Muqeible or Muqeibla (, ), meaning "The front place", is an

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

town 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 ...

's Northern District, situated in the

Jezreel Valley The Jezreel Valley (from the ), or Marj Ibn Amir (), also known as the Valley of Megiddo, is a large fertile plain and inland valley in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. It is bordered to the north by the highlands o ...

between

Jenin Jenin ( ; , ) is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, and is the capital of the Jenin Governorate. It is a hub for the surrounding towns. Jenin came under Israeli occupied territories, Israeli occupation in 1967, and was put under the administra ...

in 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 ...

and the

Ta'anakh The Ta'anakh region (, ''Hevel Ta'anakh''), also known as Ta'anachim (), is an area to the south of Israel's Jezreel Valley and east of the Wadi Ara region. The area is named after the biblical city (Joshua 17:11), located just across the Green ...

area. It is a part of the

Gilboa Regional Council Gilboa Regional Council (, ''Mo'atza Azorit (ha)Gilbo'a'') is a Regional council (Israel), regional council in northern Israel, located on the slopes of the Mount Gilboa, Gilboa mountain range. There are more than 22,000 residents in 38 settlements ...

. In , its population was . The inhabitants are

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 and

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

History

During the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

-era, a town called "Muqeibleh" stood at the site.

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 ...

-era settlement is attested to archaeologically by 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 ...

and pottery workshops from that period near the present village.Petersen, 2001, p
223
/ref>

Ottoman era

According to a local inhabitant, the villagers moved here from the al-Haram- Sidna Ali-area in the latter part of the Ottoman period. In 1838 Edward Robinson noted Mukeibileh as a “village in the plain, on the direct route from

Nazareth Nazareth is the largest Cities in Israel, city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. In its population was . Known as "the Arab capital of Israel", Nazareth serves as a cultural, political, religious, economic and ...

.” He placed Mukeibileh as being in the District of Jenin, also called "Haritheh esh-Shemaliyeh".

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 ...

, who visited in 1870, noted that the village contained 400 inhabitants and had a number of

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. 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 Shafa al-Qibly. 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 Muqeible as "a

mud Mud (, or Middle Dutch) is loam, silt or clay mixed with water. Mud is usually formed after rainfall or near water sources. Ancient mud deposits hardened over geological time to form sedimentary rock such as shale or mudstone (generally cal ...

village in the plain, supplied by

s."

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, ''Muquibleh'' had a population of 201; 181 Muslims and 20 Christians,Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Jenin, p
29
/ref> where all the Christians were Orthodox.Barron, 1923, Table XV, p
47
/ref> In the 1931 census, the population had increased to 270; 244 Muslims and 26 Christians, in a total of 67 houses.Mills, 1932, p
69
/ref> By the 1945 statistics Muqeible had 460 inhabitants, all classified as Muslims. They owned a total of 2,687 dunams of land, while 4,441 dunams were public, a total of 7,128.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945''. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p
55
/ref> Of this, 174 dunams were used for plantations or irrigable land, 6,421 for cereals, while 22 dunams were built-up land.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p
149
/ref>

State of Israel

After 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 ...

, Muqeible became part of Israel. In 1994, Andrew Petersen, an archaeologist specializing in

Islamic architecture Islamic architecture comprises the architectural styles of buildings associated with Islam. It encompasses both Secularity, secular and religious styles from the early history of Islam to the present day. The Muslim world, Islamic world encompasse ...

, examined the "Hawsh"; a large, square

courtyard A courtyard or court is a circumscribed area, often surrounded by a building or complex, that is open to the sky. Courtyards are common elements in both Western and Eastern building patterns and have been used by both ancient and contemporary a ...

building, resembling a khan, in the center of the village. The central courtyard of the "Hawsh" measures approximately 30m per side. On the east side there is a small gateway, leading into a tall

iwan An iwan (, , also as ''ivan'' or ''ivān''/''īvān'', , ) is a rectangular hall or space, usually vaulted, walled on three sides, with one end entirely open. The formal gateway to the iwan is called , a Persian term for a portal projecting ...

. Petersen noted that the masonry suggested that it was built either in late Ottoman or early Mandate Period.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * *

External links

Welcome To Muqeibila
*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 8:
IAAWikimedia commons
{{Authority control Arab villages in Israel Arab Christian communities in Israel Populated places in Northern District (Israel)