Balata al-Balad
Balata al-Balad | |
---|---|
Other transcription(s) | |
• Arabic | بلاطة البلد |
Balata al-Balad Location of Balata al-Balad within Palestine | |
Coordinates: 32°12′41.65″N 35°16′58.56″E / 32.2115694°N 35.2829333°ECoordinates: 32°12′41.65″N 35°16′58.56″E / 32.2115694°N 35.2829333°E | |
Governorate | Nablus |
Area | |
• Jurisdiction | 100 dunams (0.1 km2 or 0.04 sq mi) |
Population (1996) | |
• Jurisdiction | 5,500 |
Name meaning | "village of Balata" |
Balata al-Balad (Arabic: بلاطة البلد) is a Palestinian suburb of Nablus, in the northern West Bank, located 1 kilometer (0.62 mi) east of the city center. Formerly its own village, it was annexed to the municipality of Nablus during Jordanian rule (1948– 67).[1]
Etymology
The village's name is Balata, the name of an ancient Arab village, which was preserved by local residents.[2][3] Its pseudonymn, al-Balad (meaning "the village"), is used to distinguish it from the Palestinian refugee camp of Balata which lies to the east and was established in 1950.[3][4]
The village's name is transcribed in the writings of Eusebius (d. circa 339) and Jerome (d. 420), as Balanus or Balata.[5][6] In the Samartian chronicles, its Arabic names are transcribed as Balata ("a pavement of flat stone slabs") and Shejr al-Kheir ("tree of grace").[5][7] In the writings of Yaqut al-Hamawi (d. 1229), the Syrian geographer, its name is transcribed as al-Bulāṭa.[8]
One theory holds that balata is a derivation of the Aramaic word Balut, meaning "acorn" (or, in Arabic, "oak"), while another theory holds that it is a derivation of the Byzantine-Roman era, from the Greek word platanos, meaning "terebinth", a type of tree that grew around the village spring.[2][3]
Location
A suburb of the city of Nablus, the village is situated on the southern part of Tell Balata, and covers about one-third of the tell.[3][9] The built-up area was made up of 2.5 hectares (25 dunams) in 1945, and increased to more than 10 hectares (100 dunams) in 1980.[10] To the east, is a vast plain, with the ways running east-west leading out through the pass from Jerusalem to Nablus and the coast, and the way to the northeast around Mount Ebal leading down to Wadi Fa'rah and the ford across the Jordan River at Jisr el-Damiyah.[11][12]
History
The history of the village of Balata is tied to that Jacob's Well and Joseph's Tomb. Benjamin of Tudela, the Navarrese traveller, who visited the site in the 12th century, places it "A sabbath-way distance from Sichem," and says it contains Joseph's sepulcher.[13] The church built around Jacob's Well and the lands of the village of Balata belonged to the Benedictine nuns of Bethany in the 12th century.[14] Written documentation from this time of the Crusades indicates that, Balata, also known as Balathas, was a Frankish settlement.[15]
During the rule of the Ottoman Empire over Palestine, an 1894 report by Conrad Schick for the Palestine Exploration Fund describes Balata as a hamlet made up of a few huts surrounded by gardens that lay to the west of Jacob's Well and its accompanying church complex, at that time in ruins.[7]
Modern era
Following the 1948 Arab–Israeli war, the Palestinian refugee camp of Balata was established directly adjacent to the village in 1950. Its population is significantly larger than that of the village of Balata. During the First Intifada, whenever the refugee camp was placed under curfew by the Israeli occupying authorities, so too was the village.[16]
The village contains an old mosque, five schools, and the village spring, which served as the main water source, is known as 'Ain el-Khidr.[10] Education and medical services in the Balata refugee camp are provided by UNRWA. While electricity and running water supplies were often irregular, the camp was better off in terms of public services than the village of Balata, which lacked piped water, and depended upon private electricity generators and Israeli-run education and medical services, until some after the establishment of the Palestinian National Authority following the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993.[17]
USAID sponsors a flagship program involving the Balata Al-Balad Women's Society in the village that seeks to increase coordination between community-based organizations and the Palestinian Ministry of Health to improve the provision of health care services.[18]
References
- ↑ Abujidi, 2014, p. 96.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Mazar and Ahituv, 1992, p. 53.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Crown et al., 1993, p. 39.
- ↑ Doumani, 2003, p. 115.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Conder, 1878, 2004 edition, p. 70.
- ↑ Forlong, 1998, p. 343.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Quarterly Statement for 1900". Palestine Exploration Fund. Retrieved 2010-03-15.
- ↑ Houstma, 1987, p. 616.
- ↑ "Tell Balata". Visitpalestine.ps. Retrieved 2010-03-07.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Al-Mawsu'a il-Filistiniyya - The Palestinian Encyclopedia, entry on Balata.
- ↑ Pfeiffer, 1920, p. 518.
- ↑ Wright, 1985, p. 6.
- ↑ Benjamin of Tudela et al., 1841, p. 426.
- ↑ Pringle, 1993, p. 258.
- ↑ Ellenblum, 2003, pp. xix, 224.
- ↑ Law in the Service of Man, 1990, p. 185, note #18.
- ↑ Moors, 1995, p. 44.
- ↑ "Press Release: USAID Supports Seven Community-Based Organizations' Efforts to Improve Health Services". USAID. November 18, 2009. Retrieved 2010-02-15.
Bibliography
- Abujidi, Nurhan (2014). Urbicide in Palestine: Spaces of Oppression and Resilience. Routledge. ISBN 9781317818847.
- Benjamin of Tudela; Asher, Adolf; Zunz, Leopold; Lebrecht, Fuerchtegott Schemaja (1841). The Itinerary of Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela 1. A. Asher & co.
- Conder, Claude Reignier (2004 (Originally 1878)). Tent Work in Palestine a Record of Discovery and Adventure. Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4179-2238-3. Check date values in:
|date=
(help) - Crown, Alan David; Pummer, Reinhard; Tal, Abraham (1993). Alan David Crown, Reinhard Pummer, Abraham Tal, ed. A Companion to Samaritan Studies. Mohr Siebeck. ISBN 978-3-16-145666-4.
- Doumani, Beshara (2003). Beshara Doumani, ed. Family History in the Middle East: Household, Property, and Gender (Illustrated ed.). SUNY Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-5680-4.
- Ellenblum, Ronnie (2003). Frankish Rural Settlement in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem (Illustrated ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-52187-1.
- Forlong, J. G. R. (1998). Short Studies in the Science of Comparative Religions Embracing All the Religions of Asia (Reprint ed.). Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 9780766101579.
- Houtsma, Martijn Theodoor (1987). E.J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913–1936 1 (Reprint ed.). BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-08265-6.
- Law in the Service of Man (Organization: Rām Allāh) (1990). Punishing a nation: human rights violations during the Palestinian uprising, December 1987-December 1988 : a report. South End Press. ISBN 978-0-89608-378-3.
- Mazar, Benjamin; Aḥituv, Shmuel (1992). Shmuel Aḥituv, ed. Biblical Israel: State and People (Illustrated ed.). Magnes Press, Hebrew University. ISBN 978-965-223797-2.
- Moors, Annelies (1995). Women, Property, and Islam: Palestinian Experiences, 1920 –1990 (Illustrated ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-48355-1.
- Pringle, Denys (1993). The Churches of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: A-K (excluding Acre and Jerusalem) (Illustrated ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-39036-1.
- Wright, George R.H (1985). Ancient building in South Syria and Palestine, Volume 1. Brill Archive. ISBN 978-90-04-07091-2.
External links
|