Nabi Salih
Encyclopedia
Nabi Salih is a small Palestinian
village of over 530 in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate
in the central West Bank
.
rule. It was situated on the remains of a Crusader
structure, which was presumably built atop the ruins of a Byzantine
-era church. The remains of the Crusader-Byzantine structure, include apses of a three-isle chapel located behind the shrine complex.
In 2003, under the supervision of architect Yara al-Sharif, the complex was restored. It cost $63,000, primarily funded by Sweden
. The praying hall and tomb room are owned by the Islam
ic waqf
authority, but is rented by the Nabi Salih Cultural Centre. Currently, the complex is composed of three floors (including an underground floor) containing the tomb, a large praying room, an olive press, a water well, a classroom, a multipurpose hall, a double-vaulted lecture room, a courtyard and two front and back terraces. All entrances are semi-circular pointed arches. The An Nabi Salih Cultural Centre serves as the most important structure in the village.
. Nabi Salih is located 20 kilometers northwest the cities of Ramallah
and al-Bireh
. It is adjacent of the Beit Rima part of Bani Zeid
in the northwest. Other nearby localities include Kafr Ein
in the north, Deir as-Sudan
to the northeast, 'Abud to the west, and Deir Nidham
to the southwest.
In a 1945 land and population survey by Sami Hadawi
, Nabi Salih had a total land area of 2,846 dunam
s, of which 2,797 was Arab
-owned, the remainder public-owned. The built-up area of the village only constituted 11 dunams, while 735 dunams were planted with olive
groves.
in 1967, due to residents fleeing the site towards other Palestinian localities or Jordan
. In 1982, the population reached 179.
In the 1997 census by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics
(PCBS), Nabi Salih had a population of 371. Palestinian refugee
s constituted just 4.3% of the inhabitants. According to the PCBS, the village had a population of 524 inhabitants in mid-year 2006. The 2007 PCBS census recorded a population of 534.
took control over the spring and it's surroundings and prevented Palestinian access to their land. Subsequently, people of Nabi Salih and the nearby village of Dir Nizam began regular Friday protests for the spring, and against the Israeli occupation in general.
volunteers filmed actions of IDF
soldiers, who came to the homes of Arab residents, woke all the children over the age of 10 and photographed them.
According to a B'Tselem report released in September 2011 Israel’s security forces have infringed the rights of the Palestinian demonstrators in Nabi Saleh in three fundamental ways.
- Violation of the right to demonstrate. B'Tselem's documentation indicates that Israel does not recognize the right of a-Nabi Saleh’s residents to demonstrate. Israeli security forces declares the demonstration illegal at the outset, sometimes even before the procession begins. The Israeli military routinely issues orders declaring the entire village a closed military area, blocks the roads leading to it, thus denying people coming from outside the village their right to join in the demonstration.
- Harm to the civilian population. The army and the Border Police handles the demonstration deploying great amount of forces at the main intersection of the village and using a disproportionate amount of means to disperse the demonstrations. This occurs also when the demonstrators are nonviolent and pose no threat. The forces fire enormous quantities of tear gas inside the built-up area of the village, which is home to hundreds of persons.
- restrictions on movement in the area that creates difficulties for residents of all the nearby villages every Friday.
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
village of over 530 in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate
Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate
The Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate is one of 16 Governorates of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It covers a large part of the central West Bank, on the northern border of the Jerusalem Governorate. Its district capital or muhfaza is the city of al-Bireh.According to the Palestinian Central...
in the central West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
.
Shrine of Salih
The residents of Nabi Salih identify a blue-color-domed building complex with the shrine of the prophet Salih (Biblical Shelah). It was built in the 19th century during OttomanOttoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
rule. It was situated on the remains of a Crusader
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...
structure, which was presumably built atop the ruins of a Byzantine
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
-era church. The remains of the Crusader-Byzantine structure, include apses of a three-isle chapel located behind the shrine complex.
In 2003, under the supervision of architect Yara al-Sharif, the complex was restored. It cost $63,000, primarily funded by Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. The praying hall and tomb room are owned by the Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic waqf
Waqf
A waqf also spelled wakf formally known as wakf-alal-aulad is an inalienable religious endowment in Islamic law, typically denoting a building or plot of land for Muslim religious or charitable purposes. The donated assets are held by a charitable trust...
authority, but is rented by the Nabi Salih Cultural Centre. Currently, the complex is composed of three floors (including an underground floor) containing the tomb, a large praying room, an olive press, a water well, a classroom, a multipurpose hall, a double-vaulted lecture room, a courtyard and two front and back terraces. All entrances are semi-circular pointed arches. The An Nabi Salih Cultural Centre serves as the most important structure in the village.
Geography
The village is situated at an elevation of 570 meters above sea level along the mountainous chain running down the West Bank in southern SamariaSamaria
Samaria, or the Shomron is a term used for a mountainous region roughly corresponding to the northern part of the West Bank.- Etymology :...
. Nabi Salih is located 20 kilometers northwest the cities of Ramallah
Ramallah
Ramallah is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank located 10 kilometers north of Jerusalem, adjacent to al-Bireh. It currently serves as the de facto administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority...
and al-Bireh
Al-Bireh
al-Bireh or el-Bira is a Palestinian city adjacent to Ramallah in the central West Bank, north of Jerusalem. It is situated on the central ridge running through the West Bank and is above sea level, covering an area of...
