Salfit
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| Salfit | |
| Arabic | سلفيت |
| Government | Municipality |
| Also Spelled | Salfeet (officially) |
| Governorate | Salfit |
| Population | 9,750 (2006) |
| Jurisdiction | 4,000 dunams (4.0 km²) |
| Head of Municipality | Tahseen Slimi |
Salfit (Arabic: سلفيت, Hebrew: סַלפִית), also Salfeet, is a Palestinian town in the central West Bank. It is located just across a valley to the south of the Israeli settlement of Ariel and around 1/3 the population of Ariel, about midway between Nablus and Ramallah. The word “Salfit” is a Canaanite word which means basket of grapes (“Sal” meaning basket and “fit” meaning grapes). Salfit is an old city, from the Canaanite Era, which was part of the Roman and Islamic Empires. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 9,750 in mid-year 2006. It has been administered by the Palestinian Authority since the 1995 Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and has served as the district capital of the Salfit Governorate since then.[1]
Salfit is located at an altitude of 570 meters in the central Samarian highlands. Agriculture is an important part of its economy, especially the cultivation of native olives and grapes as well as almond and apple orchards.[2]
[edit] Water treatment plant
For the past nine years, the municipality has been trying to build a waste-water treatment plant to service the residents of Salfit town. The plant was supposed to be built on Salfit Governorate land 13km from the town of Salfit. The municipality received a grant of 22 million euros from the German government to build the plant and a mainline pipe to the town but the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) stopped the construction of the building and seized all of its equipment because it allegedly would interfere with Israel's nearby Jewish settlements. The equipment was returned only 18 months later. As a result, the town had to take out a loan to buy a new piece of land eight kilometers closer to its outskirts and another loan of 2 million euros to move the pipes and the electricity cables. Although Israel approved the new site of the plant but the planned West Bank Barrier will now separate Salfit from the sewage plant.[citation needed]
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.pnic.gov.ps/arabic/palestine/town42.html Palestinian National Information Centre (Arabic)
- ^ http://www.salfeet.org/ Municipality
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