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 ...
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 ...
. It is located 3 kilometers northeast of Tubas and 22 kilometers northeast 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 ...
Settlement in Tayasir is believed to date back to the
Canaan
CanaanThe current scholarly edition of the Septuagint, Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus Testamentum graece iuxta LXX interprets. 2. ed. / recogn. et emendavit Robert Hanhart. Stuttgart : D ...
ite era in
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 ...
. The name may come from the Canaanite word ''Asheer'' meaning "pleasure" or "happiness." Archaeological remains in the village include an
Ancient Roman
In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...
grotto
A grotto or grot is a natural or artificial cave or covered recess.
Naturally occurring grottoes are often small caves near water that are usually flooded or often flooded at high tide.
Sometimes, artificial grottoes are used as garden fea ...
es and an old
mosque
A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard.
Originally, mosques were si ...
.Tayasir Village Profile Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem. February 2006. Pottery remains have been unearthed from the
Middle Bronze Age
The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...
, IA, early and late Roman period.Zertal, 2007, pp 201203 /ref> An ancient road passed through the village. It appears to have been called ''Asher'' by the Bordeaux Pilgrim, in 333–334 CE.
Medieval
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 ...
geographer al-Muqaddasi, writing in the late 10th century CE, referred to the village as "Ta'asir", describing it as a place equally far from
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 ...
and Beisan.
In 1500 the Jabir and Taleb families settled there due to its strategic location and arable land.
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 Sami, part of the Nablus Sanjak, with a population of 39 households and 9 bachelors, 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 ...
. They paid a fixed tax-rate of 33,3 % on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, occasional revenues, goats, beehives and a press for olives or grapes; a total of 9,462 akçe.
A building to the south of Tayasir, named el-Kusr, possibly a tomb, was first noted in 1869 and surveyed in 1874. French explorer Victor Guérin also explored the village in the same period.
In 1877 Lieutenant Kitchener, of the
Palestine Exploration Fund
The Palestine Exploration Fund is a British society based in London. It was founded in 1865, shortly after the completion of the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem by Royal Engineers of the War Department. The Fund is the oldest known organization i ...
survey team, reported the village deserted "owing to the heavy demands for taxes and conscription," while in 1881 Tayasir was described as a small village in a secluded and fertile valley, with good soil and arable land. To the south of the village there were old olive trees. The villagers cultivated the soil as far east as Wady Maleh, and had also good land near Yarza.Conder and Kitchener, 1882, p 228 /ref> Conder and Kitchener speculated that this village may have been the ancient site of the biblical Tirzah.
In 1900 landlord Hassan Hamad bought the majority of Tayasir's lands due to the village residents' monetary debt to him. Thirty years later, most of the land was purchased by ''al-Batriyarkia al-Latinyah'' ( Latin Patriarchate).
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 ...
attempted to purchase the land following their occupation of the West Bank in 1967 but the Patriarchate refused too do so; in return they could not sell it to any of the residents of the village.
British Mandate of Palestine
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, Tayasir (called: Tiasir") had a population of 146 MuslimsBarron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Nablus, p 24 /ref> increasing in the 1931 census to 192 inhabitants, all Muslim, except for 5 Christians, with 36 occupied houses.Mills, 1932, p 65
In the 1945 statistics the population was 260 Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p 19 /ref> with 23,258
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 land, according to an official land and population survey.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p 61 /ref> Of this, 763 dunams were used for plantations and irrigable land, 5,315 dunams for cereals, while 29 dunams were built-up (urban) land.
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.
In 1961, the population had reached 487.Government of Jordan, 1964, p 26 /ref>
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, Tayasir has been 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 ...
.
Following the 1993
Oslo Accords
The Oslo Accords are a pair of interim agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO): the Oslo I Accord, signed in Washington, D.C., in 1993; and the Oslo II Accord, signed in Taba, Egypt, in 1995. They marked the st ...
, Tayasir came under the jurisdiction of 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 ...
(PNA) and later became a
village council
A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counci ...
in 1997. By 2007, the council consisted of 11 members and was headed by Akram Dabaq.
Demographics
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, Tayasir (called: Tiasir") had a population of 146, all Muslim. That rose to 192 inhabitants, all Muslim, except for 5 Christians, with 36 occupied houses at the time of the 1931 census. In
Sami Hadawi
Sami Hadawi (; March 6, 1904 – April 22, 2004) was a Palestinian scholar and author. He is known for documenting the effects of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War on the Arab population in Palestine and publishing statistics for individual village ...
's land and population survey in
1945
1945 marked the end of World War II, the fall of Nazi Germany, and the Empire of Japan. It is also the year concentration camps were liberated and the only year in which atomic weapons have been used in combat.
Events
World War II will be ...
, Tayasir's population was 260 and this figure nearly doubled in 1961, reaching 487. The
Israel Central Bureau of Statistics
The Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (, ''HaLishka HaMerkazit LiStatistika''; ), abbreviated CBS, is an Israeli government office established in 1949 to carry out research and publish statistical data on all aspects of Israeli life, including ...
, projected a population of 1,200 in 1987.Welcome to Tayasir: Town Statistics and Facts Various sources via PalestineRemembered. In the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics' (PCBS) first official census in 1997, Tayasir had a population of 1,753 inhabitants. According to the 2007 census by the PCBS, the village's population was 2,489.
In the 1997 census, males constituted 50.6% of the population while females comprised 49.4%. Tayasir represents 5% of the Tubas Governorate's total population. Seven families make-up the majority of the village residents: Debik (17%), Abu Muhsen (15%), Wahdan (15%), Sbah (15%), Jabir (11%), Taleb (8%) and Abd al-Rasaq (7%). Other smaller families comprise 14% of the population.
Many residents of Tayasir have their origin in
Bedouin
The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...
fellah
A fellah ( ; feminine ; plural ''fellaheen'' or ''fellahin'', , ) is a local peasant, usually a farmer or agricultural laborer in the Middle East and North Africa. The word derives from the Arabic word for "ploughman" or "tiller".
Due to a con ...
in (peasants), with some originating from Tubas.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. 348
Economy and land use
Tayasir's total land area amounts to about 26,000
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 roughly 500 make up the village's "built-up" area. About 5,000 dunams are classified as arable land, of which 3,545 are cultivated, mostly with field crops and fruit trees. The Israeli authorities have confiscated 15,875 dunams for security reasons and military use.
Agriculture is the largest economic sector, accounting for 82% of the active labor force. The second largest sector is the Israeli labor market accounting for 10% of workers. Between 2002 and 2006, the average household income dropped by 60% largely due to measures implemented by Israel as a result of 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 ...
which began in 2000. In 2007 the PCBS recorded that there were 49 business establishments in Tayasir. According to ARIJ, these included 22 retail and grocery stores, two restaurants and one government-run health clinic. Most services are provided by nearby Tubas.
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 ...