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Deir al-Ghusun () 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 in the Tulkarm Governorate, located eight kilometers northeast of the city of Tulkarm 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 ...
,
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 ...
. The town is near the Green Line (border between
Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
and the
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 ...
). The town had a population of 9,936 in 2017. Its altitude is 200 meters.


History

Pottery remains from the
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
442
443
In 1265, Deir al-Ghusun was mentioned among the estates which Sultan Baibars granted his followers, after he had defeated the
Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...
. The whole of Deir al-Ghusun was given to
Emir Emir (; ' (), also Romanization of Arabic, transliterated as amir, is a word of Arabic language, Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocratic, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person po ...
''Badr al-Din Muhammad Bi'', son of emir ''Husam al-Din Baraka Khan''. His father Husam al-Din Baraka Khan was buried in Turba Baraka Khan; a sister was married to Baibars, and became the mother of Al-Said Barakah. A later
waqf A (; , plural ), also called a (, plural or ), or ''mortmain'' property, is an Alienation (property law), inalienable charitable financial endowment, endowment under Sharia, Islamic law. It typically involves donating a building, plot ...
named the revenues of Deir al-Ghusun and a mosque (masjid), tomb (turba) (presently Khalidi Library), to be given for "the cure of the sick and the preparing of the dead for burial in Jerusalem."


Ottoman era

Deir el-Ghusun may have been the village marked as "El Dair" on Pierre Jacotin's map surveyed during
Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
's 1799 invasion during the late Ottoman period. In the middle of the 19th century it was known for its cotton production. During the 1834 Peasants' revolt in Palestine, Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt pursued rebels to nearby Zeita. Ninety rebels were slain there, while the rest fled to Deir al-Ghusun.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, pp
135
��136
At Deir al-Ghusun, many of the inhabitants and rebels heeded a call by Husayn Abd al-Hadi to flee once the Egyptian troops arrived. In response, rebel commander Qasim had several of the defectors among his ranks killed.Macalister and Masterman, 1906, p
39
/ref> Ibrahim Pasha's troops stormed the hill at Deir al-Ghusun and the rebels (mostly members of the Qasim, Jarrar, Jayyusi and Barqawi families) were routed, suffering 300 fatalities. In 1852, Edward Robinson noted: "From
'Attil Attil () is a Palestinian people, Palestinian town in the Tulkarm Governorate in the eastern West Bank, northeast of Tulkarm. Attil is the connection point between the other villages and Tulkarm. It is bordered by Illar, Tulkarm, Illar to the e ...
we now turned again up the mountain, following the direct road to Nabulus; and taking a guide for Ramin. Leaving the village at 11:15, we descended into the southern basin, and then entered a long shallow valley running up on the right of Deir el-Ghusun and its hill. A string of ten camels, led by donkeys, was slowly climbing the hill to that village. At 11:50 we were at the top of the valley; Deir el-Ghusun bearing north 70°E, half a mile distant. The region is full of olive trees. A valley comes down from the south nearly to the village, and then sweeps round to the west. This we crossed, and then rose upon sloping ground on our left. At 12.05 we came out upon the brow of the deep Valley Mussin, coming from the plain of Fendekumieh; it is said to unite with Wady Abu Nar in the western plain beyond Jett. We reached the bottom of the valley at 12.20; and noticed its deep water-channel, now dry.—The road thus far from 'Attil was evidently very old; but we saw no appearance of pavement. Whether this was the ancient way from Caesarea to Sebaste may be doubted; since a more feasible route exists from the plain along the great Wady Sha'ir, which comes down from Nabulus, and is the next valley south of Wady Mussin." In 1863,
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 ...
passed by and noted the village south of Attil. He described it as large, and occupying a hilltop. In 1882, the PEF's '' Survey of Western Palestine'' (SWP) described it as "a village of moderate size, on a hill, 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 ...
to the west. On the north is open low ground. It is surrounded with magnificent groves of olives, occupying an area of about three square miles towards the south."Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p
152
/ref> In 1870/1871 (1288 AH), an Ottoman census listed the village 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 ...
'' (sub-district) of al-Sha'rawiyya al-Gharbiyya. In the early 20th century, residents of Deir el-Ghusun established agricultural hamlets known as khirba, used mainly during the plowing and harvesting seasons, on the outskirts of the village. From the 1920s onwards, six of them became independent villages.


