Hableh

Habla is located just east of the Green Line, about {{convert|1|mi|km|adj=on}} southeast of the Palestinian city of Qalqilya as the crow flies, in the West Bank.Masalha, 2003, [https://books.google.com/books?id=aIJtAAAAMAAJ&q=habla+ p. 199]. It is bordered by Al Mudawwar to the east and south; Ras ‘Atiya and ‘Izbat Jalud to the south, the Green Line to the west, and Qalqiliya, Wadi ar Rasha and Ras at Tira to the north.

About a dozen tombs, with loculi have been found, together with cisterns. The type of tombs indicate that they are Christian.Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp02conduoft#page/321/mode/1up 321] Ancient remains of a mosque and houses have been found in the village.Dauphin, 1998, p. 803.

In 1265, Hableh was among the villages and estates sultan Baibars allocated to his amirs after he had expelled the Crusaders. Hableh was divided equally between three of his amirs: Izz al-Din Aydamur al-Zahiri, the na'ib of Al-Karak, Jamal al-Din Aqush, and Shams al-Din Sunqur Jah al-Zahiri.Ibn al-Furat, 1971, pp. 82, 209, 249 (map)

During the period of Ottoman rule over Palestine, Hableh appeared in Ottoman tax registers in 1596, where it is listed as forming part of the nahiya (subdistrict) of Jabal Qubal in the liwa (district) of Nablus. It had a population of 41 Muslim households. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 33.3% on various products, such as wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, goats and beehives, in addition to "occasional revenues" and a press for olive oil or grape syrup; a total of 3,800 akçe, of which two-thirds went to a waqf (charitable endowment).Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 134

Pierre Jacotin listed the village on his map in 1799.Karmon, 1960, p. [http://www.jchp.ucla.edu/Bibliography/Karmon,_Y_1960_Jacotin_Map_(IEJ_10).pdf 170] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222063351/http://jchp.ucla.edu/Bibliography/Karmon,_Y_1960_Jacotin_Map_(IEJ_10).pdf |date=2019-12-22 }} In 1838 Hableh was noted as a Muslim village, in the Jurat Merda district, south of Nablus.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/126/mode/1up 126]

Edward Robinson and Eli Smith visited Hableh in the mid-19th century and describe it as being situated along the southern side of a low rocky ridge overlooking a plain on which could be seen the villages of Qalqilya, Kafr Saba, Jaljulia, and Ras al-Ain.Robinson and Smith, 1857, [https://books.google.com/books?id=IcgoAAAAYAAJ&dq=hableh+palestine&pg=PA136 p. 136]. Camping on the ground to the south of the village and north of a maqam on a low rocky hill, Robinson and Smith found themselves surrounded by cisterns dug into the rock.Robinson, 1858, [https://books.google.com/books?id=NFEoAAAAYAAJ&dq=hableh&pg=PA528 p. 528]. Most of these had round openings, some with one or two steps by which one could descend into them to draw water. All appeared to be ancient, and only one was still in use. There was also a sepulcher with an arched vault and an ancient wine press made up of two vats, one shallower and smaller than the other in which grapes would have been trodden with the juice going down through a hole to the larger, deeper vat directly adjacent and slightly below.

Victor Guérin, who visited Hableh in 1870, said it contained 800 inhabitants. A few of the houses and the village mosque were built using large stones of apparent antiquity. He too noted the presence of ancient rock-cut formations around the village.Guérin, 1875, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/descriptiongogr04gugoog#page/n392/mode/1up 367-368]

In 1870/1871 (1288 AH), an Ottoman census listed the village in the nahiya (sub-district) of Jamma'in al-Awwal, subordinate to Nablus.{{Cite book |last=Grossman |first=David |title=Arab Demography and Early Jewish Settlement in Palestine |publisher=Magnes Press |year=2004 |location=Jerusalem |pages=252}}

In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described Hableh as a "village of moderate size, evidently an ancient site, surrounded with cisterns and tombs. The houses are principally of stone. The water supply from cisterns."Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp02conduoft#page/284/mode/1up 284]

