Kafr ad-Dik

Kafr ad-Dik (Arabic: كفر الديك‎) is a Palestinian town located 9.5 kilometers west of Salfit in the Salfit Governorate, in the northern West Bank and eight kilometers east of the Green Line. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the town had a population of 4,453 in 2007.[3][4]

Kafr ad-Dik
Municipality type C
Arabic transcription(s)
 • Arabicكفر الديك
 • LatinKafr al-Deek (official)
Kafar ad-Deek (unofficial)
Kafr ad-Dik, 2012
Kafr ad-Dik
Location of Kafr ad-Dik within Palestine
Coordinates: 32°04′00″N 35°04′59″E
Palestine grid157/163
StateState of Palestine
GovernorateSalfit
Government
 • TypeMunicipality
Area
 • Total15,228 dunams (15.2 km2 or 5.9 sq mi)
Elevation375 m (1,230 ft)
Population
 (2007)
 • Total4,453
 • Density290/km2 (760/sq mi)
Name meaning"Village of the Rooster", "The Village"[2]

Approximately 70% of the families in Kafr ad-Dik are dependent on agriculture as the main source of income, while the remaining 30% work in the private and public sectors. The unemployment rate in the town is 60%.[5]

The town's total land area consists of 15,228 dunams of which 578 dunams are built-up. However, 119 of those dunums is located outside Kafr ad-Dik's jurisdiction. There are five Israeli settlements built on 1,448 dunams of Kafr ad-Dik's land and the population of the settlers is 2,062. As a result of the Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian National Authority controls the civil affairs of 1,953 dunums of Kafr ad-Dik's land (Area B), while 13,275 dunams are classified as Area C, which is under full Israeli control.[4]

Location

Kafr ad Dik located 9.59 kilometers (5.96 mi) west of Salfit. It is bordered by Bruqin to the east, Bani Zaid to the south, Rafat and Deir Ballut to the west, and Biddya and Sarta to the north.[1]

History

It has been suggested that this is the place mentioned in Crusader sources under the name of Caphaer; a village connected with the Casale Santa Maria.[6] In 1175, Crusader sources mentions a former cistern-keeper of the village.[7]

The coat of arms the Mamluk Sultan Qaitbay (1468-1496 C.E.) have been found in a mosque in the village.[8]

Ottoman era

It has been suggested that this village is the Kafr Bani Hamid of the 1596 Ottoman tax records.[9]

In 1838 it was noted as a village el-Kufr, part of the Jurat Merda district, south of Nablus.[10]

In 1870 Victor Guérin found here very considerable remains. They included two birkets cut in the rock, one 15 paces long by 12 broad, the other not quite so large; about 30 cisterns and 20 tombs cut in the rock, some with sepulchral chambers, their walls pierced with loculi, others simple graves, either intended for a single body or having right and left vaulted tombs with arcosolia. These graves were formerly covered with stone slabs. There were also several lintels, decorated with the rectangular cartouche, on either side of which were triangles, and in the middle a cross. There are four mosques, built with stones and columns belonging to a Christian church. There is also a square tower, measuring 7 paces on each side. It is lit by loopholes, and is covered with immense slabs forming a roof, and supported by vaulted arcades. Within it is a cistern. On the lintel is a cross with equal branches inserted in a circle near four semicircles, which lie in a four-leaved rose. This tower formed part of a larger building, now destroyed.[11]

Guérin noticed houses which were constructed from red and white stone masonry, as in Deir Ghassaneh and Beit Rima.[12]

In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described the village as being "of moderate size on the hillside, and an ancient site, having rock-cut tombs to the east."[13]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Kufr al-Dik had a population of 487, all Muslim,[14] increasing in the 1931 census to 665, still all Muslim, in 139 houses.[15]

In the 1945 statistics the population was 870, all Muslims,[16] while the total land area was 15,308 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[17] Of this, 2,075 were used for plantations and irrigable land, 2,603 for cereals,[18] while 58 dunams were classified as built-up areas.[19]

Protest against Israeli theft of land, Kufr ad-Deek, Palestine, February, 2012
  • Kafr ad-Dik 1943 1:20,000
  • Kafr ad-Dik 1945 1:250,000

Jordanian era

In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Kafr ad-Dik came under Jordanian rule. It was annexed by Jordan in 1950.

In 1961, the population was 1,365.[20]

1967-present

Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Kafr ad-Dik has been under Israeli occupation.

After the 1995 accords, 14.5% of village land was classified as Area B, the remaining 85.5% as Area C. Israel has confiscated land from Kafr ad-Dik for Israeli settlements numerous times, including:

After an Israeli court approved the expropriation of 3,000 dunams (750 acres) of private Palestinian land in Kafr ad-Dik's Thahir Subih neighborhood, bulldozers were called in and reportedly uprooted dozens of olive trees and fruit trees while leveling over 10,000 dunams (2,500 acres). The Israel Civil Administration spokesperson said the works related to a state-backed plan to develop the area's agriculture. In Israel's view, the spokesperson added, these are Israeli state lands.[22]

References
  1. Kafr ad Dik Town Profile, ARIJ, 2013, p. 4
  2. Palmer, 1881, p. 230
  3. 2007 PCBS Census Archived 2010-12-10 at the Wayback Machine Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. p. 112.
  4. House Demolitions warnings in Kafr ad Dik village Applied Research Institute Jerusalem 2007-05-07.
  5. More of Bruqin's and Kafr Ad dik's land are targeted by the Segregation Wall Archived 2007-05-28 at the Wayback Machine Applied Research Institute Jerusalem 2007-03-05.
  6. Clermont-Ganneau, 1898, pp. 166-176; Prawer and Benvenisti, 1970; all cited in Finkelstein, et. al, 1997, pp. 267-8
  7. Röhricht, 1893, RHH, p. 142, no 533; quoted in Pringle, 1997, p. 13
  8. DOA Mandatorial file; cited in Finkelstein, et. al, 1997, p. 268
  9. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 132, according to Grossman, 1986, p. 354, cited in Finkelstein, 1998, p. 268
  10. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, 2nd appendix, p. 127
  11. Guérin, 1875, pp. 153, 154, as cited in Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 324
  12. Guérin, 1875, pp. 153 ff
  13. Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 284
  14. Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Nablus, p. 26
  15. Mills, 1932, p. 61.
  16. Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 18
  17. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 60
  18. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 106
  19. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 156
  20. Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. 26 It was further noted (note 2) that it was governed through a village council.
  21. Kafr ad Dik Town Profile, ARIJ, p. 17
  22. 'Israeli bulldozers 'level Palestinian land, uproot trees' near Salfit,' Ma'an News Agency 29 June 2014.

Bibliography
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