Beit Hanina

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Beit Hanina (Arabic: بيت حنينا‎, Hebrew: בית חנינא‎) is a Palestinian town and daughter village. The older western village, or al-Balad, is subject to the Palestinian National Authority's Jerusalem Governorate and is located in the seam zone^[1] while eastern daughter village called al-Jadid, is a neighborhood in the Israeli-annexed municipality of Jerusalem, however its residents are allowed to vote for PNA representatives. In 2006 the two portions had a combined population of 2,800^{[dubious – discuss]} inhabitants and its total land area is 16,284 dunums, of which 2,775 of them is built-up area.

[edit] Etymology

The town's name literally means the house of Hanina, though it isn't clear from where the name Hanina derives. Some link it to the Assyrian-period Akkadian for one who deserves pity, Han-nina, though elder residents describe Hanina as the name of an ancient woman who once resided at the town's location. In Guérin's "Description de la Judée", the town is identified with the biblical town of Anania but transliterated into Arabic as Hanina. This theory however is not widely accepted.^{[2][citation needed]}

[edit] History

Beit Hanina may date back as small village from the Canaanite period. In the year 636 Beit Hanina with the entire Levant was annexed by The Islamic Caliphate led by Umar Ibn al-Khattab as a result of a decisive Muslim victory over the Byzantines at the Battle of Yarmouk. In the beginning centuries during Islamic rule over Palestine, Yemenite and Qaisi Arabs migrated to Beit Hanina and peacefully settled with its original inhabitants. The town thrived agriculturally with its primary cash crops of olive oil, figs, barley and bulgar.^{[2][citation needed]}

In the year 1099 Crusader armies captured Jerusalem including the town of Beit Hanina. The Crusaders inflicted heavy casualties on the Muslim population of Beit Hanina causing most of its residents to flee the area. They returned however to cultivate and harvest from orchards and grain fields. The town was recaptured by Muslims by the Ayyubid Dynasty led by Salah ad-Din. To ensure the town's majority remained Arab and protect it from a renewed Crusader invasion, Salah ad-Din brought powerful Bedouin tribes from the Naqab (Negev) desert and the northern Hejaz to settle in the area.^[2]

The town experienced a downfall under Ottoman control as its population's newer generations gradually became illiterate and suffered from poverty and high taxes under the empire's system. The town remained under Turkish rule until 1918 after the Ottoman defeat in World War I.^[2]

During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War Beit Hanina was captured by Jordanian forces along with the rest of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and became a part of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan until 1967. The town became well-developed under Jordanian control with new road construction and educational institutions, and funds from the many émigrés allowed the construction of a modern suburb, originally known as Ras al-Tariq, located to the east along the nearby Jerusalem-Ramallah highway. After Jordan's offensive against Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War, the Israelis were victorious and occupied Beit Hanina with the rest of the West Bank. As a result of the Israeli occupation, thousands of Beit Hanina's residents migrated to the United States. Immediately after the war, Israel unilaterally expanded the Jerusalem municipality to include the newer eastern neighborhood, now known as Beit Hanina al-Jadid and formalized that policy in 1980. The Second Intifada's course led to the beginning of the Israeli West Bank barrier's construction, which would separate both Beit Haninas and Jerusalem from the West Bank for security reasons. Due to its urban nature, the route near the town is part of the 10% which employs a concrete wall. The area has sometimes been the scene of clashes between the Israeli security forces and Palestinian militant factions.^[2][1]

[edit] Mosques

Beit Hanina has four mosques in its jurisdiction. They include:

• Sultan Ibrahim Ibn Adham Mosque
• Bader Mosque
• The Mosque of Religion College
• Mosque of Teacher's Suburb

[edit] See also

• East Jerusalem
• Jerusalem Governorate

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• http://www.beithanina.us/
• http://www.beithanina.org/
• http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/view.php?recordID=874

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