In the wake of World War I, British military governors were established in Palestine's major cities and the deputy for the governor in Nablus was stationed in Habla.The Encyclopædia Britannica, 1922, [https://books.google.com/books?id=EL4UAAAAQAAJ&q=%22British+military+governors+were+established+at+Nablus+with+a+deputy+at+Hable%22 p. 19]. During the British Mandatory period, Hableh formed part of the Tulkarm Subdistrict. In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Hableh had a population of 271, all Muslims,Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Tulkarem, p. [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n29/mode/1up 27] increasing in the 1931 census to 397, still all Muslims, in a total of 86 houses.Mills ed., 1932, p. [https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas 55]

By the end of the mandate period, in the 1945 statistics, the population had increased to 580 Muslims.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. [http://users.cecs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/yabber/census/VSpages/VS1945_p20.jpg 20] The village lands covered an area of 10,903 dunams: 8,391 of which were owned by Arabs, 570 by Jews, and 1,942 of which were public lands.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20I/Tulkarm/Page-075.jpg 75] A total of 28 dunams were for citrus and bananas, 169 dunams for plantations and irrigable land, 6,847 for cereals,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20II/Tulkarm/Page-125.jpg 125] while 15 dunams were classified as built-up (urban) areas.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20III/Tulkarm/Page-175.jpg 175]

File:Qalqilya 1942.jpg

File:Qalqilya 1945.jpg

In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Hableh came under Jordanian rule.

In 1961, the population was 996.Government of Jordan, 1964, p. [http://users.cecs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/yabber/census/JordanCensusPages/JordanCensus1961-p27.pdf 27]

File:WBEnclaves.jpg and Hableh]]

Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Hableh came under Israeli occupation.

Inhabitants of Habla were among the 10,000 Palestinians displaced as a result of the 1967 war.Masalha, 2005, [https://books.google.com/books?id=xYWNCX-eYRcC&dq=masalha+habla&pg=PA19 p. 11, 19 (footnote #32)]. According to Nur Masalha, Israeli forces evicted civilians and deliberately destroyed Habla among a number of other villages during the war (such as Imwas, Yalu, Bayt Nuba, Bayt Marsam, Bayt 'Awa, al-Burj, and Jiftlik).Masalha, 2003, [https://books.google.com/books?id=aIJtAAAAMAAJ&q=habla+ p. 205].

After the 1995 accords, about 21.1% of the village land was classified as Area B, the remaining 78.9% as Area C.[http://vprofile.arij.org/qalqiliya/pdfs/vprofile/habla_vp_en.pdf Habla Town Profile (including Ad Dab’a Locality)], ARIJ, p. 17

File:Orrling_of_Palestine.jpg

According to a report in The Jerusalem Times on January 24, 1996, Israeli bulldozers began levelling {{convert|1.7|km2|sqmi|sp=us}} land in Hiblah belonging to its Palestinian residents in order to build an electronic wall that would separate the towns of Tulkarm and Kalkiliya from the Green Line. In February of the same year, it was reported that the security fence being built on Hibla's land would be {{convert|22|km|mi|sp=us}} long and would separate the village from the Israeli village of Matti.{{cite web|url=https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/223366/files/A_51_99_Add.1-EN.pdf|title=Report of the Special Committee to investigate Israele practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people and other Arabs of the occupied territories |date=August 21, 1996|access-date=2010-04-30|publisher=UNISPAL|author=Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories}}

The construction of the Israeli West Bank barrier to the north of the village in the first decade of the 21st century changed the life of Habla's inhabitants. Palestinian labourers line up every day before 5am at gate no. 1393 in the barbed wire fence surrounding Habla. Manned by soldiers from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). They wait approximately two hours so as to enter the seam zone, a closed military zone, where they seek to tend to land that they own there or in nearby Qalqilya or to work in these areas as manual labourers.

