Beit Hanina ( ,) is an Arab Palestinian neighborhood in

East Jerusalem East Jerusalem (, ; , ) is the portion of Jerusalem that was Jordanian annexation of the West Bank, held by Jordan after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, as opposed to West Jerusalem, which was held by Israel. Captured and occupied in 1967, th ...

. It is on the road to

Ramallah Ramallah ( , ; ) is a Palestinians, Palestinian city in the central West Bank, that serves as the administrative capital of the State of Palestine. It is situated on the Judaean Mountains, north of Jerusalem, at an average elevation of abov ...

, eight kilometers north of central

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, at an elevation of 780 meters above sea level. Beit Hanina is bordered by

Pisgat Ze'ev Pisgat Ze'ev (, lit. ''Ze'ev's Peak'') is an Israeli settlement in East Jerusalem and the largest residential neighborhood in Jerusalem with a population of over 50,000. Pisgat Ze'ev was established by Israel as one of the city's five Ring Neig ...

and Hizma to the east,

Ramot Ramot (, ''lit.'' Heights), also known as Ramot Alon (), is an Israeli settlement and neighborhood in East Jerusalem. Ramot was founded in 1974 as one of Jerusalem's so-called " Ring settlements", considered illegal under international law. In ...

Ramat Shlomo Ramat Shlomo (, lit. Shlomo's or Solomon's Heights) is an Israeli settlement in East Jerusalem. The population, mostly ultra-Orthodox, is 21,000. Ramat Shlomo was built on land occupied by Israel since its capture from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Da ...

and

Shuafat Shuafat (), also ''Shu'fat'' and ''Sha'fat'', is a mostly Palestinian Arab neighborhood of East Jerusalem, forming part of north-eastern Jerusalem. Located on the old Jerusalem–Ramallah road about three miles north of the Old City, Shu'fat ...

to the south,

Beit Iksa Beit Iksa (;) is a Palestinian village in the Jerusalem Governorate, located northwest of Jerusalem in the West Bank. The village is surrounded on all sides by the Israeli West Bank barrier, and outside Palestinians are denied access through th ...

and

Nabi Samwil An-Nabi Samwil, also called al-Nabi Samuil ( ''an-Nabi Samu'il'', translit: "the prophet Samuel"), is a Palestinian village in the Quds Governorate of the State of Palestine, located in the West Bank ( Area C), four kilometers north of Jerusalem ...

to the west, and Bir Nabala, al-Jib, Kafr Aqab and

ar-Ram Al-Ram (), also transcribed as Al-Ramm, El-Ram, Er-Ram, and A-Ram, is a Palestinian town which lies northeast of Jerusalem, just outside the city's municipal border. The village is part of the built-up urban area of Jerusalem, the Atarot industria ...

to the north. Beit Hanina is divided by the

Israeli West Bank barrier The West Bank barrier, West Bank wall or the West Bank separation barrier, is a separation barrier built by Israel along the Green Line (Israel), Green Line and inside parts of the West Bank. Israel describes the wall as a necessary securi ...

into Al-Jadida (the new village), which is located within the Israeli Jerusalem municipality and includes the vast majority of the built-up area, and Al-Balad (the old village), which lies outside the municipality.''High Court approves Bir Nabalah enclave''
B'Tselem, 26 November 2006 The total area of Beit Hanina is 16.3 sq. kilometers (6.3 sq. miles) or 16,284

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 2,775 are built up.''Lands of Beit Hanina (Al-Balad) village threatened by the Israeli Segregation Wall''
. Applied Research Institute (ARIJ), 8 August 2006 In 2007, Beit Hanina had a population of over 27,000, including 26,762 Jerusalem residents in the new village and 1,107 under PNA administration.

Etymology

Beit Hanina means "House of Hanina," suggesting that it is named after a person, possibly a woman. Writing in the middle of the 20th century, Palestinian educator Mustafa al-Dabbagh derived the name from the Assyrian "Han-nina", which he interpreted as meaning "the one who deserves pity" (''hanan''). A more modern, comparative linguistic analysis derives the name from the

Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...

personal name Ḥnyn’, meaning "the merciful".