. It is adjacent of the Beit Rima part of Bani Zeid
Bani Zeid
Bani Zeid is a Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, located northwest of Ramallah in the north-central West Bank and about south-west of Salfit. A town of 5,515 inhabitants, Bani Zeid was created as a merger between the villages of Deir Ghassaneh and Beit Rima...
in the northwest. Other nearby localities include Kafr Ein
Kafr Ein
Kafr Ein is a Palestinian village in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, located northwest of Ramallah in the central West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics , Kafr Ein had a population of 1,743 inhabitants in 2007...
in the north, Deir as-Sudan
Deir as-Sudan
Deir as-Sudan is a Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, located 20 kilometers Northwest of Ramallah in the northern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics , the town had a population of approximately 1,991 inhabitants in 2007....
to the northeast, 'Abud to the west, and Deir Nidham
Deir Nidham
Deir Nidham is a Palestinian village in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the central West Bank. It is located approximately northwest of the city of Ramallah and its elevation is...
to the southwest.
In a 1945 land and population survey by Sami Hadawi
Sami Hadawi
Sami Hadawi 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 published statistics for individual villages prior to Israel's establishment. Hadawi worked as a land specialist until he was exiled from...
, Nabi Salih had a total land area of 2,846 dunam
Dunam
A dunam or dönüm, dunum, donum, dynym, dulum was a non-SI unit of land area used in the Ottoman Empire and representing the amount of land that can be plowed in a day; its value varied from 900–2500 m²...
s, of which 2,797 was Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
-owned, the remainder public-owned. The built-up area of the village only constituted 11 dunams, while 735 dunams were planted with olive
Olive
The olive , Olea europaea), is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin as well as northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the...
groves.
Demographics
The most prominent family in Nabi Salih is Tamimi. In a 1922 survey by the British Mandate of Palestine, there were 105 people living in Nabi Salih, rising to 144 in the 1931 census. In Hadawi's survey, Nabi Salih had 170 inhabitants in 1945. In 1961, the population was 337, but decreased substantially after the Six-Day WarSix-Day War
The Six-Day War , also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War, or Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt , Jordan, and Syria...
in 1967, due to residents fleeing the site towards other Palestinian localities or Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
. In 1982, the population reached 179.
In the 1997 census by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics
Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics
The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics is the statistical organization under the umbrella of the Palestinian Cabinet of the Palestinian National Authority....
(PCBS), Nabi Salih had a population of 371. Palestinian refugee
Palestinian refugee
Palestinian refugees or Palestine refugees are the people and their descendants, predominantly Palestinian Arabic-speakers, who fled or were expelled from their homes during and after the 1948 Palestine War, within that part of the British Mandate of Palestine, that after that war became the...
s constituted just 4.3% of the inhabitants. According to the PCBS, the village had a population of 524 inhabitants in mid-year 2006. The 2007 PCBS census recorded a population of 534.
Ein Al Qaws Spring
Near the village the is a natural spring named Ein Al Qaws ("the Bow Spring") which is owned by an individual of the village, mr. Bashir Tamimi. In 2009 settlers from the nearby illegal settlement of HalamishHalamish
Halamish , also known as Neveh Tzuf , is a communal Israeli settlement in the West Bank, located in the southwestern Samarian hills to the north of Ramallah, 10.7 kilometers east of the Green line. The Orthodox Jewish community with a population of 1,054 was established in 1977...
took control over the spring and it's surroundings and prevented Palestinian access to their land. Subsequently, people of Nabi Salih and the nearby village of Dir Nizam began regular Friday protests for the spring, and against the Israeli occupation in general.
IDF tactics in Nabi Saleh
In February of 2011, B'TselemB'Tselem
B'Tselem is an Israeli non-governmental organization . It calls itself "The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories"...
volunteers filmed actions of IDF
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
soldiers, who came to the homes of Arab residents, woke all the children over the age of 10 and photographed them.
According to a B'Tselem report released in September 2011 Israel’s security forces have infringed the rights of the Palestinian demonstrators in Nabi Saleh in three fundamental ways.
- Violation of the right to demonstrate. B'Tselem's documentation indicates that Israel does not recognize the right of a-Nabi Saleh’s residents to demonstrate. Israeli security forces declares the demonstration illegal at the outset, sometimes even before the procession begins. The Israeli military routinely issues orders declaring the entire village a closed military area, blocks the roads leading to it, thus denying people coming from outside the village their right to join in the demonstration.
- Harm to the civilian population. The army and the Border Police handles the demonstration deploying great amount of forces at the main intersection of the village and using a disproportionate amount of means to disperse the demonstrations. This occurs also when the demonstrators are nonviolent and pose no threat. The forces fire enormous quantities of tear gas inside the built-up area of the village, which is home to hundreds of persons.
- restrictions on movement in the area that creates difficulties for residents of all the nearby villages every Friday.
External links
- Mighty Israel and its quest to quash Palestinian popular protest The military has delegated its best soldiers, investigators and judges to safeguarding Israel against the organizer of Nabi Saleh's popular uprising, by Amira HassAmira HassAmira Hass is a prominent left-wing Israeli journalist and author, mostly known for her columns in the daily newspaper Ha'aretz. She is particularly recognized for her reporting on Palestinian affairs in the West Bank and Gaza, where she has also lived for a number of years.-Life:The daughter of...
, 28.03.11, HaaretzHaaretzHaaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet... - Brian Wood. Nabi Saleh village, Palestine