Araqah (Arabic: عرقه) is a Palestinian village in the Jenin Governorate in the Northern area of the West Bank, located 15 kilometers West of Jenin. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the village had a population of 2,667 inhabitants in 2017.[2]
Araqah
| |
|---|---|
| Arabic transcription(s) | |
| • Arabic | عرقه |
| • Latin | al-Araqa (official) ’Araqa (unofficial) |
Araqah as seen from the Shahak Industrial Park
| |
  Araqah Location of Araqah within Palestine | |
| Coordinates: 32°28′16″N 35°12′02″E / 32.47111°N 35.20056°E / 32.47111; 35.20056 | |
| Palestine grid | 169/208 |
| State | State of Palestine |
| Governorate | Jenin |
| Government | |
| • Type | Village council |
| Population
(2017)
| |
| • Total | 2,667 |
| Name meaning | The cliffs[1] |
Araqah was established in the 18th century, probably by the Abd el-Hadi family or under their auscipes.[3]
Potsherds from the late Roman,[4] Byzantine,[4][5] early Muslim and the Middle Ages have been found here.[4]
Pottery remains from the early Ottoman era have also been found here.[4]
In 1870, Victor Guérin described it as a small village, situated on a small hill, and divided into two quarters.[6] In 1870/1871 (1288 AH), an Ottoman census listed the village in the nahiya of Shafa al-Gharby.[7]
In 1882 the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine found that it was "a village of moderated size on a hill side, with a well to the south."[8]
In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, the village had a population of 168 Muslims,[9] increasing slightly in the 1931 census to 219 Muslims, with 36 houses.[10]
In1944/5 statistics the population was 350 Muslims,[11] with a total of 5,675 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.[12] Of this, 462 dunams were used for plantations and irrigable land, 1,191 dunams for cereals,[13] while 27 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[14]
After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Araqah came under Jordanian rule.
The Jordanian census of 1961 found 569 inhabitants.[15]
Araqah has been under Israeli occupation along with the rest of the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War.
On 27 April 2015 an eighteen-year-old youth from the village died after being shot the previous day by Israeli soldiers.[16]
Some of Araqah's residents have origins in the Bayt Jibrin area, while others have origins in Transjordan.[3]
