Beit Furik

Beit Furik () is a town located nine kilometers southeast of Nablus, in the Nablus Governorate of the northern West Bank, Palestine. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 13,477 inhabitants in 2017.

Location

Beit Furik is located 8.24 km south east of Nablus. It is bordered by Al Jiftlik to the east, Ar Rajman, Yanun, and 'Awarta to the south, Rujeib and Nablus to the west, and Beit Dajan, Salim and Deir al Hatab to the north.Beit Furik town profile
ARIJ, p. 4-7

History

Bayt Furik was an ancient Samaritan village. Old tombs have been found here.Dauphin, 1988, p. 848

The place is mentioned in the Samaritan Tolidah and in the ''Continuatio of the Samaritan Chronicle of Abu l-Fath''. It has also been suggested that this place is mentioned in the Samaritan Chronicle. Neubauer, and others, suggested that it was the place called ''Ferka'' in the Talmud, but Abel suggested locating that at Farkha.

Samaritan author Benyamim Tsedaka lists two Samaritan families, Maarhib and Qaakai, who resided in Beit Furik before their eventual disappearance through destruction or conversion.

In the Crusader era, it was known as ''Bethflori'',Finkelstein et al, 1997, p. 814 and in 1241 CE there was fought a battle here, according to Ibn el-Jawzi.

Ottoman era

In 1517, the village was included in the Ottoman empire with the rest of Palestine, and in the 1596 tax-records it appeared as ''Bayt Furik'', located in the ''Nahiya'' of Jabal Qubal, part of Nablus Sanjak. The population was 68 households, all Muslim. They paid a fixed tax rate of 33,3% on agricultural products, such as wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, goats and beehives, a press for olive oil or grape syrup, in addition to occasional revenues and a fixed tax for people of Nablus area; a total of 16,665 akçe.

In 1838, Edward Robinson noted it on his travels in the area, and as part of the ''El-Beitawy'' district, east of Nablus.

In 1870, Victor Guérin noted ''Beit Foureik'' sitting on the slopes of a hill, with a belt of olives surrounding it.

In 1882, the Palestine Exploration Fund's '' Survey of Western Palestine'' described it as: "A small village in a nook of the hills near the plain of Salim. It has a well to the east."

During the 19th century and mid-20th century, Beit Furik was the main supplier of lime to the Nabulsi soap industry based in Nablus.

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, ''Bait Furik'' had a population of 744 MuslimsBarron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Nablus, p
24
/ref> increasing in the 1931 census, where Beit Furik (together with the smaller location Kh. Beita) had a population of 867 Muslims, in a total of 262 houses.Mills, 1932, p
60
/ref>

In the 1945 statistics Beit Furik (including Kh. Kafr Beita) had a population of 1,240, all Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p
18
/ref> with 36,663 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 2,645 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 12,453 used for cereals, while 53 dunams were built-up land.

Jordanian era

In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements

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