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, Deir al Ghusun had a population of 1,410, all
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 ...
s,Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Tulkarem, p
27
/ref> increasing by the 1931 census to 2,060, still all Muslim, in 451 houses.Mills, 1932, p
54
/ref> In the 1945 statistics, Deir al-Ghusun was counted with the villages which later made up Zemer, and together they had a population of 2,860 Muslims,Government of Palestine Department of Statistics, 1945, p
20
/ref> with a total of 27,770 dunums of land.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p
74
/ref> Of this, a total of 183 dunams were used for citrus and bananas, 13,757 were for plantations and irrigated land, 11,585 dunums were for cereals, while 94 dunams were classified as built-up (urban) areas. The villages of Jarisha and Masqufa are located within Deir al-Ghusun but are governed by independent village councils. File:Deir el Ghusun 1942.jpg, Deir al-Ghusun 1942 1:20,000 File:Tulkarm 1945 ii.jpg, Deir al-Ghusun 1945 1:250,000


Jordanian era

During
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 ...
, 14,000
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 Deir al-Ghusun land were seized by Israel. After the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Deir al-Ghusun came under Jordanian rule. In 1961, the population was 3,376.


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, Deir al-Ghusun 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 ...
.


Land

Currently, its total land area is about 13,000 dunams of which 2,268 is built-up area.Closing of all the local agricultural roads in Deir Al Ghusun town
Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem (ARIJ) and Land Research Center (LRC).
Since the establishment of the
Palestinian National 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-occupied West Bank as a c ...
in 1994, the built-up area of the town increased by over 20% or an annual expansion of 34 dunams by 2000.Spatial and Socioeconomic analysis at micro level: Deir al Ghusun, population, living conditions and urban trends
ocal Government Ministry of the Palestinian National Authority, Statistics obtained by Mayor of Deir al-Ghusun (Khaled Muhammad) and the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. pp.11-13.
Agricultural land comprises 7,432 dunams, while the remainder is a part of the Seam Zone.


Economy

Deir al-Ghusun was more prosperous than other Palestinian towns, however, the confiscation of substantial amounts of cultivable land east of the Green Line, the temporary sanctions against the Palestinian National Authority in 2006-2007, and the disruption of trade and transportation by
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 ...
has somewhat hampered the economy.The city of Tulkarem and its villages:The town of Deir al-Ghusun
Agriculture constitutes 50-54% of the local economy, and the town's main agricultural products are olive oil, citrus, melons, cucumbers and nuts. The commercial sector also provides for the town's residents, but is not very significant. The service sector comprises 25% of the town's income. A reservoir to supply the town with fresh water without the frustration of residents physically transporting water from Tulkarm was built in 2003 and replaced a dysfunctional older water tank, built in 1978.


Demographics

According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), Deir al-Ghusun had a population of approximately 9,936 inhabitants in 2017. In 1922, the town had a population of 1,410 and according to a census in 1945, the number of inhabitants rose to 2,220. In the PCBS's first official census in 1997, the town had a population of 7,055 inhabitants including 660
refugees A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...
. The gender makeup was 3,612 males and 3,443 females. Approximately 53% of Deir al-Ghusun's residents are within the employment age range (15-64) and females constitute a significant 48% of the local labor force. According to the municipal government, the town's economy was productive and steady in the post-
First Intifada The First Intifada (), also known as the First Palestinian Intifada, was a sustained series of Nonviolent resistance, non-violent protests, acts of civil disobedience, Riot, riots, and Terrorism, terrorist attacks carried out by Palestinians ...
period, but decreased by 70% in 2001 at the beginning of 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 ...
. The unemployment rate increased dramatically from 55% in 1999 to 80% after 2000. Approximately 51% of the households of the town have 1-5 family members, 43% have 6-10 members and 6% have more than 10 members. About 9% of the population in Deir al-Ghusun is illiterate and of this statistic, 83% are women.


Local origin

In the village, which predominantly saw settlement activities during the 20th century, there was a prominent settlement of
Hebron Hebron (; , or ; , ) is a Palestinian city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Hebron is capital of the Hebron Governorate, the largest Governorates of Palestine, governorate in the West Bank. With a population of 201,063 in ...
ites originating from the village of Sa'ir. Additionally, the village was inhabited by shepherds from various background, including members of the Zidan tribe, who trace their lineage to the tribe of
Zahir al-Umar Zahir al-Umar al-Zaydani, alternatively spelled Dhaher el-OmarDAAHL Site Rec ...
.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. 347


People from Deir al-Ghusun

*
Salam Fayyad, politician, born here * Abd al-Sattar Qasim, writer and academic, born here * Izzat Ghazzawi, writer, born here


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * (Typo: p5 on p. 137: not in the table, but placed in the position of Deir al-Ghusun on the map.) * * * * * * * *


External links


Welcome To Dayr al-GhusounDeir al-Ghusun
Welcome to Palestine *Survey of Western Palestine, Map 11:
IAAWikimedia commons
{{Tulkarm Governorate Towns in the West Bank Tulkarm Governorate Municipalities of Palestine