Jenin

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Jenin (Arabic: جنين (help·info), Hebrew: ג'נין), a city on the West Bank, is a major Palestinian agricultural center. Jenin also refers to the adjoining Jenin Refugee Camp and is the name of the surrounding district within the West Bank. Although designated as being under the administration of the Palestinian Authority, Israel recaptured the city after Operation Defensive Shield in 2002.

Contents 1 Demographics 2 Geography 3 Features 4 History 5 Conflict years 5.1 Battle of Jenin 6 Politics 7 See also 8 References

[edit] Demographics

According to projections based on a 1997 census, the city of Jenin has a population of 34,000 Palestinians. The Jenin refugee camp housed approximately 13,000 refugees, according to UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) on 373 dunams (373,000 m²). Some 42.3% of the population of the camp is under the age of fifteen. The population of the entire Jenin district is over 250,000. [1]

[edit] Geography

The city of Jenin overlooks both the Jordan Valley to the east and the Marj Ibn Amer (Jezreel Valley) to the north. Jenin is thought to be the site of the Israelite village of En-gannim (עין גנים), mentioned in the Bible (See also: Anem).^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Features

One of the city's quarters is an official United Nations refugee camp housing mostly the descendants of Arab refugees from the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It has long been a center of Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The city includes the Martyr Doctor Khalil Suleiman Hospital.

[edit] History

Jenin was known in ancient times as the Biblical village of En-gannim (Biblical Hebrew עֵין־גַּנִּים ʻĒn-Gannīm, "gardens' spring"), a city of the Levites of the Tribe of Issachar. The modern Arabic name Jenin ultimately derives from this ancient name. In the 20th century C.E., the State of Israel built a nearby Israeli settlement, Ganim, also named after the ancient village. This settlement was evacuated in August 2005 as part of Israel's unilateral disengagement plan.

Jenin was a center of civil unrest during the 1936-1939 Arab revolt in Palestine; in particular, it was the base of Arab militant activity, Sheikh Izz ad-Din al-Qassam (whom the Hamas military wing is named after). It was also used by Fawzi al-Qawuqji's partisans.

In the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the city was occupied by Iraqi forces, then captured briefly by forces of Israeli Karmeli Brigade during the "10 Days' fighting" following the cancellation of the first cease-fire. The offensive was actually a feint designed to draw Arab forces away from the critical Siege of Jerusalem, and gains in that sector were quickly abandoned when Arab reinforcements arrived.

The Jenin refugee camp was founded in 1953 to house Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their native villages and towns in the areas that became the Israeli territory during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

For 19 years, the city was under Jordanian control; it was then captured by the Peled division of the IDF on the first day of the Six-Day War of 1967.

[edit] Conflict years

The city was handed over by Israel to the control of the Palestinian Authority in 1996. At the start of the al-Aqsa Intifada, Israel alleged that the city had become a central source for the dispatching of suicide bombers to the North and Center of Israel. According to Israeli sources, a quarter of all suicide bombings carried out in Israel during the current, second Intifada originated in Jenin. See Palestinian political violence for an in-depth discussion of this broader issue.

[edit] Battle of Jenin

Main article: Battle of Jenin 2002

In April 2002, Jenin's refugee camp was the theatre of one of the most intense battles to occur during the al-Aqsa Intifada. The details of what happened during these events are hotly contested. The events were initially referred to as the "Jenin massacre", due to widely reported allegations — raised by Palestinian officials — that the IDF killed hundreds of civilians in the camp. This allegation was later proven wrong, and the death toll was lowered to 23 Israeli soldiers and 52 Palestinians, 22 of whom were unarmed civilians [2]. According to pro-Israel online sources, families of some of the 23 Israeli soldiers killed brought a lawsuit against the Israeli Defense Forces and the Government of Israel contending that the IDF erred on the side of protecting Palestinians in the conflict area.[3]

Since the battle, Jenin has fallen under the control of the Israeli military. In that time, residents of Jenin have been subject to extended curfews (over 150 days since June 2002, nearly all prior to 2004[4]). Several suspected Palestinian militants and nearby civilians have been killed by the Israel Defense Forces, which terms these actions "targeted killings". UN worker Iain Hook was also killed by Israeli troops on November 22, 2002. [5][6]

[edit] Politics

Municipal elections were held in Jenin on 15 December 2005. Six seats each were won by Hamas and the local coalition of Fatah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Jenin was one of several Palestinian cities where Hamas showed a dramatic growth in electoral support. [7]

The mayor of Jenin is Hadem Rida and the governor of the Jenin governorate is Qadoura Mousa.

[edit] See also

• Battle of Jenin 2002
• Arna's Children
• Zakaria Zubeidi
• Village of Faqqua

[edit] References

• Jerusalem Media & Communication Centre, Who Lives In Jenin Refugee Camp?: A Brief Statistical Profile, 2002.

Coordinates: 32°27′23″N, 35°17′45″E