All those entering the seam zone must have a valid "pass-permit" that allows them to leave and enter for work which is issued by the Israeli military authorities.{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/news/specials/2009/israelbarrier/part1.html|date=April 6, 2009|title=Waiting To Cross No Man's Land|first1=Eric|last1=Westervelt|publisher=National Public Radio (NPR)|access-date=2010-04-30}} Those with the proper pass permits who wish to access Qalqilya can drive {{convert|12|mi|km}} around the barrier, through multiple checkpoints.{{cite web|url=http://www.merip.org/mero/mero090303.html|title=Final Status in the Shape of a Wall|first1=Catherine|last1=Cook|publisher=Middle East Report Online (MERIP)|date=September 3, 2003|access-date=2010-04-29|archive-date=2010-05-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100525231516/http://www.merip.org/mero/mero090303.html|url-status=dead}} Alternatively, they may use a tunnel that was built in 2004 to connect Habla to Qalqilya.{{cite web|url=http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ClosureUpdateOctober2007.pdf|title=OCHA Closure Update: occupied Palestinian territory|date=October 2007|publisher=United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA)|access-date=2010-04-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091013061756/http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ClosureUpdateOctober2007.pdf|archive-date=2009-10-13|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=https://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/102195EF5364A79785256E3E00675F46|title=OCHA Weekly Briefing Notes: Update for oPt (28 January - 10 February 2004)|publisher=UNISPAL|author=UNOCHA|author-link=UNOCHA}}

{{Reflist|25em}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book| editor = Barron, J.B.| title = Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922| url = https://archive.org/details/PalestineCensus1922| publisher = Government of Palestine| year = 1923}}
• {{cite book|last1=Conder|first1=C.R.|author-link1=Claude Reignier Conder|last2=Kitchener|first2=H.H.|author-link2=Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener|year=1882|url=https://archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp02conduoft|title=The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology|location=London|publisher=Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund|volume=2}}
• {{cite book | last = Dauphin | first = C. | author-link = Claudine Dauphin | title = La Palestine byzantine, Peuplement et Populations | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=FC1mAAAAMAAJ | volume = III : Catalogue | series = BAR International Series 726 | year = 1998 | publisher = Archeopress | location = Oxford | language = fr | isbn = 0-860549-05-4 }}
• {{cite book | title = First Census of Population and Housing. Volume I: Final Tables; General Characteristics of the Population | author = Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics | year = 1964 | url = http://cs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/yabber/census/JordanCensus1961bits.pdf }}
• {{cite book|title=Village Statistics, April, 1945|url=http://web.nli.org.il/sites/nli/Hebrew/library/Pages/BookReader.aspx?pid=856390|author=Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics|year=1945}}
• {{cite book|last=Guérin|first=V.|author-link=Victor Guérin|title=Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine|url=https://archive.org/details/descriptiongogr04gugoog|volume=2: Samarie, pt. 2|year=1875|publisher=L'Imprimerie Nationale|location=Paris|language=fr}}
• {{cite book|title=Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine|url=http://www.palestineremembered.com/Articles/General-2/Story3150.html|first=S.|last=Hadawi|author-link=Sami Hadawi|year=1970|publisher=Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center}}
• {{cite book |last1=Hütteroth |first1=W.-D.|author-link1=Wolf-Dieter Hütteroth|first2=K. | last2=Abdulfattah |author-link2=Kamal Abdulfattah |title=Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wqULAAAAIAAJ |year=1977 |publisher=Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft |isbn=3-920405-41-2 }}
• {{cite book| title = Ayyubids, Mamluks and Crusaders: Selections from the "Tarikh Al-duwal Wal-muluk" of Ibn Al-Furat : the Text, the Translation| author = Ibn al-Furat| author-link = Ibn al-Furat| year = 1971| volume = 2| others = Translation by Malcolm Cameron Lyons, Ursula Lyons| editor = Jonathan Riley-Smith| editor-link = Jonathan Riley-Smith| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Shh4vgAACAAJ| publisher = W. Heffer| location = Cambridge}}
• {{cite journal | author = Karmon, Y. | title = An Analysis of Jacotin's Map of Palestine | url = http://www.jchp.ucla.edu/Bibliography/Karmon,_Y_1960_Jacotin_Map_(IEJ_10).pdf | journal = Israel Exploration Journal | volume = 10 | issue = 3,4 | year = 1960 | pages = 155–173; 244–253 | access-date = 2015-04-10 | archive-date = 2018-09-05 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180905043337/http://jchp.ucla.edu/Bibliography/Karmon,_Y_1960_Jacotin_Map_(IEJ_10).pdf | url-status = dead }}
• {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aIJtAAAAMAAJ&q=habla+|title=The politics of denial: Israel and the Palestinian refugee problem|first=N.|last=Masalha|author-link=Nur Masalha|edition=Illustrated|publisher=Pluto Press (Original from the University of Michigan)|year=2003|isbn=0-7453-2121-6}}
• {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xYWNCX-eYRcC&q=masalha+habla&pg=PA19|title=Catastrophe remembered: Palestine, Israel and the internal refugees : essays in memory of Edward W. Said (1935-2003)|first=N.|last=Masalha|author-link=Nur Masalha|editor=Nur Masalha|publisher=Zed Books|year=2005|isbn=1-84277-623-1}}
• {{cite book | editor = Mills, E. | title = Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas | url = https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas | publisher = Government of Palestine | location = Jerusalem | year = 1932 }}
• {{cite book|last=Palmer|first=E.H.|author-link=Edward Henry Palmer|year=1881|url=https://archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp00conduoft|title=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|publisher=Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund}}
• {{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/laterbiblicalre02robigoog|page=[https://archive.org/details/laterbiblicalre02robigoog/page/n172 136]|quote=hableh palestine.|title=Later Biblical researches in Palestine, and in the adjacent regions: a journal of travels in the year 1852|first1=E.|last1=Robinson|author-link1=Edward Robinson (scholar)|first2=E.|last2=Smith|author-link2=Eli Smith|edition=2nd|publisher=Crocker and Brewster (Original from Harvard University)|year=1857}}
• {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NFEoAAAAYAAJ&q=hableh&pg=PA528|title=The Bibliotheca sacra and American biblical repository, Volume 10|publisher=W.F. Draper|year=1858|first=E.|last=Robinson}}
• {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EL4UAAAAQAAJ&q=%22British+military+governors+were+established+at+Nablus+with+a+deputy+at+Hable%22|title=The Encyclopædia Britannica: The New Volumes, Constituting, in Combination with the Twenty-nine Volumes of the Eleventh Edition, the Twelfth Edition of that Work, and Also Supplying a New, Distinctive, and Independent Library of Reference Dealing with Events and Developments of the Period 1910 to 1921 Inclusive, Hugh Chisholm|publisher=The Encyclopædia Britannica, Company ltd (Original from Oxford University)|year=1922}} ** A wikilink to the article [Palestine] on page 17 in volume 32 of [EB1922] is not available**

