Kafr Kanna
Kafr Kanna
| |
|---|---|
| Hebrew transcription(s) | |
| • ISO 259 | Kpar Kannaˀ |
| • Also spelled |
Kafar Kanna (official) Kufr Kana (unofficial) |
|
Roadside view of Kafr Kanna | |
  Kafr Kanna | |
| Coordinates: 32°45′N 35°21′E / 32.750°N 35.350°ECoordinates: 32°45′N 35°21′E / 32.750°N 35.350°E | |
| Grid position | 182/239 PAL |
| District | Northern |
| Government | |
| • Type | Local council (from 1968) |
| • Head of Municipality | Mujahed Awadeh |
| Area | |
| • Total | 10,600 dunams (10.6 km2 or 4.1 sq mi) |
| Population (2006) | |
| • Total | 18,000 |
| Name meaning | "Village of Cana"[1] |
Kafr Kanna (Arabic: كفر كنا, Kafr Kanā; Hebrew: כַּפְר כַּנָּא) is an Arab town in the Tur'an Valley in Galilee, part of the North District of Israel. It is associated with the New Testament village of Cana, where Jesus turned water into wine.[2][3] It had a population of about 18,000 in 2006.
History
Ancient and classic period
The settlement of Kana was mentioned in the Amarna letters, and was known in the times of the Roman-Jewish historian Josephus.
On the outskirts of the modern town is the tomb of the Jewish sage, rabbi Simeon ben Gamliel, the Nasi (prince) of the Sanhedrin (legislative body of Ancient Israel), who became president of the Sanhedrin in 50 CE. His tomb has remained an important site for Jewish pilgrims over the centuries.[4][5]
A structure, which earlier was believed to be from the Crusader era, when excavated turned out to be a Byzantine church.[6]
Middle Ages
Nasir-i-Khusraw visited the village in 1047 CE and described the place in his diary:
To the southward [of Kafar Kannah] is a hill, on the top of which they have built a fine monastery. It has a strong gate, and the tomb of the prophet Yunis (Jonas) [...] is shown within. Near the gate of the monastery is a well, and the water thereof is sweet and good. [...] Acre is 4 leagues distant.[7]
Kafr Kanna was conquered by the Crusaders in 1099. During this period, Ali of Herat wrote that one could see the Makam of Jonas, and also the grave of his son, at Kafr Kanna. This was repeated by Yaqut al-Hamawi, although he only wrote of the tomb as being that of Jonas' father.[7] The name Casale Robert was used by Franks, beside variations on the Arab name. In August 1254 Julian the lord of Sidon sold it to the Knights Hospitaller.[8][9]
Around 1300, Kafr Kanna was described as being a large village, in which lived the chiefs of various tribes. The head tribe is called Kais al-Hamra ("Kais the Red.") According to the chronicler, Al-Dimashqi, the district Buttauf, called "the Drowned Meadow", belonged to the village.[7] Al-Dimashqi further remarked that the waters of the surrounding hills drained into the area, flooding it; as soon as the land is dried up grain was sown.[10]
Ottoman period
Under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, the village flourished in the 16th century, as it lay on the western trade route between Egypt and Syria.[12] High taxes of different kinds were levied on the busy market. Among other things it traded in cloths, produced in Galilee for international consumption. Public baths and ovens were also taxed.[13] In 1533, Ottoman officials recorded the population as 147 households, and by 1596 it grew to 475 Muslim households and 96 Jewish households, making it the sixth most populous locality in Palestine at the time.[14][15]
A map from Napoleon's invasion of 1799 by Pierre Jacotin showed the place, named as Cana.[16]
In the 1881 Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP), described it as a stone-built village, containing 200 Christians and 200 Muslims.[17]
British Mandate era
In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Kufr Kenna had a total population of 1,175; 672 Muslims and 503 Christians,[18] of the Christians, 264 were Orthodox, 82 Catholics, 137 were Melekite and 20 were Anglican.[19] The population had increased at the 1931 census to 1,378; 896 Muslims and 482 Christians, in a total of 266 houses.[20]
In 1945, the population was 1,930, all Arabs, while the total land area was 19,455 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[21] Of this, 1,552 were allocated for plantations and irrigable land, 11,642 for cereals,[22] while 56 dunams were classified as built-up areas.[23]
1948 and aftermath
During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Kfar Kanna was captured by units of Israel's 7th Brigade in the second half of Operation Dekel (July 15–18, 1948).[24] It remained under martial law until 1966.
