Jinsafut

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jinsafut
Arabic	جنصافوت
Government	Village Council
Also Spelled	Jensafut (officially)
Governorate	Qalqilya
Population	2,300 (2006)
Jurisdiction	9,335 dunams (9.3 km²)

Jinsafut (Arabic: جنصافوت‎) is a Palestinian village in the Qalqilya Governorate in the northeastern West Bank, located fifteen kilometers east of Qalqilya,^[1] and sixteen kilometers south of Nablus. It lies at an elevation of around 430 meters above sea level.^[2] According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the village had a population of approximately 2,300 inhabitants in mid-year 2006.^[3]

Fatah's Secretary-General Farouk Kaddoumi was born in Jinsafut.^[4]

1 Demographics
2 Economy
3 Suicide bombing controversy
4 References

[edit] Demographics

The clans of Jinsafut are al-Ayoub, al-Sukar, al-Saber, al-Allan, al-Nassar, al-Bashir and Eid. The latter two make up 65% of the village's residents.^[5] Prior to 1967, Jinsafut had a population of 700, which decreased to 550 after the 1967 Six-Day War; The drop was caused by residents fleeing the village to Jordan. According to a PCBS estimate, the village had grown to 2,122 inhabitants in 2003, then rose to 2,280 in 2006.^[1]

[edit] Economy

Before 1967, 99.5% of Jinsafut's labor force depended agriculture, particularly on peach and grape crops, as well as raising livestock. The remainder worked in civil jobs. From 1967 to 2002, 91% of the village residents depended on agriculture or working in Israel, 6% were employed in the Palestinian National Authority government and 3% worked in commerce. Since the beginning of the Second Intifada, vehicle movement in Jinsafut has been constricted by Israel, contributing to 93% of the working population being unemployed.^[1]^{[unreliable source?]}

According to the Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem, Jinsafut has a land area of 9,335 dunams; 31.8% is used for growing crops, 4.3% are for heterogeneous agricultural areas, 1.9% for herbaceous vegetation associations, 5.2% is designated as arable land, 3% is built-up area, 8% is used for land for Israeli settlements and the remainder is forest area.^[1]^{[unreliable source?]}

[edit] Suicide bombing controversy

On January 14, 2002, Ayad al-Masri, a 17-year old resident of Jinsafut perpetrated a suicide bombing near a group of Israeli soldiers outside the village. None of the soldiers were injured, but the attack — which was claimed by the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad — gained controversy as Palestinian news agencies condemned the recruitment of teenagers for militant operations, citing that "the prophet Muhammad himself refused to recruit young boys for his raids [against pagans]."^[6]