{{refend}}

• [http://www.palestineremembered.com/GeoPoints/Habla_1158/index.html Welcome to Habla] at PalestineRemembered.com
• Survey of Western Palestine, Map 14: [https://web.archive.org/web/20180928072721/http://www.iaa-archives.org.il/zoom/zoom.aspx?folder_id=93&type_id=6&id=8376 IAA], [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Survey_of_Western_Palestine_1880.14.jpg Wikimedia commons]
• [http://vprofile.arij.org/qalqiliya/pdfs/factsheet/habla_fs_en.pdf Habla Town (including Ad Dab’a Locality) (Fact Sheet)], Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem,ARIJ
• [http://vprofile.arij.org/qalqiliya/pdfs/vprofile/habla_vp_en.pdf Habla Town Profile (including Ad Dab’a Locality)], ARIJ
• [http://vprofile.arij.org/qalqiliya/images/english/Habla_ap_en.jpg Habla, aerial photo], ARIJ
• [http://vprofile.arij.org/qalqiliya/pdfs/needsfordevelopment/habla_n_en.pdf Development Priorities and Needs in Habla (including Ad Dab’a Locality)], ARIJ
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110303235435/http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/view.php?recordID=454 Israeli Proposed Road System in the West Bank.. A Road Web from Hell], 28, October, 2004, ARIJ

{{Qalqilya Governorate}}

Category:Towns in the West Bank

Category:Qalqilya Governorate

Category:Municipalities of Palestine