Far'ata () was 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 ...

village in the

Qalqilya Governorate The Qalqilya Governorate or Qalqiliya Governorate () is an administrative area of Palestine in the northwestern West Bank. Its capital or ''muhfaza'' (seat) is the city of Qalqilya that borders the Green Line. History During the Ottoman pe ...

in the Western area of 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 ...

, located 16 kilometers Southwest of

Nablus Nablus ( ; , ) is a State of Palestine, Palestinian city in the West Bank, located approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 156,906. Located between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a ...

. 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 village had a population of 872 inhabitants in 2017. In 2012 Fara'ata was merged with the larger

Immatain Immatin () is a Palestinian village located in the northwestern West Bank, in the Qalqilya Governorate of the State of Palestine, about seventeen kilometers southwest of Nablus. Since 2012, the village of Farratin is included in Immatin. Loca ...

village council.

Location

Immatin and Far’ata are located west of

Qalqiliya Qalqilya or Qalqiliya () is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, which serves as the administrative center of the Qalqilya Governorate. The city had a population of 51,683 in 2017. Qalqilya is surrounded by the Israeli West Bank wall, with a narr ...

. They are bordered by Tell to the east, Deir Istiya to the south, Jinsafut, Al Funduq and

Hajjah Hajjah () is the capital city of Hajjah Governorate in north-western Yemen. It is located 127 kilometres northwest of Sana'a, at an elevation of about 1800 metres. As of 2003, the Hajjah City District had a population of 53,887 inhabitants. E ...

to the west, and

Kafr Qaddum Kafr Qaddum () is a Palestinian territories, Palestinian town in the northern West Bank, located 13 kilometers west of Nablus and 17 kilometers east of Qalqilya in the Qalqilya Governorate. Surrounding towns include Jit, Qalqilya, Jit to the east ...

and Jit to the north.

History

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 ...

ceramics have been found in the village. Fara'ata was noted in the Samaritan Chronicle (from the 12th century) under the name of Ophrah, while it has been known under its present name since the 14th century.Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, pp
162
163

Ottoman era

Far'ata 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 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 ...

, and in 1596 it appeared in the tax registers as ''Fara'ta'', 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 Jabal Qubal of the '' Liwa'' of

. It had a population of 12 households and 6 bachelor, 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 ...

. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 33,3% on a number of crops, including wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, goats and beehives, in addition to occasional revenues, a press for olive oil or grape syrup, and a fixed tax for people of Nablus area; a total of 4,500

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. 133 In 1838, ''Fer'ata'' was noted as located in ''Jurat Merda'', south of Nablus.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p.
127
/ref> In 1870 the 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 ...

visited Far'ata, which he described having "a very small number" of people, with some

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 and remains of a stone

sarcophagus A sarcophagus (: sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a coffin, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek language, Greek wikt:σάρξ, σάρξ ...

as remnants of former history. In 1870/1871 (1288 AH), an Ottoman census listed the village with a population of 10

household A household consists of one or more persons who live in the same dwelling. It may be of a single family or another type of person group. The household is the basic unit of analysis in many social, microeconomic and government models, and is im ...

s 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 Jamma'in al-Awwal, subordinate to Nablus. In 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 ...

'' (SWP) (1882), Far'ata was described as a "small village of ancient appearance, standing on a . mound, with a rock-cut tomb to the south, and a sacred Mukam to the east."

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, Far'ata had a population of 36, all Muslim,Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Nablus, p
25
/ref> increasing in the 1931 census to of 47 Muslims, in a total of 11 houses. In the 1945 statistics the population of Far'ata was 70 Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p
18
/ref> while the total land area was 1,664

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, according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 56 were allocated for plantations and irrigable land, 961 for cereals,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p
106
/ref> while 10 dunams were classified as built-up areas.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p
156
/ref>

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. The Jordanian census of 1961 found 317 inhabitants in Faraata.

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, Far'ata has been held 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 ...

. After the 1995 accords, 58.3% of the total village land of Immatain/Far'ata was assigned as Area B land, while the remaining 41.7% is Area C land. Immatin Village Profile (including Far’ata Locality)
ARIJ, p. 16 In 2010, Far'ata was described by Gideon Levy as one of the Palestinian villages where the people "live in terror of the

settler A settler or a colonist is a person who establishes or joins a permanent presence that is separate to existing communities. The entity that a settler establishes is a Human settlement, settlement. A settler is called a pioneer if they are among ...

s and their accursed '

Price tag A price tag is a label declaring the price of an item for sale. It may be a sticker or attached by twist tie or other means. Some jurisdictions require items (possibly exceptions for bulk good and produce) to be individually marked with the p ...

,' and nobody came to their defense".

Demography

Local origins

Fara'ata's residents originally came from

.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. 353

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * *

External links

Welcome To Far'ata
*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 11:
Wikimedia commons

Immatin Village (including Far’ata Locality) (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)
Immatin Village Profile (including Far’ata Locality)
ARIJ
Far’ata, aerial photo
ARIJ
Development Priorities and Needs in Imatin (including Far’ata Locality)
ARIJ {{Qalqilya Governorate Qalqilya Governorate Villages in the West Bank Ancient Samaritan settlements