Burqa, Ramallah

For other with similar names, see Burka.
Burqa
Other transcription(s)
  Arabic بُرقة

Burqa´s mosque from the north
Burqa

Location of Burqa within the Palestinian territories

Coordinates: 31°53′45″N 35°15′15″E / 31.89583°N 35.25417°E / 31.89583; 35.25417Coordinates: 31°53′45″N 35°15′15″E / 31.89583°N 35.25417°E / 31.89583; 35.25417
Palestine grid 174/144
Governorate Ramallah & al-Bireh
Government
  Type Municipality
Population (200)
  Jurisdiction 2,090
Name meaning "The speckled ground"[1]

Burqa (Arabic: بُرقة) is a Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, located 6 kilometers (3.7 mi) east of Ramallah in the northern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the town had a population of approximately 2,090 inhabitants in the 2007 census.[2]

History

In 1596, Burqa appeared in Ottoman tax registers as being in the Nahiya of Quds of the Liwa of Quds. It had a population of 28 Muslim households and paid taxes on wheat, barley, olives, fruit trees, goats and/or beehives.[3]

American scholar Edward Robinson noted the village in 1838, "high up on the hill-side",[4] while in 1863 French explorer Victor Guérin found it to contain about thirty houses. A Muslim shrine devoted to Sheikh Youseph was also noted.[5]

In 1883, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine described Burkah as "a good-sized village standing high on a bare hillside, with a spring in the valley to the south."[6]

British Mandate of Palestine

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Burqa had a population of 268, all Muslims,[7] increasing in the 1931 census, to 320, still all Muslim, in 66 houses.[8]

In 1945 the population was 380, all Arabs, while the total land area was 6,001 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[9] Of this, 1,297 dunams were allocated for plantations and irrigable land, 2,460 for cereals,[10] while 22 dunams were classified as built-up areas.[11]

1948-1967

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

1967 and aftermath

After the Six-Day War in 1967, Burqa has been under Israeli occupation.

The outpost Migron, Mateh Binyamin was located east of Burqa, on land registered as privately owned by inhabitants of Burqa and Deir Dibwan. In 2012 Migron was evacuated and since then the area is deserted.[12][13][14][15]

Footnotes

  1. Palmer, 1881, p. 292
  2. 2007 PCBS Census Archived December 10, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.. Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. p.112.
  3. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 112
  4. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 2, p. 118
  5. Guérin, 1869, p. 57
  6. Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. 9
  7. Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Ramleh
  8. Mills, 1932, p. 48.
  9. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 64
  10. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 111
  11. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 161
  12. Peace now
  13. Ha'aretz 23 January 2008 State: Migron outpost to be evacuated within six months By Yuval Yoaz
  14. Jpost 7 August 2008 Settlers leaders to vote on moving Migron outpost By Tovah Lazaroff
  15. New York Times 24 December 2003 In Battle Over a Settlement, It's Israelis vs. Israelis By Richard Bernstein

Bibliography

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