Fahma

Fahma (Arabic: فحمة‎) is a Palestinian town in the Jenin Governorate in the Western area of the West Bank, located 15 kilometers Southwest of Jenin.According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 2,439 inhabitants in mid-year 2006.[2]

Fahma
Municipality type D (Village council)
Arabic transcription(s)
 • Arabicفحمة
Fahma
Fahma
Location of Fahma within Palestine
Coordinates: 32°23′00″N 35°10′46″E
Palestine grid167/198
StateState of Palestine
GovernorateJenin
Government
 • TypeVillage council
Population
 (2006)
 • Total2,439
Name meaningThe charcoal[1]

History

Pottery sherds from early and late Roman, Byzantine, and early Muslim eras have been found here.[3]

In 1179 the village was mentioned together with Ajjah (named Casale Age) in Crusader sources as being among the villages whose revenue were given to the Zion Abbey by Pope Alexander III.[4][5]

In the Mamluk era, it was a station on the road between Damascus and Cairo, used for the express bringing of snow. It also had beacons for conveying messages.[6]

Ottoman era

Fahma, 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 21 households and 2 bachelors, all Muslim. The villagers paid a fixed tax-rate of 33,3% on agricultural products, such as wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, beehives and/or goats, in addition to occasional revenues, a tax for people of liwa Nablus, and a press for olive oil or grape syrup; a total of 6,000 akçe.[7] Pottery sherd from the early Ottoman era have also been found here.[3]

In 1694 CE (=1105 AH), Abd el-Ghani, a Moslem traveler, passed by Famah on his pilgrimage.[8]

In 1838, Fahmeh was noted as being in the District of esh-Sha'rawiyeh esh-Shurkiyeh, the eastern part.[9][10]

In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described Fahmeh as: "A small adobe hamlet on a saddle beneath the hill (Batnen Nury). It has a well and a fig garden towards the north."[11]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Fahmeh had a population of 187; all Muslims,[12] increasing in the 1931 census to 238; still all Muslims, in a total of 38 houses.[13]

In the 1945 statistics Fahma had a population of 350 Muslims,[14] and the jurisdiction of the village was 4,498 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.[15] Of this, 210 dunams were used for plantations and irrigable land, 2,173 dunams for cereals,[16] while 14 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[17]

Jordanian era

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

The Jordanian census of 1961 found 541 inhabitants in Fahma.[18]

Post 1967

Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Fahma has been under Israeli occupation.

The village mosque is a former church, and it includes some elements (a stone door), possibly from a 3rd or 4th century Samaritan synagogue.[19]

References
  1. Palmer, 1881, p. 182
  2. Projected Mid -Year Population for Jenin Governorate by Locality 2004- 2006 Archived September 20, 2008, at the Wayback Machine Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics
  3. Zertal, 2016, p. 410
  4. Zertal, 2004, p. 254
  5. Rey, 1883, pp. 282, 426; Röhricht, 1887, p. 223; Röhricht, 1893, RRH, pp. 153-154, No. 576; all cited in Pringle, 1993, p. 207
  6. Volney, cited in Zertal, 2016, p. 409
  7. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 130
  8. Cited in Zertal, 2016, p. 409
  9. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, 2nd app, p. 129
  10. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, p. 150
  11. Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 154
  12. Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Jenin, p. 29
  13. Mills, 1932, p. 68
  14. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 16 Archived 2018-09-05 at the Wayback Machine
  15. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 54
  16. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 98
  17. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 148
  18. Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. 25
  19. Pringle, 1993, pp. 205, 206

Bibliography
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