On 30 March 1976, a resident of Kafr Kanna, Muhammad Yusuf Taha, was one of six people killed by the Israeli army during Land Day demonstrations.[25]
In November 2014, there were clashes for some days because Israeli police killed one Israeli Arab, who attacked a police van with a knife. The police said that they had fired warning shots before shooting him but relatives said he was shot in "cold blood" and images from closed-circuit television (CCTV) showed a police officer shooting at the man while he was backing away.[26]
The mayor of the town is Mujahed Awadeh.[26]
Religious significance
The town is identified by Christians as the town of Cana, where Jesus performed a miracle at the Marriage at Cana (John 2:1–12). According to the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1914, the identification of Kafr Kanna with Cana dates back to at least the 8th century. However, the general view starting from the 12th-century placed Cana at Khirbet Kana, a site 8.5 kilometres (5.3 mi) to the northwest of Kafr Kanna. Later, the traditional identification with Kafr Kanna reemerged strongly in the mid-14th-century and until the present day.[8]
Cana is also mentioned as the home town of the Apostle Bartholomew, as "Nathanael of Cana" in John 21:2.
Demographics
Kafr Kanna achieved local council status in 1968. In 2006, there were 18,000 residents,[27] 83.5% of whom were Muslim and 16.5% Christian.
As is the case with many other mixed Muslim-Christian towns in the region, the Christians generally tend to live in the oldest part of town. In Kafr Kanna—and in Kafr Yasif and 'Abud, among others—there are two ancient nuclei in the town: the earlier one where Christians live, and another (also hundreds of years old) where Muslims live.[28]
Sport
Hapoel Kafr Kanna plays in Liga Bet (the fourth tier). Beitar Kafr Kanna and F.C. Tzeirei Kafr Kanna plays in Liga Gimel (the fifth tier).
Maccabi Kafr Kanna, which were folded in 2014, have played at the second level in the past.
Notable residents
- Wasil Taha, resident, Knesset member, Balad party.
- Abdulmalik Dehamshe, resident, former Knesset member, United Arab List.
See also
References
- ↑ Palmer, 1881, p. 127
- ↑ Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, pp. 367, 391-394
- ↑ The near-miracle in Kafr Kana
- ↑ "Tomb of Shimon ben Gamliel vandalized", Jerusalem Post, April 21, 2006 (accessed August 7, 2012).
- ↑ Rabbi Shimon Ben Gamliel's tomb set ablaze, arson suspected, YNet News, November 15, 2009 (accessed August 7, 2012).
- ↑ Pringle, 1997, p. 117
- 1 2 3 leStrange, 1890, p.469
- 1 2 Pringle, 1993, p. 285
- ↑ Röhricht, 1893, RRH, p. 321, no. 1217
- ↑ leStrange, 1890, p.470
- ↑ Thomson, 1859, vol 2, p. 120
- ↑ Abraham David (24 May 2010). To Come to the Land: Immigration and Settlement in 16th-Century Eretz-Israel. University of Alabama Press. p. 189. ISBN 978-0-8173-5643-9.
- ↑ Rhode, Harold (1979). "The Administration and Population of the Sancak of Safed in the Sixteenth Century". PhD dissertation, Columbia University: 142,153–154,159. Retrieved 2014-10-10.
- ↑ Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 187
- ↑ Note that Rhode, 1979, p. 6 writes that the register that Hütteroth and Abdulfattah studied from the Safad-district was not from 1595/6, but from 1548/9
- ↑ Karmon, 1960, p. 166.
