presently in Israel. In 1961, the population of al-Yamun was 4,173.

Post-1967

Since the

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 Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...

in 1967, al-Yamun has been under

Israeli occupation Israel has occupied the Golan Heights of Syria and the Palestinian territories since the Six-Day War of 1967. It has previously occupied the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt and southern Lebanon as well. Prior to 1967, control of the Palestinian terr ...

. According to the 1967 Census, the town had a population of 4,384, of whom 267 originally came from Israel territory. On October 29, 2008, Muhammad 'Abahra, a farmer in the town was killed by the IDF. 'Abahra had a shotgun in his possession leading the IDF to believe he would fire at them. 'Abahra's son, however, alleged, that his father was guarding his sheep from suspected thieves.West Bank farmer killed by troops
''

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

''. BBC MMVIII. 2008-10-29.

Folklore

In the village's center, on a tell, there is a tomb-shrine named the "

Maqam Maqam, makam, maqaam or maqām (plural maqāmāt) may refer to: Musical structures * Arabic maqam, melodic modes in traditional Arabic music ** Iraqi maqam, a genre of Arabic maqam music found in Iraq * Persian maqam, a notion in Persian clas ...

of Nabi Yamin" or "A-Nabi Binyamin." It is attributed to the biblical figure

Benjamin Benjamin ( ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the younger of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel, and Jacob's twe ...

, son of

Jacob Jacob, later known as Israel, is a Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions. He first appears in the Torah, where he is described in the Book of Genesis as a son of Isaac and Rebecca. Accordingly, alongside his older fraternal twin brother E ...

, and according to several traditions, he is buried there, with the village being named after him. The tomb is housed within a cave, over which the building was constructed. No one dares to enter the cave, out of belief that anyone who does will suffer a disaster. Locals maintain the site and visit it on Fridays. Another tomb-shrine in the village is the "Maqam of ash-Sheikh Mubaraq." One tradition identifies him as a

Sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

sheikh from either the 9th or 12th century CE. Another tradition associates the shrine with a figure named Abdullah ibn Mubaraq, believed to be one of the Prophet's companions, though such a figure is undocumented in Islamic history. Locals light candles and offer incense here, believing that its smell expels

Satan Satan, also known as the Devil, is a devilish entity in Abrahamic religions who seduces humans into sin (or falsehood). In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, typically regarded as a metaphor for the '' yetzer hara'', or ' ...

. The village's southern cemetery contains a third tomb-shrine, ash-Sheikh Yusef Abu al-Hija. The Abu al-Hija family descends from the same lineage as that of Kaukab Abu al-Hija in

Lower Galilee The Lower Galilee (; ) is a region within the Northern District of Israel. The Lower Galilee is bordered by the Jezreel Valley to the south; the Upper Galilee to the north, from which it is separated by the Beit HaKerem Valley; the Jordan Rift ...

. This sheikh migrated early in his life to Arraba, later moved to Kafr Qud, and died in Al-Yamun. Locals believe he can cure

joint pain Arthralgia () literally means 'joint pain'. Specifically, arthralgia is a symptom of injury, infection, illness (in particular arthritis), or an allergic reaction to medication Medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutic ...

and intestinal gas, as well as pain in various organs, through blows to the affected areas. His grave is honored and maintained by the village.

Demography

Local origins

Yamun's population includes some who originated from the

Hauran The Hauran (; also spelled ''Hawran'' or ''Houran'') is a region that spans parts of southern Syria and northern Jordan. It is bound in the north by the Ghouta oasis, to the northeast by the al-Safa field, to the east and south by the Harrat ...

region (today in Syria and Jordan) and others from

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. What is more, near the highway, there are people from Tubas who engage in irrigation farming.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * (p
225
* * * * * * *

External links

Yamun
Welcome to Palestine *Survey of Western Palestine, Map 8
IAAWikimedia commons

Jacotin map #46 many photos from al yamoun
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yamun, al- Jenin Governorate Cities in the West Bank Municipalities of Palestine