Kafr Ra'i

"Kafr Ra'i" translates as "Village of the Shepherd" in Arabic.Palmer, 1881, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp00conduoft#page/184/mode/1up 184]

Pottery remains from the Byzantine, early Muslim and the Middle Ages have been found here.Zertal, 2016, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=XytzCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA422 422]-423

In 1265, after the Mamluks had defeated the Crusaders, Kafr Ra'i was mentioned among the estates which Sultan Baibars granted his followers. The village was divided equally between two of his emirs: Shuja' al-Din Tughril al-Shibli and Ala' al-Din Kundughdi al-Hubaishi.Ibn al-Furat, 1971, pp. 81, 82, 210, 249 (map)

The village was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire with the rest of Palestine in 1517. In the 1596 Ottoman tax records, it appeared under the name of Kafr Ra’i, located in the Nahiya Qaqun, in the Nablus Sanjak. It had a population of 35 families, all Muslim. They paid a fixed tax-rate of 33.3% on agricultural products, including 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 7,914 akçe.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 137

In 1838, it was noted as a Muslim village, Kefr Ra'y, located in the esh–Sha'rawiyeh esh–Shurkiyeh District.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol. 3, 2nd appendix, p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/129/mode/1up 129]

In 1870 Victor Guérin noted it as a village, situated on a hill, NNE of Rama.Guérin, 1875, p. [https://archive.org/stream/descriptiongogr04gugoog#page/n241/mode/1up 216] In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described Kafr Ra'i as "a large village on high ground, with good olives to the south and two wells."Conder and Kitchener, 1882, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp02conduoft#page/154/mode/1up 154] In 1871 (1288 AH), an Ottoman census listed the village, divided into two quarters- or census registration unites, in the nahiya (sub-district) of al-Sha'rawiyya al-Sharqiyya.{{Cite book |last=Grossman |first=David |title=Arab Demography and Early Jewish Settlement in Palestine |publisher=Magnes Press |year=2004 |location=Jerusalem |pages=254}}

British forces captured Palestine, including Kafr Ra'i, in 1917, during World War I, and thereafter established the British Mandate of Palestine. In the 1922 British census, Kafr Ra'i had a population of 1,088 Muslims.Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Jenin, p. [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n32/mode/1up 30] The population rose to 1,470, still all Muslims, living in 334 houses, in the 1931 census.Mills, 1933, p. [https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas 70]

In the 1945 statistics, the population was 2,150, all Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. [http://cs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/yabber/census/VSpages/VS1945_p16.jpg 16]. with 35,868 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20I/Jinin/Page-054.jpg 54]. Of the village's lands, 3,254 dunams were used for plantations and irrigable land, 6,254 dunams 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/Jinin/Page-099.jpg 99]. while 36 dunams were 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/Jinin/Page-149.jpg 149].

Kafr Ra'i came under Jordanian rule during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.

In 1961, the population was 2,823.Government of Jordan, 1964, p. [http://users.cecs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/yabber/census/JordanCensusPages/JordanCensus1961-p14.pdf 14]

Kafr Ra'i has been under Israeli occupation since the 1967 Six-Day War.

On 2 February 1989, during the First Intifada, Israeli soldiers had been clashing with Palestinians in the nearby village of Fahma and when four teenagers from Kafr Ra'i approached the village, Israeli soldiers sped and shot towards them in their vehicle. As the boys fled, one of them, 14-year-old Salameh Tahsin Sobeih, was shot and fell down. Witnesses reported that some ten soldiers proceeded to kick Salameh and drag him to their vehicle. A Palestinian doctor asked to see Salameh, but was denied. Members of Kafr Ra'i's village council found Salameh's body with three gunshot wounds and bruises, a bloodied mouth and broken nose, at the local military headquarters, where soldiers told them he was being interrogated. A funeral was held for Salameh the following day in Kafr Ra'i, with attendees also coming from Arraba and Fahma.Hall, 2009, pp. 15–17.

In the 1997 census by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), Kafr Ra'i had a population of 5,824. Palestinian refugees accounted for 27.6% of the inhabitants.{{cite web|url=http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/Portals/_pcbs/phc_97/jen_t6.aspx |title=Palestinian Population by Locality and Refugee Status |access-date=2015-10-17 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207051850/http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/Portals/_pcbs/phc_97/jen_t6.aspx |archive-date=February 7, 2012 }}. 1997 Census. Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS). 1999. In the 2007 PCBS census, the population grew to 7,364, living in 1,395 households with each household containing an average of between five and six members. The number of housing units was 1,559. The gender ratio was 49.7% female and 50.3% male.

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{{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 | 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=Hall|first1=M. Clement|title=Intifada|date=2009|publisher=Lulu|isbn=9780557202546|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7aUJAwAAQBAJ&q=Kufr+Rai&pg=PA15}}
• {{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 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|last1=Robinson|first1=E.|author-link1=Edward Robinson (scholar)|last2=Smith|first2=E.|author-link2=Eli Smith|year=1841|url=https://archive.org/details/biblicalresearch03robiuoft |title=Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838| location=Boston|publisher=Crocker & Brewster|volume=3}}
• {{cite book|last=Zertal|first=A.|author-link=Adam Zertal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XytzCwAAQBAJ |title=The Manasseh Hill Country Survey|volume=3|location=Boston|publisher=BRILL|year=2016|isbn=978-9004312302 }}

{{refend}}

• [http://www.palestineremembered.com/GeoPoints/Kafr_Ra_i_1269/index.html Palestine remembered]
• [https://www.welcometopalestine.com/destinations/jenin/kafr-rai/ Kafr Ra’i], Welcome to Palestine
• Survey of Western Palestine, Map 11: [http://www.iaa-archives.org.il/zoom/zoom.aspx?folder_id=93&type_id=6&id=8373 IAA], [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Survey_of_Western_Palestine_1880.11.jpg Wikimedia commons]

{{Jenin Governorate}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Towns in the West Bank

Category:Jenin Governorate

Category:Municipalities of Palestine