Yarka

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Yarka
Hebrew transcription(s)
  Hebrew יִרְכָּא
  Also spelled Yirka (unofficial)
Arabic transcription(s)
  Arabic يركا
Yarka municipality
Yarka
Coordinates: 32°57′14.39″N 35°12′44.16″E / 32.9539972°N 35.2122667°E / 32.9539972; 35.2122667Coordinates: 32°57′14.39″N 35°12′44.16″E / 32.9539972°N 35.2122667°E / 32.9539972; 35.2122667
District North
Government
  Type Local council
Area
  Total 15,564 dunams (15.564 km2 or 6.009 sq mi)
Population (2007)
  Total 13,000

Yarka (Hebrew: יִרְכָּא, Arabic: يركا[1]) is a Druze village in Israel's North District, northeast of Acre.

History

Yarka is an ancient village site, where old columns and cisterns have been found. Clermont-Ganneau found a Christian Greek inscription here.[2]

In 1517, Yarka was with the rest of Palestine incorporated into the Ottoman Empire after it was captured from the Mamluks, and by 1596, it appeared in the Ottoman tax registers as part of the Nahiya of Akka of the Liwa of Safad. It had a population of 174 Muslim households and 24 bachelors and paid taxes on an olive press.[3]

Hilwah, (praying house), in Yarka

The French explorer Victor Guérin visited Yarka in 1875, and wrote that "cut stones of ancient appearance have been used in building the modern houses. [..] About a hundred cisterns cut in rock, a half of which are no longer used, and the other half serve for the wants of the people, reveal the existence in this place of an ancient locality of some importance."[4] In the Survey of Western Palestine, Yarka is described as a well-built stone village inhabited by 400 Druze who grew olives and figs.[5]

In a census conducted in 1922 by the British Mandate authorities, Yarka had a population of 978; 937 Druze, 26 Muslims and 15 Christians.[6] The population increased in the 1931 census of Palestine to 1,196; 1,138 Druze, 46 Muslims and 11 Christians living in a total of 343 occupied houses.[7]

In 1945 Yirka had a population of 1,500, with 42,452 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.[8] Of this, 5,747 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 5,909 used for cereals,[9] while 140 dunams were built-up land.[10]

Religious sites

Yarka contains the maqam ("saintly-person tomb") of Shaykh Ghana'im Abu Saraya,[11][12] a native of the town and one of the first missionary sheikhs to spread the Druze faith in the Galilee during the 11th century.[11][13][14] He was the principle Druze sheikh in the Acre coastal area.[13] Druze tradition has it that Abu Saraya is buried underneath the floor of the shrine.[12]

The town is also the site of the al-Nabi Siddiq maqam. The Druze associate al-Nabi Siddiq with Hushai ha-Arki, an adviser to the ancient Israelite king David. According to this tradition, the name Yarka derives from "ha-Arki." The Druze prayer house Khalwah ash-Sheikh Muhammad is situated just east of Yarka. It was built sometime prior to 1931 by the religious sheikh Muhammad Mu'addi as a center for Druze religious studies.[15]

Economy

One of the largest factories in the Middle East [citation needed], a steel mill built and owned by the Kadmani family, is located in Yarka. My Baby, with 11,000 meters of retail space, is Israel's largest store for children's and baby's supplies. The store has an annual turnover of NIS 100 million.[16]

References

  1. Personal name, according to Palmer, 1881, p. 60
  2. Dauphin, 1998, p. 639, citing Clermont-Ganneau, 1881, p. 37-38.
  3. Wolf-Dieter Hütteroth and Kamal Abdulfattah (1977). Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century. Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft. p. 191. 
  4. Guérin, 1880, p.16-17, as translated and cited by Conder and Kitchener, 1881, p.193
  5. Conder and Kitchener, 1881, p.148
  6. J. B. Barron, ed. (1923). Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922. Government of Palestine. Table XI, Sub-district of Acre, p. 36. 
  7. 1931 British Mandate Census p. 103.
  8. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in S. Hadawi, Village Statistics, 1945. PLO Research Center, 1970, p. 41
  9. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in S. Hadawi, Village Statistics, 1945. PLO Research Center, 1970, p. 82
  10. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in S. Hadawi, Village Statistics, 1945. PLO Research Center, 1970, p. 132
  11. 11.0 11.1 Swayd, p. 8.
  12. 12.0 12.1 Dana, 2003, p. 36.
  13. 13.0 13.1 Abu-Izzedin, 1993, p. 131.
  14. Dana, 2003, p. 106.
  15. Dana, 2003, p. 32.
  16. Israel's only American-style baby store, in the heart of a Druze village

Bibliography

External links

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