Rujeib (Arabic: روجيب) is a Palestinian town in the Nablus Governorate of the State of Palestine, in the northern West Bank, located 3 kilometers southeast of Nablus. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the town had a population of 5,964 inhabitants in 2017.[1]

Rujeib
Arabic transcription(s)
 • Arabicروجيب
 • LatinRujib (unofficial)
Rujeib is located in State of Palestine
Rujeib
Rujeib
Location of Rujeib within Palestine
Coordinates: 32°11′27″N 35°17′34″E / 32.19083°N 35.29278°E / 32.19083; 35.29278
Palestine grid177/177
StateState of Palestine
GovernorateNablus
Government
 • TypeVillage council
Population
 (2017)[1]
 • Total5,964
Name meaningeither from personal name, or for a prop for a tree,[2]

Location

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Rujeib is located 4.3 km south east of Nablus. It is bordered by Beit Furik to the east, ‘Awarta to the south, and Nablus to the north and west.[3]

History

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There was a human habitation here during the Chalcolithic era.[4][5]

Sherds from the Late Bronze Age/Iron Age I,[5] Hellenistic,[5][6][7] Roman[5][6] and Byzantine[5][6] eras have been found here.

It has been suggested that Rujeib was the Crusader village Ragabam, which was one of the villages exchanged with Bethany by King Baldwin I and given as a fief to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.[8][9] Pottery from the Crusader era have also been found here.[5]

Ottoman era

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In 1517, the village was included in the Ottoman empire with the rest of Palestine, and in the 1596 tax-records it appeared as Rujib, located in the Nahiya of Jabal Qubal in the Nablus Sanjak. The population was 16 households and 1 bachelors, all Muslim. They paid a fixed tax rate of 33.3% on agricultural products, such as 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 3,600 Akçe.[10]

In 1838, Raujib was noted in the El-Beitawy district, east of Nablus, together with Beita, Haudela and Awarta.[11] In 1850/51 de Saulcy noted Roujib on a lower hill than Beit Dejan.[12]

In 1870, Victor Guérin noted that Rujeib was a "village of three hundred inhabitants more, on a hill whose flanks were formerly, in several places, exploited as a quarry. Cactus hedges serve as enclosures for some gardens."[13]

In 1882, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestinedescribed Rujib as "A village of moderate size to the east of the plain so named, with a few olives round it."[14]

British Mandate era

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In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Rujib had a population of 250 Muslims,[15] increasing in the 1931 census to 277 Muslims, in 58 houses.[16]

In the 1945 statistics, Rujeib had a population of 390 Muslims[17] while the total land area was 7,038 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[18] Of this, 235 dunams were used for plantations and irrigable land, 3,410 for cereals,[19] while 30 dunams were classified as built-up (urban) areas.[20]

Jordanian era

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

In 1961, the population of Rujeib was 628 persons.[21]

Post 1967

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Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Rujeib has been under Israeli occupation. The population in the 1967 census conducted by Israel was 831, of whom 30 originated from the Israeli territory.[22]

After the 1995 accord 28% of Rujeib’s lands were classified as Area B, the remaining 72% as Area C. Israel has confiscated 169 dunams of land from Rujeib for construction of the Israeli settlement of Itamar.[23]

Demography

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Origins

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Residents of Rujeib have their origins and family connections in the village of Beita.[24]

References

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  1. ^ a b Preliminary Results of the Population, Housing and Establishments Census, 2017 (PDF). Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) (Report). State of Palestine. February 2018. pp. 64–82. Retrieved 2023-10-24.
  2. ^ Palmer, 1881, p. 189
  3. ^ Rujeib village profile, ARIJ, p. 4
  4. ^ Jaroš and Deckert, 1977, p. 28
  5. ^ a b c d e f Bull and Campbell, 1968, p. 31
  6. ^ a b c Finkelstein et al, 1997, p. 709
  7. ^ Jaroš and Deckert, 1977, p. 44
  8. ^ Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. 11
  9. ^ Conder, 1890, p. 33 NB: Conder mistakenly places Rujeib on SWP map 14
  10. ^ Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 135
  11. ^ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, pp. 94, 103, 2nd Appendix, p. 128
  12. ^ Saulcy, 1854, vol 1, p. 99
  13. ^ Guérin, 1874, pp. 462 -463
  14. ^ Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 168
  15. ^ Barron, 1923, Table IX, p. 24
  16. ^ Mills, 1932, p. 64
  17. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 19
  18. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 61
  19. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 107
  20. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 157
  21. ^ Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. 26
  22. ^ Perlmann, Joel (November 2011 – February 2012). "The 1967 Census of the West Bank and Gaza Strip: A Digitized Version" (PDF). Levy Economics Institute. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  23. ^ Rujeib village profile, ARIJ, p. 14
  24. ^ Grossman, D. (1986). "Oscillations in the Rural Settlement of Samaria and Judaea in the Ottoman Period". in Shomron studies. Dar, S., Safrai, S., (eds). Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishing House. p. 356

Bibliography

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