Archeology

In June 2013,

Israel Antiquities Authority The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA, ; , before 1990, the Israel Department of Antiquities) is an independent Israeli governmental authority responsible for enforcing the 1978 Law of Antiquities. The IAA regulates excavation and conservatio ...

unearthed an 1800-year-old

Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...

in Beit Hanina. ''

The Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is an English language, English-language Israeli broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, Israel, founded in 1932 during the Mandate for Palestine, British Mandate of Mandatory Palestine, Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''Th ...

'' wrote about this discovery: "According to the Antiquities Authority, the 8-meter-wide road, which dates back to the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

, led from

Jaffa Jaffa (, ; , ), also called Japho, Joppa or Joppe in English, is an ancient Levantine Sea, Levantine port city which is part of Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel, located in its southern part. The city sits atop a naturally elevated outcrop on ...

to Jerusalem and was built with large flat stones and curbstones to create a surface that was comfortable for walking. Some of the stones were highly polished, indicating heavy pedestrian use, the authority added."

History

According to the 19th-century French traveler

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 ...

, Beit Hanina is the biblical

Ananiah Ananiah, in the Bible, is a town in the tribe of Benjamin between Nob and Hazor (modern Tell el-Qedah) (). It is one of the localities inhabited by the tribe of Benjamin after the return from the Babylonian Exile. Ananiah, whose name means "protec ...

of the

Tribe of Benjamin According to the Torah, the Tribe of Benjamin () was one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. The tribe was descended from Benjamin, the youngest son of the Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch Jacob (later given the name Israel) and his wife Rachel. In the ...

. Edward Robinson concurred, but

W.F. Albright William Foxwell Albright (May 24, 1891 – September 19, 1971) was an American archaeologist, biblical scholar, philologist, and expert on ceramics. He is considered "one of the twentieth century's most influential American biblical scholars," h ...

maintained that Ananiah is the village of

al-Eizariya Bethany (,Murphy-O'Connor, 2008, p152/ref> Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܥܢܝܐ ''Bēṯ ʿAnyā''), locally called in Arabic Al-Eizariya or al-Aizariya (, " laceof Lazarus"), is a Palestinian town in the Jerusalem Governorate of Palestine, bordering ...

. Guerin also wrote that it was sometimes called Bayt Anina.Guérin, 1868, p
394
/ref>Sharon, 1999, pp.
9497
/ref> In 636, Beit Hanina was annexed by the

Islamic Caliphate A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of the enti ...

led by

Umar Ibn al-Khattab Umar ibn al-Khattab (; ), also spelled Omar, was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () and is regarded as a senior companion and father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muh ...

as a result of a decisive

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 ...

victory over the Byzantines at the

Battle of Yarmouk The Battle of the Yarmuk (also spelled Yarmouk; ) was a major battle between the army of the Byzantine Empire and the Arab Muslim forces of the Rashidun Caliphate. The battle consisted of a series of engagements that lasted for six days in Aug ...

. In the early centuries of

Islamic Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

rule over

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 ...

, Yemenite and

Qaisi Qays ʿAylān (), often referred to simply as Qays (''Kais'' or ''Ḳays'') were an Arab tribal confederation that branched from the Mudar group. The tribe may not have functioned as a unit in pre-Islamic Arabia (before 630). However, by the ea ...

Arabs migrated to Beit Hanina. The economy was agricultural, based primarily on

olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'' ("European olive"), is a species of Subtropics, subtropical evergreen tree in the Family (biology), family Oleaceae. Originating in Anatolia, Asia Minor, it is abundant throughout the Mediterranean ...

figs The fig is the edible fruit of ''Ficus carica'', a species of tree or shrub in the flowering plant family Moraceae, native to the Mediterranean region, together with western and southern Asia. It has been cultivated since ancient times and i ...

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

and

bulgur Bulgur (; ; ; ), or Borghol (), is a cracked wheat foodstuff found in Egyptian cuisine, South Asian cuisine and West Asian cuisine. Characteristics Bulgur is distinct from cracked wheat, which is crushed wheat grain that, unlike bulgur, has ...

