| Salfit | |
|---|---|
| Other transcription(s) | |
| • Arabic | سلفيت |
| • Also spelled | Salfeet (official) |
| Salfeet (2010) | |
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Salfit
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| Coordinates: | |
| Governorate | Salfit |
| Government | |
| • Type | Municipality |
| • Head of Municipality | Tahseen Slimi |
| Area | |
| • Jurisdiction | 4,000 dunams (4.0 km2 / 1.5 sq mi) |
| Population (2007) | |
| • Jurisdiction | 8,796 |
| Website | www.salfeet.org |
Salfit also spelled Salfeet (Arabic: سلفيت) is a Palestinian town in the central West Bank. Salfit is located at an altitude of 570 meters (1,870 ft) in the central Samarian highlands adjacent to the Israeli settlement of Ariel. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the City had a population of 8,796 in 2007.[1] Salfit was given municipality status In 1955.[2] 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.[3]
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The word "Salfit" is a Canaanite word which means "basket of grapes" (Sal meaning "basket and fit meaning "grapes".)[2] The historic city of Salfit has many monuments that link the modern town to a Canaanite, Israelite, Samaritan, Roman and Islamic heritage.
Salfit is a major administrative and commercial center for the dozens of villages surrounding it. However, the route for Palestinians from Salfit's northern dependencies has been sealed off by the Israel Defense Forces because of a bypass road for the settlement of Ariel crossing the main road.[4] There are several governmental offices and institutions in the city. The educational of the Salfit's children is carried out in four modern schools for male and female in addition to Al-Quds Open University.[5] Salfit is also a well-known area in the field of stone cutting and marble.[2] An industrial zone was established on 200 dunums of land at the east end of Salfit.[2]
The Salfit Governorate is the largest olive oil producer in the Palestinian territories, producing 1,500 tons annually.[6] Zaytoun, the Palestinian Olive Tree Association, is active with Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC) in Salfit to improve the quality and sales of Palestinian Olive oil.[7] Salfit 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.
On 30 May 2008 the US Consulate General in Jerusalem presented 700 books and 100 magazines for a new library at the Community-Based Learning Center in Salfit and the ceremony was attended by the PA Ministry of Youth and Sports official, Hussein Azzam, Deputy Governor of Salfit, Nawaf Souf.[8] The Community Center is located on al-Madares Street in Salfit and was established by Relief International Schools Online (RISOL) in 2007
The Salfit Hospital was completed in 2006. While the Salfit Governorate is not the most heavily populated of the West Bank, with an estimated population at about 80,000, Salfit was isolated from the other Palestinian medical facilities, the closest Government Hospitals were in Nablus, Tulkarem and Ramallah at more than one-hour drive away.[9]
There are a large number of water springs in and around the city but they unable to cope with the growing demand of the city. For the past nine years, the municipality has been trying to build a waste-water treatment plant to service the residents of Salfit town.[10] In July 2007 the House of Water and Environment (HWE) of Ramallah produced a report the “Assessment of the Impact of Pollution Sources on the Water Environment and the Lives of the Residents in the Northern West Bank, Palestine”.[11]
The plant was supposed to be built on Salfit Governorate land 13 kilometers (8.1 mi) 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 the equipment because it allegedly would interfere with Israel's nearby Jewish settlements.[12] 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, the planned West Bank Barrier will now separate Salfit from the sewage plant.[12]
In May 2006 international human rights organizations were called to witness sewage of Ariel settlement running into the agriculture valleys north of the city and damaging the surrounding agriculture and environment.[13]
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