- ↑ Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 363
- ↑ Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Nazareth, p. 38
- ↑ Barron, 1923, Table XVI, p. 51
- ↑ Mills, 1932, p. 74
- ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 62
- ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 109
- ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 159
- ↑ Morris, 2004, p. 421
- ↑ Pappe, Ilan (2011) The Forgotten Palestinians. A History of the Palestinians in Israel. Yale. ISBN 978-0-300-13441-4. p.241.
- 1 2 "Arab Israeli anger simmers in Galilee after deadly shooting". Yahoo! News. 10 November 2014.
- ↑ Population of localities numbering above 1,000 residents and other rural populations on 31/12/2006 Central Bureau of Statistics
- ↑ Ellenblum, 2003, p. 144
Bibliography
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kafr Kanna. |
- Alexandre, Yardenna (2008-12-30). "Kafr Kanna" (121). Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel.
- Alexandre, Yardenna (2011-04-07). "Kafr Kanna" (123). Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel.
- Alexandre, Yardenna (2012-02-19). "Kafr Kanna" (124). Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel.
- Alexandre, Yardenna (2013-02-28). "Kafr Kanna" (125). Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel.
- Alexandre, Yardenna (2013-12-31). "Kafr Kanna" (125). Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel.
- Barron, J. B., ed. (1923). Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922 (PDF). Government of Palestine.
- Conder, Claude Reignier; Kitchener, H. H. (1881). The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology 1. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
- Ellenblum, Ronnie (2003). Frankish Rural Settlement in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521521871.
- Guérin, Victor (1880). Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine (in French). 3: Galilee, pt. 1. Paris: L'Imprimerie Nationale. (pp. 168 -182, 474 - 476)
- Hadawi, Sami (1970). Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine. Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center.
- Hütteroth, Wolf-Dieter; Abdulfattah, Kamal (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. ISBN 3-920405-41-2.
- Karmon, Y. (1960). "An Analysis of Jacotin's Map of Palestine" (PDF). Israel Exploration Journal 10 (3,4): 155–173; 244–253.
- leStrange, Guy (1890). Palestine Under the Moslems: A Description of Syria and the Holy Land from A.D. 650 to 1500. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
- Mariti, Giovanni (1792). Travels Through Cyprus, Syria, and Palestine; with a General History of the Levant 1. Dublin: P. Byrne. (p. 351 ff)
- Mills, E., ed. (1932). Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas (PDF). Jerusalem: Government of Palestine.
- Morris, Benny (2004). The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-00967-6.
- Palmer, E. H. (1881). The Survey of Western Palestine: Arabic and English Name Lists Collected During the Survey by Lieutenants Conder and Kitchener, R. E. Transliterated and Explained by E.H. Palmer. Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
- Pringle, Denys (1993). The Churches of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: A-K (excluding Acre and Jerusalem) I. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0 521 39036 2.
- Pringle, Denys (1997). Secular buildings in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: an archaeological Gazetter. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521 46010 7.
- Rhode, Harold (1979). Administration and Population of the Sancak of Safed in the Sixteenth Century. Columbia University.
- Röhricht, Reinhold (1893). (RRH) Regesta regni Hierosolymitani (MXCVII-MCCXCI) (in Latin). Berlin: Libraria Academica Wageriana.
- Socin, A. (1879). "Alphabetisches Verzeichniss von Ortschaften des Paschalik Jerusalem". Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins 2: 135–163.
- Thomson, William McClure (1859). The Land and the Book: Or, Biblical Illustrations Drawn from the Manners and Customs, the Scenes and Scenery, of the Holy Land 2 (1 ed.). New York: Harper & brothers.
External links
- Welcome To Kafr Kanna
- Survey of Western Palestine, Map 6: IAA, Wikimedia commons
- Kafar Kanna on World Gazetteer
- Israel: A Social Report PDF