.Beit Hanina Community Center
In 1099,

Crusader Crusader or Crusaders may refer to: Military * Crusader, a participant in one of the Crusades * Convair NB-36H Crusader, an experimental nuclear-powered bomber * Crusader tank, a British cruiser tank of World War II * Crusaders (guerrilla), a C ...

armies captured Jerusalem, including Beit Hanina, inflicting heavy casualties on the Muslim population and causing most of the residents to flee. They later returned to cultivate their orchards and grain fields. The town was recaptured by the

Ayyubid Dynasty The Ayyubid dynasty (), also known as the Ayyubid Sultanate, was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultan of Egypt, Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid Caliphate of Egyp ...

led by Salah ad-Din. To ensure a Muslim majority and protect it from a renewed Crusader invasion, Salah ad-Din brought powerful

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...

tribes from the

Negev The Negev ( ; ) or Naqab (), is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its southern end is the Gulf of Aqaba and the resort town, resort city ...

desert and the northern

Hejaz Hejaz is a Historical region, historical region of the Arabian Peninsula that includes the majority of the western region of Saudi Arabia, covering the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif and Al Bahah, Al-B ...

to settle in the area. The Friday Mosque in Beit Hanina, Sultan Ibrahim Ibn Adham Mosque, is dedicated to

Ibrahim ibn Adham Ibrahim ibn Adham also called Ibrahim Balkhi and Ebrahim-e Adham (); c. 718 – c. 782 / AH c. 100 – c. 165 is one of the most prominent of the early Sufi saints known for his zuhd (asceticism). The story of his conversion is one of the mos ...

, Guérin had noted it was dedicated to "Sidi Ibrahim". In 1927

Tawfiq Canaan Tawfiq Canaan () (24 September 1882 – 15 January 1964) was a pioneering Palestinian physician, medical researcher, ethnographer, and Palestinian nationalist. Born in Beit Jala during the rule of the Ottoman Empire, he served as a medical off ...

published the inscription above the gate of the mosque, which commemorated its building in 637/1239-1240 CE.

Ottoman era

The village 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 ...

in 1517 with all of

, and in 1596 Beit Hanina appeared in Ottoman tax registers as being 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 Quds of the '' Liwa'' of

Quds Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the oldest cities in the world, and is considered holy to the three major Abrahamic religions—Juda ...

. It had a population of 28

households, who paid a fixed tax rate of 33.3% on various agricultural products, including wheat, barley, vineyards/fruit trees, goats and beehives, in addition to occasional revenues; a total of 10,300

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 ...

. All of the revenue went to a Muslim charitable endowment. In 1838 Beit Hanina was noted as a Muslim village, located in the immediate surroundings of El-Kuds.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p.
121
/ref> Guérin, who visited in 1863, estimated that the village had 300 inhabitants.

Socin Sozzini, Sozini, Socini or Socin is an Italians, Italian Italian nobility, noble family originally from Siena in Tuscany, where the family were noted as bankers and merchants, jurists and humanism, humanist scholars. The family has been described ...

found from an official Ottoman village list from about 1870 that Beit Hanina had 65 houses and a population of 240, though the population count included only men.

Hartmann Hartmann is a German surname. It is less frequently used as a male given name. The name originates from the Germanic word, "hart", which translates in English to "hardy", "hard", or "tough" and " Mann", a suffix meaning "man", "person", or "husband ...

found that ''Bet Hanina'' had 79 houses. In 1883, the

Palestine Exploration Fund The Palestine Exploration Fund is a British society based in London. It was founded in 1865, shortly after the completion of the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem by Royal Engineers of the War Department. The Fund is the oldest known organization i ...

Survey of Western Palestine The PEF Survey of Palestine was a series of surveys carried out by the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF) between 1872 and 1877 for the completed Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) and in 1880 for the soon abandoned Survey of Eastern Palestine. The ...

described it as a "village of moderate size, of stone houses, standing on very rocky ground on the ridge between two valleys. It is surrounded with

olives The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'' ("European olive"), is a species of Subtropics, subtropical evergreen tree in the Family (biology), family Oleaceae. Originating in Anatolia, Asia Minor, it is abundant throughout the Mediterranean ...

, and has springs to the west at some little distance. Vineyards also occur near the village." In 1896 the population of ''Bet Hanina'' was estimated to be about 792 persons.

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, "Bait Hanina" had a population of 996, all

Muslims 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 ...

,Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Jerusalem, p
14
/ref> increasing in the 1931 census to a population of 1226, still all Muslims, in 317 houses.Mills, 1932, p
38
/ref> In a tradition recorded by Ben-Zvi in 1927, the Dar Abu-Zharir family of Beit Hanina claimed Jewish descent. Their progenitor, a Jewish peddler named Khalifa, settled in the village, married, and raised a family. The descendants openly acknowledged their Jewish roots, stating "''Asalna min al-Yahud''" (). Elderly women in the family reportedly taught the younger generations the laws of female

purity Purity may refer to: Books * ''Pureza'' (novel), a 1937 Brazilian novel by José Lins do Rego * ''Purity'' (novel), a 2015 novel by Jonathan Franzen ** ''Purity'' (TV series), a TV series based on the novel *''Purity'', a 2012 novel by Jackson ...

, and many members bore Jewish-sounding names like Sarah and Rebecca. In the 1945 statistics Beit Hanina had a population of 1,590, all Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p
24
/ref> with 14,948

s of land, according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 3,072 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 4,304 used for cereals, while 219 dunams were built-up 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,annexed by Jordan in 1950. Under Jordanian rule, new roads and schools were built, and many of the town's émigrés invested in the development of a modern suburb, then known as Ras al-Tariq, located to the east along the Jerusalem-Ramallah highway. In 1961, the population of Beit Hanina was 3,067, of whom 332 were Christian, the rest Muslim.

Post-1967

The population in the 1967 census conducted by the Israeli authorities was 1,177, of whom 36 originated from the Israeli territory. Israel expanded the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem to include the eastern section of Beit Hanina, now known as Beit Hanina al-Jadid, and formalized that policy in 1980. In the post-1967 era, according to Ibrahim Mattar, "The first objective of the Israeli planners in drawing these new boundaries was to maximize the land area and minimize the Palestinian population to be included in greater East Jerusalem. By examining the map, one can identify a number of Palestinian villages which have been excluded from the boundaries of greater East Jerusalem but whose lands have been included in these boundaries. For example, in the west, the villages of Beit Iksa and Beit Hanina are considered outside the boundaries while their lands are inside." According to ARIJ, Israel has confiscated 2, 927 dunams of land from Beit Hanina (33.1% of the total area) to construct four

Israeli settlement Israeli settlements, also called Israeli colonies, are the civilian communities built by Israel throughout the Israeli-occupied territories. They are populated by Israeli citizens, almost exclusively of Israeli Jews, Jewish identity or ethni ...

s: *1,458 dunams were taken for Pisgat Ze’ev,Beit Hanina Town Profile
pp. 13–14 *686 dunams were taken for Pisgat Amir, *551 dunams were taken for Neveh Ya’akov, *232 dunams were taken for

. In addition, Israel confiscated land from Beit Hanina el Balad (the old own): *134 dunams for Ramot, Jerusalem, *53 dunams for

Beit Hanina al Balad Village Profile
ARIJ, 2012, pp. 16–17 In addition, the 39% of the village land is isolated from the village by the

After the

Second Intifada The Second Intifada (; ), also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada, was a major uprising by Palestinians against Israel and its Israeli-occupied territories, occupation from 2000. Starting as a civilian uprising in Jerusalem and October 2000 prot ...

, Israel began to build the

, which separated the Jerusalem section of Beit Hanina from the West Bank. Due to its urban nature, the route near the town is part of the 10% which employs a concrete wall. The area has sometimes been the scene of clashes between the Israeli security forces and Palestinian militant factions. On 18 April 2012, a Palestinian family, the Natshehs, was evicted from two houses in the wake of an Israeli court decision that the land was owned by Jews. The Israel Land Fund had purchased the buildings in 1977 as part of a plan for a Jewish neighborhood of 50 apartments called "Nof Shmuel."Lidman, Melani
Arab family evicted in Jerusalem, Jews move in
''

''. 2012-04-18. The Natsheh family stated that the documents were forged and that family members had owned part of the property since the 1940s, but the Israeli court dismissed it citing lack of evidence. The European Union condemned the eviction, and said they were very concerned by the plans to build a new settlement "in the midst of this traditional Palestinian neighborhood." On 27 April 2012 about 150 Palestinian, Israeli and foreign activists staged a protest that led to clashes with

Israeli police The Israel Police (; ) is the civilian police force of Israel. As with most other police forces in the world, its duties include crime fighting, traffic control, maintaining public safety, and counter-terrorism. It is under the jurisdiction o ...

