Kufeirit (Arabic: كفيرت) is a Palestinian village in the West Bank, located 16 km west of the city of Jenin in the northern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 2,446 inhabitants in mid-year 2006 and 3,068 by 2017.[1][3]
Kufeirit
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|---|---|
| Arabic transcription(s) | |
| • Arabic | كفيرت |
 | |
  Kufeirit Location of Kufeirit within Palestine | |
| Coordinates: 32°26′38″N 35°12′11″E / 32.44389°N 35.20306°E / 32.44389; 35.20306 | |
| Palestine grid | 169/206 |
| State | State of Palestine |
| Governorate | Jenin |
| Government | |
| • Type | Village council |
| Population
(2017)[1]
| |
| • Total | 3,068 |
| Name meaning | from personal name[2] |
Pottery sherds from the Iron Age II, Persian, Hellenistic, early and late Roman, Byzantine, early Muslim and the Medieval eras have been found here.[4]
Kufeirit, like the rest of Palestine, was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517, and in the census of 1596 it was a part of the nahiya ("subdistrict") of Jabal Sami which was under the administration of the liwa ("district") of Nablus. The village had a population of 29 households and 4 bachelors, all Muslim. The villagers paid a fixed tax-rate of 33,3%, on wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, beehives and/or goats, in addition to occasional revenues and a customary tax for people of Nablus area; a total of 10,000 akçe.[5]
In 1838 the village (called Kufeireh) was noted as part of the esh–Sha'rawiyeh esh–Shurkiyeh ("the Eastern") District, north of Nablus.[6]
In 1870, Victor Guérin noted the village on his travels in the region, as being less significant than neighbouring Ya'bad.[7]
In 1870/1871 (1288 AH), an Ottoman census listed the village in the nahiya (sub-district) of al-Sha'rawiyya al-Sharqiyya.[8]
In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Kefreireh as: "a good sized village on a hill at the edge of the Plain of Arrabeh, with a well on the east and olives."[9]
In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Kufairat had a population of 113 Muslims,[10] increasing in the 1931 census to 154 Muslims in 28 houses.[11]
In the 1945 statistics, the population of Kufeirat was 240 Muslims,[12] with 732 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.[13] Of this, 241 dunams were used for plantations and irrigable land, 200 dunams for cereals,[14] while 6 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[15]
In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Kufeirit came under Jordanian rule.
In 1961, the population was 457 persons.[16]
Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Kufeirit has been under Israeli occupation. The population of Kufeirat in the 1967 census conducted by Israel was 583, of whom 109 originated from the Israeli territory.[17]
