Al-Auja, Jericho

al-Auja
Other transcription(s)
 • Arabic العوجا
 • Also spelled al-'Auja (official)
al-Awja (unofficial)

Southern entrance to al-Auja, 2011
al-Auja

Location of al-Auja within the Palestinian territories

Coordinates: 31°56′51″N 35°27′42″E / 31.94750°N 35.46167°E / 31.94750; 35.46167Coordinates: 31°56′51″N 35°27′42″E / 31.94750°N 35.46167°E / 31.94750; 35.46167
Palestine grid 195/150
Governorate Jericho
Government
 • Type Municipality (from 1994)
Area
 • Jurisdiction 107,905 dunams (107.9 km2 or 41.7 sq mi)
Population (2006)
 • Jurisdiction 4,000
Not to be confused with Nahr al-Auja, the Arabic name of the Yarkon River

Al-Auja (Arabic: العوجا‎‎) is a Palestinian town in the Jericho Governorate in the eastern West Bank, located ten kilometers north of Jericho. The town has a total area of 107,905 dunams, however its built-up area comprises only 832 dunams. It is situated 230 meters below sea level.

Agricultural land makes up over 10% of the town's area,[1] mostly planted with bananas, oranges, and vegetables for which al-Auja is well known. Irrigation water is mainly supplied from the al-Auja spring.[2]

History

The town is built along, and shares the name of, the Wadi al-Auja stream, "al-auja" meaning "the meandering one". This should not to be confused with the other river called in Arabic by the same name, Nahr al-Auja, and known by its biblical and Hebrew name as the Yarkon River. During World War I this coincidence led to the term of "the line of the two Aujas" referring to a strategic line connecting the two river valleys.[3]

British Mandate era

According to a census conducted in 1931 by the British Mandate authorities, Al-Auja had a population of 253 Muslims, in 100 houses.[4]

In 1945, the village's population was 290, while Arab el Nuseirat had 520, Arab el Kaabina had 260, Arab el Ureinat had 210 and Arab el Saayida had 110 members, all Muslims,[5] and together they had jurisdiction over 106,946 dunams of land.[6] Of this, 418 dunams were used for citrus and bananas, 2,822 dunams were for plantations and irrigable land, 6,502 for cereals,[7] while a total of 97,204 dunams were classified as non-cultivable areas.[8]

Post 1967

After Israel's occupation of the West Bank in the 1967 Six-Day War, 30,147 dunams of al-Auja's land was classified as "closed-off area" barred from Palestinian use.[1]

According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, al-Auja had a population of over 4,000 inhabitants in mid-year 2006.[9] In 1997, refugees constituted 24.7% of the population.[10] Located in "Area A", complete control over al-Auja was transferred to the Palestinian National Authority in a 1994 deal which also included Jericho and Gaza.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Al 'Auja village Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem. 21 January 2006.
  2. ↑ Welcome to al-'Auja Palestine Remembered.
  3. ↑ H. S. Gullett (1923). The Australian Imperial Force in Sinai and Palestine, 1914-1918 (PDF). Sydney: Angus & Robertson Ltd. p. 487. Retrieved 16 September 2015. Allenby did not hesitate. His original objective had been the "line of the two Aujas" from the Nahr Auja, which falls into the Mediterranean above Jaffa, to the Wady Auja, a little stream which, bursting from springs in the desert foot-hills above the Jordan valley, flows eastwards to the Jordan River about ten miles north of the Dead Sea.
  4. ↑ Mills, 1932, p. 45
  5. ↑ Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 24
  6. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 56
  7. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 101
  8. ↑ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 151
  9. ↑ Projected Mid -Year Population for Jericho District by Locality 2004- 2006 Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics
  10. ↑ Palestinian Population by Locality and Refugee Status Archived 2008-11-18 at the Wayback Machine. (1997) Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.

Bibliography

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