Kafr Ein () 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 ...

village 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 ...

, located northwest 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 ...

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 ...

. 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 ...

(PCBS), Kafr Ein had a population of 1,958 inhabitants in 2017. Most of the village's population comes from the

Barghouti Barghouti (other spellings Barghuthi, Barghouthi, or Al-Barghuthi) (classical Arabic: ''al-Barghūthī'') is the surname of a prominent Palestinian family. Many of its members are notable figures in Palestinian political and cultural life, and m ...

, Rifa' and Rafati clans.

Location

Kafr 'Ein is located 17.7 km northwest of

. It is bordered by Qarawat Bani Zeid,

Bani Zeid ash Sharqiya Bani Zeid al-Sharqiya () is a Palestinian town in the northern West Bank, located north of Ramallah in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate. It was formed as a result of a merger of the villages of 'Arura, Mazari al-Nubani, and Abwein, although ...

and Deir as Sudan to the east,

Bruqin Bruqin () is a Palestinian town 13 kilometers west of Salfit in the Salfit Governorate of the State of Palestine, in the northern West Bank, adjacent to the Israeli settlement of Brukhin, which was built over lands confiscated from the Palestin ...

to the north,

Bani Zeid Bani Zeid () is a Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate of Palestine, in the north-central West Bank, located northwest of Ramallah, about 45 kilometers northwest of Jerusalem and about southwest of Salfit. A town of ove ...

to the west, and An Nabi Salih to the south.

History

Kafr Ein is transliterated as "spring village". The village contains ten springs and ten reservoirs, one of which was recently damaged. It is believed that there is an ancient site at the top of a local mountain known as ''Haraek'', which contains a church and a mosque. According to local legend, the site was destroyed during the

Crusades 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 t ...

and the single villager who survived its destruction came down to found Kafr Ein.Kafr Ein Village Profile
International Women's Peace Service

Ottoman era

Potsherd This page is a glossary of archaeology, the study of the human past from material remains. A B C D E F ...

s from the early Ottoman era have been found. It is noted in the Ottoman tax records of the 16th century as being located in the

Sanjak A sanjak or sancak (, , "flag, banner") was an administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans also sometimes called the sanjak a liva (, ) from the name's calque in Arabic and Persian. Banners were a common organization of nomad ...

Al-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—Jud ...

. Kafr Ein was ruled by the

family throughout the later half of the Ottoman rule 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 ...

, located within the sheikhdom of

. It produced 52 '' qintars'' of

olive oil Olive oil is a vegetable oil obtained by pressing whole olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea'', a traditional Tree fruit, tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin) and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking for frying foods, as a cond ...

annually, exporting it to

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 ...

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 ...

mainly for traditional soap-making. In 1838, it was noted under the name of ''Kefr Iyan'' as a

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 ...

village in the District of ''Beni Zaid,'' north of Jerusalem.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p.
125
/ref> 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 ...

passed by the village in 1870, and noted that it "did not seem very considerable," while an Ottoman village list of about the same year showed a population of 260, in 69 houses, though the population count only included men. In 1882, 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 "Kefr Ain" as a "small

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

on a hill-slope, supplied by the ''Ain Mathrun''." In 1896 the population of ''Kefr ‘ain'' was estimated to be about 516 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, the village, called ''Kufr 'Ain,'' had a population of 376, all

s,Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Ramallah, p.
16
/ref> increasing in the 1931 census where ''In Kafr'' had a population of 494, still all Muslims, in a total of 133 houses.Mills, 1932, p
49
/ref> In the 1945 statistics, the population was 550 Muslims, while the total land area was 7,145

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, 4,928 were allocated for plantations and irrigable land, 724 for cereals, while 19 dunams were classified as built-up areas.

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 1,095 inhabitants in ''Kafr 'Ain''.

1967-present

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, Kafr Ein 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, 97.4% of Kafr Ein land was classified as Area A land, 1.4% as Area B, while the remaining 1.2% is 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 ...

.Kafr 'Ein (Village profile)
ARIJ, 2012, p. 15

Economy

Historically, like most Palestinian villages, Kafr Ein's inhabitants worked mostly as farmers and traders. Prior to 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 ...

, around 10% of the village's residents worked in

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 ...

. Kafr Ein's main cash crop is olives. However,

lentil The lentil (''Vicia lens'' or ''Lens culinaris'') is an annual plant, annual legume grown for its Lens (geometry), lens-shaped edible seeds or ''pulses'', also called ''lentils''. It is about tall, and the seeds grow in Legume, pods, usually w ...

s, grains and vegetables are also grown. There are an estimated 200 sheep and goats in the village. In 1980, electricity was connected to Kafr Ein. There are ten shops and a school in the village, as well another shared with Qarawat Bani Zeid. Many residents receive aid from the

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

and the

UNRWA The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA, pronounced ) is a UN agency that supports the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees. UNRWA's mandate encompasses Palestinians who fl ...

Government

Kafr Ein is governed by a village council. The council is made up of six residents who represent the four major families. The current mayor, Mohammed Rifa', was appointed by 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 1998.

References

Bibliography

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

External links

Welcome To Kafr 'Ayn
*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 14:
IAA Wikimedia commons

Kafr 'Ein (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)
Kafr 'Ein (Village profile)
ARIJ
Kafr 'Ein (aerial photo)
ARIJ
Locality Development Priorities and Needs in Kafr 'Ein Village
ARIJ {{Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate Villages in the West Bank Municipalities of Palestine