. After the 1995 accords, 12.2% of the village land is classified as Area B, while the remaining 87.8% were classified as

Area C Area C (; ) is the fully Israeli-controlled territory in the West Bank, defined as the whole area outside the Palestinian enclaves (Areas A and B). Area C constitutes about 61 percent of the West Bank territory, containing most Israeli settle ...

. In 2012, a street in Beit Hanina was named for Umm Khulthum. Nasreen Kadari, winner of the TV reality show ''Eyal Golan is Calling You'', sang one of the Egyptian singer's famous songs, "Enta Omri", at the ceremony. Since 2012, two houses are populated by Jews. An Israeli news site, Ynetnews.com, reported on 27 February 2014 on a report by the Palestinian newspaper ''Al-Quds'' that claimed that U.S. Secretary of State

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician, and diplomat who served as the 68th United States secretary of state from 2013 to 2017 in the Presidency of Barack Obama#Administration, administration of Barac ...

offered in his discussions with

Mahmoud Abbas Mahmoud Abbas (; born 15 November 1935), also known by the Kunya (Arabic), kunya Abu Mazen (, ), is a Palestinian politician who has been serving as the second president of Palestine and the President of the Palestinian National Authority, P ...

, president of the

Palestinian Authority The Palestinian Authority (PA), officially known as the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), is the Fatah-controlled government body that exercises partial civil control over the Palestinian enclaves in the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, ...

, to make Beit Hanina the capital of a future Palestinian state. According to ''Al-Quds,'' Kerry demanded Abbas to officially recognize Israel as a Jewish state and offered that Beit Hanina neighborhood will be declared as the Palestinian capital instead of the entire east Jerusalem area.

Education

The College of Daawa and Religious Principles was established in Beit Hanina in 1978. A branch of

al-Quds University Al-Quds University () is a public university in the Jerusalem Governorate, Palestine. The main campus is located in Abu Dis town, near Jerusalem, with three more campuses in Jerusalem and other campuses in Ramallah and Hebron. It was establish ...

is also located there. There are four mosques in Beit Hanina: Sultan Ibrahim Ibn Adham Mosque, Bader Mosque, Mosque of Religion College, and Mosque of Teacher's Suburb. Christian schools include the Rosary Sisters and De La Salle. College des Freres built a new school in Beit Hanina in 2000. The Catholic Church runs a community center and St. Jacob's Church. In 2012, the Beit Hanina Girls School, serving grades 5–12, was renovated with funding from the Japanese government.

Transportation

The neighbourhood's Main Street, Beit Hanina Road, was previously part of route 60. In the 1990s a new route was built to the east of the neighbourhood, a dual carriageway with 3 lanes in each direction, relieving

traffic congestion Traffic congestion is a condition in transport that is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. Traffic congestion on urban road networks has increased substantially since the 1950s, resulting in m ...

along the road. The

Jerusalem Light Rail The Jerusalem Light Rail (, ''HaRakevet HaKala Birushalayim'', , ''Qiṭār Al-Quds Al-Khafīf'') is a light rail system in Jerusalem. Currently, the Red Line (Jerusalem Light Rail), Red Line is the only one in operation, the first of several ...

has a stop in Beit Hanina. In 2011, Israel began constructing a road that would link

neighborhoods, including Beit Hanina, to the center of

West Jerusalem West Jerusalem or Western Jerusalem (, ; , ) refers to the section of Jerusalem that was controlled by Israel at the end of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. As the city was divided by the Green Line (Israel's erstwhile border, established by ...

. According to the Israeli newspaper, ''

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...

'', "Peace Now representatives argue that the 'road's current route isn't legal, since the plan designates occupied territory for permanent infrastructures for the occupying power, while completely disregarding the needs of the Palestinian residents in Beit Hanina and the area.'"

People connected to Beit Hanina

Abdul Hameed Shoman, a native of Beit Hanina, founded the

Arab Bank Arab Bank is a Jordanian bank that is one of the largest financial institutions in the Middle East. It is headquartered today in Amman, Jordan, and operates as a universal bank that serves clients in more than 600 branches spanning five contine ...

