Qarfa#History
{{Infobox settlement
|official_name = Qarfa
|native_name = قرفــا
|image_skyline =
|imagesize =
|image_caption =
|pushpin_map =Syria
|pushpin_mapsize =300
|subdivision_type = Country
|subdivision_name = {{flagicon image|Flag of the Syrian revolution.svg}} Syria
|subdivision_type1 = Governorate
|subdivision_name1 = Daraa Governorate
|subdivision_type2 = District
|subdivision_name2 = Izra District
|subdivision_type3 = Nahiyah
|subdivision_name3 = Al-Shaykh Maskin
|settlement_type = Village
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|population_as_of = 2004 census
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|population_total = 4,885
|timezone = EET
|utc_offset = +2
|timezone_DST = EEST
|utc_offset_DST = +3
|coordinates = {{coord|32|48|55|N|36|12|5|E|region:SY|display=inline}}
| grid_position = 262/247 PAL
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Qarfa ({{langx|ar|قرفــا}}, also spelled Garfa or Kurfa) is a village in southern Syria, administratively belonging to the Izra' District of the Daraa Governorate. Nearby localities include al-Shaykh Maskin to the northwest, Izra to the northeast, Maliha al-Atash to the east, Namir to the southeast, Khirbet Ghazaleh to the south and Abtaa to the southwest. In the 2004 census by the Central Bureau of Statistics, Qarfa had a population of 4,885.[https://web.archive.org/web/20191221000255/http://www.cbssyr.org/new%20web%20site/General_census/census_2004/NH/TAB12-16-2004.htm General Census of Population and Housing 2004]. Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Daraa Governorate. {{in lang|ar}}
History
Inside a private house in Qarfa a Greek inscription dedicating a church to Saint Bacchus was discovered. The inscription was dated to 589-590 CE and written on a stone lintel decorated with a cross.Chaniotis, 2003, p. 521.
=Ottoman era=
In 1596, Qarfa appeared in Ottoman tax registers as a village in the Nahiya of Bani Malik al-Asraf in the Hawran Qada. It had a population of 42 households and 15 bachelors, all Muslim. The villagers paid a fixed tax-rate of 40% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, and goats or beehives, a total of 6,451 akçe. 5/24 of the revenue went to a WaqfHütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 212
In 1838, it was noted as a Muslim village (Kurfa) in the Nukrah district, east of Al-Shaykh Maskin.Smith; in Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Second appendix, B, p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/152/mode/1up 152]
=Modern era=
On 13 August 1962 a tribal feud in Qarfa between the al-Makayed and al-Manasser clans resulted in five people being wounded. The fighting was a result of old rivalries. Security forces arrested several people from the town and the wounded were evacuated to the hospital.[https://books.google.com/books?id=F9QMAQAAMAAJ&q=Karfa+Hauran Mideast Mirror]. 14. Arab News Agency. (1962). Page 20.
During the ongoing Syrian Civil War, which began in 2011, opposition rebels from the Free Syrian Army attacked a petrol station in Qarfa, killing a relative of high-ranking government official Rustum Ghazaleh in early January 2013.[http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2013/01/05/258666.html FSA kills relative of Syrian security chief in Deraa]. Al Arabiya. 2013-01-05.
Notable people
- Rustum Ghazaleh (1953–2015), Head of Syrian Political Security Directorate
References
{{reflist}}
Bibliography
{{refbegin}}
- {{cite book|first=A.|last=Chaniotis|authorlink=Angelos Chaniotis|title=Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nngSAQAAIAAJ|publisher=BRILL Academic Publications|volume=50|year=2003|isbn=9050634087}}
- {{cite book
| last1= Hütteroth |first1=W.-D.|author-link1=Wolf-Dieter Hütteroth
| last2 =Abdulfattah|first2=K. |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
|last1=Robinson|first1=E.|authorlink1=Edward Robinson (scholar)
|last2=Smith|first2=E.|authorlink2=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}}
{{refend}}
External links
- [https://www.google.com/maps/@32.813896,36.1959171,15z Map of the town], Google Maps
- [http://www.nla.gov.au/apps/cdview/?pi=nla.map-vn745520-s21l Cheikh Meskine-map; 21L]
{{Daraa Governorate|izra}}