Deir Qaddis () 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

Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate The Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate () is one of 16 governorates of Palestine. It covers a large part of the central West Bank, on the northern border of the Jerusalem Governorate. Its district capital or ''muhfaza'' (seat) is the city of ...

of the

State 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 central

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 ...

, located sixteen kilometers west of

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 ...

. The Case of Deir Qiddis village
Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem 10 November 2007. 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 2,452 inhabitants in 2017. The town consists of 8,207

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 438 dunams are classified as built-up area. As a result of 1995 accords, 7.7% of Deir Qaddis' land was transferred to 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 ...

for civil affairs, so-called Area B, but

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 ...

still retains full control of 92.3% of the town, being in

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 ...

Location

Deir Qaddis is located north-west of

. It is bordered by Kharbatha Bani Harith and Al-Itihad to the east, Shibtin to the north, Ni’lin to the west, and Bil’in to the south.

Etymology

In the 19th century, the name Deir Qaddis was interpreted to mean "monastery of the saint". Qaddis means a holy person and is of

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 ...

origin.

History

French explorer

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 remains of houses built with large blocks and several

cistern A cistern (; , ; ) is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. To prevent leakage, the interior of the cistern is often lined with hydraulic plaster. Cisterns are disti ...

s dug into the rock, while SWP (1882) notes a ruined monastery and a nearby cave. According to SWP the name of the village indicated that a convent had existed there. A survey by

Finkelstein Finkelstein ( or , ) is a German language, German and Yiddish language, Yiddish surname originating from Old High German ''funko'' (spark) and ''stein'' (stone). ''Fünkelstein'' meant pyrite (George J. Adler, ''A Dictionary of the German and Engl ...

and Lederman uncovered no ancient pottery.

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 Palestine, and in 1596 it appeared in the tax registers as ''Dayr Qiddis'' 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 Ramlah of the '' Liwa'' of Gazza. It had a population of 11 households, 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 ...

, and paid taxes on wheat, barley, summer crops, olive- and fruit trees, goats and beehives, and a press for olives or grapes; a total of 5,400

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 ...

.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 154 In 1838 ''Deir el-Kaddis'' was described as a village in the ''Beni Hasan'' area west of Jerusalem.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p.
123
/ref> In 1863 Guérin estimated that ''Deir Kaddis'' had about 350 inhabitants,Guérin, 1875, p
85
/ref> while an Ottoman village list from 1870 showed ''Der Kaddis'' had 36 houses and a population of 112, a count that included only men. In 1883, the PEF's ''

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 ''Deir el Kuddis'' as a "small hamlet on a high hill-top, with gardens to the north .There is 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."Conder and Kitchener, 1882, p
297
/ref>

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 Qaddis had a population of 299 inhabitants, all Muslims,Barron, 1923, Table VII, Division Jaffa, Sub-district of Ramleh, p
22
/ref> increasing in the 1931 census to a population of 368 Muslims in 82 houses.Mills, 1932, p
19
/ref> In the 1945 statistics, the population of Deir Qaddis was 440 Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p
29
/ref> with 8,224

s of land, according to an official land and population survey. 1,815 dunams were used for plantations and irrigable land, 1,069 dunams for cereals, while 8 dunams were built-up (urban) land. File:Ni'lin 1944.jpg, Deir Qaddis 1944 1:20,000 File:Deir Abu Mash'al 1945.jpg, Deir Qaddis 1945 1:250,000

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 ...

, Deir Qaddis came under Jordanian rule. The Jordanian census of 1961 found 752 inhabitants in Deir Qaddis.

Post-1967

Deir Qaddis came 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 ...

during the 1967

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 ...

. The population in the 1967 census conducted by the Israeli authorities was 461, 25 of whom originated from the Israeli territory. After the 1995 accords, 7.7% of the village's total area has been classified as Area B land, while the remaining 93.3% is

.Deir Qaddis Village Profile
ARIJ, p. 16 According to ARIJ, Israel built three

Israeli settlements 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 Jewish identity or ethnicity, and hav ...

on the village lands: 1818

s for

Modi'in Illit Modi'in Illit (; , lit. "Upper Modi'in") is a Haredi Judaism, Haredi Jewish-Israeli settlement organized as a city council (Israel), city council in the West Bank, situated midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Built on the land of five Palest ...

,Deir Qaddis Village Profile
ARIJ, p. 17 446 dunams for

Nili NILI () was a Jewish espionage network which assisted the United Kingdom in its fight against the Ottoman Empire in the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem between 1915 and 1917, during World War I. NILI was centered in Zikhron Ya'akov, with branches ...

, 471 dunams for Na'ale. In 2008, access to some of the village land was cut off 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 ...

. Access was restored in 2012. The town's prominent families are Husain, Qattosa, Nasser, Abu Zeid, Hamada, Awadh, Abu Laban and Kreish.History of Dayr Qaddis
Palestine Remembered.

References

Bibliography

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

External links

*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 14
IAAWikimedia commons Deir Qaddis 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)
Deir Qaddis profile
ARIJ
Deir Qaddis aerial photo
ARIJ
Locality Development Priorities and Needs in Deir Qaddis Village
ARIJ
The Expansion of Kiryat Sefer Settlement on the Land of Dier
27, February, 1997, POICA
The Israeli Occupation Milling of a Road Designated for "Military Purposes" Deir Qaddis – Ramallah Governorate
01, June, 2011, POICA
“Israeli Piracy During the Daylight” The Israeli Bulldozers Started to Razing Lands in Deir Qiddis in order to loot more than 100 dunums of Deir Qiddis lands southwest of Ramallah
02, June, 2011, POICA {{Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate Villages in the West Bank Municipalities of Palestine