. His son, Abdul-Majid Shoman, succeeded his father as the chairman of the Arab Bank in 1974. In 2005, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' reported on the death of Abdul-Majid Shoman and explained that "Mr. Shoman was from a prominent Palestinian family from the West Bank town of Beit Hanina. His father, Abdul-Hamid Shoman, established the first branch of the Arab Bank in Jerusalem in 1930. The bank was a symbol of Palestinian aspirations, representing a drive to create financial institutions for a new nation." According to Lawrence Joffe,"Often Shoman rescued Jordan from fiscal disaster. In 2000 he released funds to support the Jordanian dinar, which had collapsed after King Hussein died."

Guy Delisle Guy Delisle (, born January 19, 1966) is a Canadian cartoonist and animator, best known for his graphic novels about his travels, such as '' Shenzhen: A Travelogue from China'' (2000), '' Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea'' (2003), '' Burma Chro ...

depicted his 2008–2009 stay in Beit Hanina in Jerusalem (comics). In 2010,

Akiva Eldar Akiva Eldar (; born 27 November 1945) is an Israeli political analyst, author and journalist. Eldar wrote for the newspaper Haaretz and was chief political columnist, editorial writer and US Bureau Chief for the paper,

reported in Haaretz that the-then Palestinian Authority prime minister,

Salam Fayyad Salam Fayyad (; born 12 April 1952) is a Palestinian politician and economist who served as the first prime minister of Palestine from January 2013 until his resigned in July of that same year. He was previously the fourth prime minister of the ...

, lived in Beit Hanina. Eldar wrote: "Last Tuesday we accompanied the Palestinian prime minister during his workday as a state-builder. Early in the morning his black Mercedes left the well-guarded villa in the Beit Hanina neighborhood on Jerusalem's northern outskirts. There Fayyad lives with his wife and his younger son, a student at a high school in the city."

Environmental issues

Since Beit Hanina is an east Jerusalem village, it has the same environmental concerns as the rest of Palestine and Israel. In the journal article,"Scenario Development for 2050 for the Israeli/Palestinian Water Sector," Jonathan Chenoweth describes what can happen as the population increases with regard to

water scarcity Water scarcity (closely related to water stress or water crisis) is the lack of fresh water resources to meet the standard water demand. There are two types of water scarcity. One is ''physical.'' The other is ''economic water scarcity''. Physic ...

. Chenoweth states,"Already Israel and Palestine have very low water resources availability compared to the global average (Food and Agriculture Organization, 2004). In the case of Palestine, this water scarcity directly impacts upon daily life and economic activity for much of the population. With rapid population growth in the region and water resources already inadequate, the long-term hydrological future of region appears problematic."

Gallery

File:BeitHaninaNov282022 02.jpg, Abdul Hameed Shoman Street and its surroundings File:OldBeitHaninaNov282022 02.jpg, Old Beit Hanina (Al-Balad) File:BeitHaninaDec032022 08.jpg, The Northern part of Beit Hanina

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

Palestine Remembered: Welcome To Bayt Hanina
*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 17
IAA

Wikimedia commons Wikimedia Commons, or simply Commons, is a wiki-based Digital library, media repository of Open content, free-to-use images, sounds, videos and other media. It is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation. Files from Wikimedia Commons can be used ...

Beit Hanina Town (Fact Sheet)

Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem The Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem (ARIJ; ) is a Palestinian NGO founded in 1990 with its main office in Bethlehem in the West Bank. ARIJ is actively working on research projects in the fields of management of natural resources, water m ...

; (ARIJ)
Beit Hanina Town Profile
ARIJ
Beit Hanina aerial photo
ARIJ
Bayt Hanina Al Balad Village (Fact Sheet)
ARIJ
Beit Hanina al Balad Village Profile
ARIJ
Beit Hanina al Balad aerial photo
ARIJ
Ethnic Cleansing in Beit Hanina
12, September, 2006, ARIJ
Beit Hanina Town, Israeli Settlements' occupying its land … A wall dissecting its people and a new Bypass Road increases the suffering of its people.
09, April, 2009, ARIJ
Two residential Complexes in Beit Hanina city are notified with demolition
08, March, 2011, ARIJ {{Authority control Seam Zone Villages in the West Bank Jerusalem Governorate Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem Municipalities of Palestine