Mirka

Mirka (Arabic: مِركة‎) is a Palestinian village in the West Bank, located 12 km Southwest of the city of Jenin in the northern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 1,555 inhabitants in mid-year 2006.[2]

For other uses, see Mirka (disambiguation).
Mirka
Municipality type D (Village council)
Arabic transcription(s)
 • Arabicمِركة
Mirka
Location of Mirka within Palestine
Coordinates: 32°23′48″N 35°14′17″E
Palestine grid172/200
StateState of Palestine
GovernorateJenin
Government
 • TypeVillage council
Population
 (2006)
 • Total1,555
Name meaningfrom personal name, or Neby Murakin, the prophet Murakin[1]

History

Just southeast of the village (at grid 172/199) is a site where sherds mainly from the Persian era have been found.[3]

Pottery sherds from the early and late Roman, Byzantine, early Muslim and Medieval eras have been found at the village site.[4]

Ottoman era

Mirka, like all of Palestine, was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517. In the 1596 tax registers, it was part of the nahiya ("subdistrict") of Jabal Sami, part of the larger Sanjak of Nablus. It had a population of 9 households, all Muslims. The inhabitants paid a fixed tax rate of 33,3% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, goats and beehives, a press for olive oil or grape syrup, in addition to occasional revenues and a fixed tax for people of Nablus area; a total of 3,780 akçe.[5]

In the 1882 PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP), Merkeh is described as: "a hamlet on the side of a bare hill."[6]

British Mandate era

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Merka had a population 142 Muslims,[7] increasing in the 1931 census to 167 Muslim, in a total of 32 houses.[8]

In the 1945 statistics, the population was 230 Muslims,[9] with a total of 4,396 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.[10] Of this, 546 dunams were used for plantations and irrigable land, 1,300 dunams were for cereals,[11] while a total of 26 dunams were built-up, urban land.[12]

Jordanian era

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

In 1961, the population was 303.[13]

Post-1967

Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Mirka has been under Israeli occupation, and according to the Israeli census of that year, the population of Mirka stood at 142, of whom 59 were registered as having come from Israel.[14]

References
  1. Palmer, 1881, p. 188
  2. Projected Mid -Year Population for Jenin Governorate by Locality 2004– 2006 Archived 2008-09-20 at the Wayback Machine Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics
  3. Zertal, 2004, pp. 189-190
  4. Zertal, 2004, pp. 186-187
  5. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 128
  6. Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 156
  7. Barron, 1923, Table V, Sub-district of Jenin, p. 29
  8. Mills, 1932, p. 69
  9. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 16 Archived 2018-09-05 at the Wayback Machine
  10. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 54
  11. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 99
  12. Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 149
  13. Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. 25
  14. Perlmann, Joel (November 2011 – February 2012). "The 1967 Census of the West Bank and Gaza Strip: A Digitized Version" (PDF). Levy Economics Institute. Retrieved 29 January 2018.

Bibliography
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