Kafr Malik

Kafr Malik () is a Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate of the State of Palestine, located 17 kilometers Northeast of Ramallah in the northern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the town had a population of 2,946 inhabitants in 2017.

Location

Kafr Malik is a Palestinian village in Ramallah Governorate, located 13.8 km northeast of Ramallah. It is bordered by Al Mughayyir to the east, Al Mughayyir and Khirbet abu Falah to the north, Al Mazra'a ash Sharqiya to the west, and by Deir Jarir to the south.

History

About two km east of Kafr Malik, at '' 'Ain Samiya'' (grid: 1817/1550), are buildings, possibly dating to the Crusader era.

Kafr Malik has been identified with the village ''Caphermelic'' of the Crusader period. In addition, Kafr Malik has been suggested as being identical to ''Beth HaMelekh'', where Hasmonean king Alexander Jannaeus besieged his Pharisee adversaries.

Ottoman era

Kafr Malik was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517 with all of Palestine, and in 1596 it appeared in the tax registers as being in the ''nahiya'' of Al-Quds in the '' liwa'' of Al-Quds. It had a population of 21 household,Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 114 who were all Muslims. They paid a fixed tax-rate of 33,3 % on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, olive trees, vineyards, fruit trees, goats and beehives, in addition to occasional revenues; a total of 7,750 akçe.

In 1838, ‘’Kefr Malik’’ was noted as a Muslim village in the District of ''Beni Salim,'' east of Jerusalem.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p.
125
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In 1870, Victor Guérin found Kafr Malik to have 350 inhabitants, some thirty Catholics and fifteen "schismatic Greek"; the others were Muslim. In the courtyard of the ''medhafeh'', or guesthouse, he was shown several beautiful stone plaques and three sections of columns and several capitals of the Doric form belonging to an old edifice long since destroyed.

An Ottoman village list of about 1870 counted a population of 416 Muslims in 77 houses, and 15 Christians in 6 houses. In total 432 persons in 83 houses, though the population count included men, only.

In 1882, the PEF's ''Survey of Western Palestine'' described ''Kefr Malik'' as: "a village of moderate size on high ground."Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p
292
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In 1896 the population of ''Kefr Malik'' was estimated to be about 870 persons.

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, the village, called ''Kufr Malek,'' had a population of 943, all Muslims,Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Ramallah, p.
17
/ref> increasing in the 1931 census to 972; 922 Muslims and 20 Christians, in 217 houses.Mills, 1932,
50
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In the 1945 statistics the population was 1,100; 1,080 Muslims and 20 Christians, while the total land area was 52,196 dunams, according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 3,580 were allocated for plantations and irrigable land, 10,984 for cereals, while 53 dunams were classified as built-up areas.

Jordanian era

In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements

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