| The topic : a historic brief about qaffin town . |
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 Qaffin townm
A town considers that followed up according to the historic sources from the oldest villages with the region, where he found monuments to extin ct villages and very old graves like then Racine, two suns and Al Ragmen father, and naming reason is related that followed up to a Canaanite word that concerns the rocks city and by it several rhymed prose from it are sheikh Othman's shrine and sheikh Mogahed's shrine, and followed up in the past expressing and main to the convoys .
· The Sit :-
A town falls that followed up in north of City of Tulkarm with about twenty km, and she is an average site in Palestine between the coastal plain a west, and the eastern heights and the middle finger an east, on the old commercial convoys way between Syria and Egypt, and this site distinguished the town, its making of the kiblah of the sights of the conquerors and their armies passage, the town surrounded by the mountains from all of the trends what ran to the side of the west where it overlooks the internal and coastal plain to Palestine, and the town is famous for the olive trees where that the ratio of 80 % from the town lands is planted with the olive trees, and the town is characterized by an atmosphere .
The number of the citizens : -
The number of town citizens in 1922 to 800 persons reached and in year 1931 to 1085 persons and in year 1961 to 2457 persons and in year 1997 about 7000 persons and now it is estimated at about 9000 persons, as the number of the refugees in the town are estimated at about 400 persons
The educational and social situation and the health one of the mane : -
1. The town contains four schools of the males and the females and total number of the students in the schools 2500 students and a student, and the town suffers from a real crisis for lack of scooping of the students and the students, and the town in dire need of the schools of one of them of the males and the other of the females for the solution of the problem of the big numbers of the students in the class rooms and the annual need for the addition of a number of the rooms .
2. The health condition in the town : there is a single health clinic in the town belonging to the Ministry of Health it offers the services for the citizens for the ordinary and emergency conditions it turned to City of Tulkarm by the distance of 20 km .And the town in dire need of a health clinic .
1. Theree is available in the town a well artesian for the drinking, and the village approves a great dependence on the crop of olive and work inside the green line, and the presence of what is named the security barrier the village has lost 80 % of the agricultural lands
2. The damages :
She considers the town from the most affected countries which is named the security barrier, where it took place the confiscation of five thousand donum behind the wall, in addition to six hundred donum its sweeping and splitting the wall took place from it .
The economic activities : -
The town approves a great dependence on the land, where that about 90 % from the town lands is planted with the olive trees, where it considers the main season in the town, and it considers the town imports of the olive by about 3 millions dollars and because of the wall and confiscation of 70 % from the lands and the non ability of farmers from the arrival at their lands because of the wall the town has lost the main economic supplier
.And the town depends also on the labor forces and because of the wall and the closures inside the green line the town has lost the second economic supplier in the town and with the loss of these resources the town has lost about 85 % of its resources .
The number of the farmers : -
Most town peoples from the young farmers and estimates by
The number of the merchants : -
The number of the shops reach in the town about hundred and twenty shops, most of them are small groceries and other minor services
The number of the workers : -
The town approves a main dependence on the labour where that most town peoples are professionals and workers and their number by about more than 2000 worker idle from the work estimates, and estimates at about 80 % of the labor forces and because of the closures and the presence of what is named the security barrier and the non ability of workers from the arrival at their works inside the green line, most town peoples are unemployed from the work .
The number of the subscribers in the services of water and electricity : -
The number of the subscribers reach in the services of water and electricity 1200 subscribers .
The resources : -
The main resources in the town are the agriculture and the labour about 85 % of total of the resources and because of the wall and the closures the town lost 85 % of their resources and the rest of the resources a part of them are employees by the ratio of 5 %, and rest is workers they work in a form An intermittent .
The projects that have been executed : -
1. An integrated water network with Haoz .
2. A Qatari electricity network .
3. Streets network 8 km long .
4. The execution of a typical school project of the main females, and the addition of class chambers of all of the main is males and the secondary ones females .
5. The municipality has worked a project by the Italian stone by an Italian enterprise .
6. The project of the exchange of the waters pumps working on the diesel so that it makes by the electricity .
7. The electricity network development project .
8. Class chambers addition project of each of the secondary school of the males, and the secondary school girls
The town projects are in need for them : -
1. An additional water Haoz .
2. A typical kindergarten .
3. Parks and recreational places .
4. The paving of a number of the internal and external ways .
5. Building two integrated schools one of them of the females and the other to the males .
20/8/2008
According to historical sources, Qaffin constitutes one of the oldest cities in the region and ancient ruins hinting to extinct populations are commonly found. The name "Quaffin" is probably of Phoneician origin and means "City of Rocks".
1. Location of Village
The city of Qaffin is located approximately 20km north of Tulkarm and around 15km west of Jenin.
2. Current population, previous population. How many villagers are living outside Palestine?
Qaffin has a population of approximately 9,600 people.
4,000 villagers currently live outside of Palestine, most of which have left to Jordan in 1948. At the same time around 500 people who fled their villages in the wars of 1947/1948 found refuge in the village and live there ever since. Another 300 people who currently live in Qaffin similarly fled their homes but were not given formal refugee status.
3. Main forms of employment, currently and before the 2nd Intifada.
Employment (estimates)
40% of Qaffin’s workforce is unemployed;
Up until the year 2000 a majority of Qaffin's workforce was employed in Israel, a 10-minute walk away from Qaffin. During and after the 2nd Intifada when hardly any Palestinian was allowed to cross the Green Line, 70% of the population of Qaffin was left unemployed.
Today around 30% of Qaffin is employed in Israel;
20% of Qaffin is employed in Qaffin's commercial and service sectors as well as in administration;
Although a majority of the population used to rely on agricultural work on their land, now, due to the military occupation and especially the Wall, only 10% of the people of Qaffin use agriculture as a main source of income.
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4. Agriculture:
Like in most other Palestinian villages olive trees are the main agricultural crop. Around 80% of Qaffin's land is planted with olive trees.
5. Form of government, e.g. Village council, municipality. Appointed or elected. If elected, when were the last elections? If appointed, does each family have a representative?
Elections & Representation:
Qaffin’s village council was elected in June of 2006.
Of the 11 representatives 2 are female, following a quota introduced in 2005 and 9 are men.
7 representatives are Fatah; 4 are Hamas.
The next elections are projected to occur in June of 2010.
6. Political, religious and civic organizations e.g. Mosques, women’s organizations.
Mosques: Qaffin has four mosques.
Women’s Organizations: Qaffin has three women’s organizations: "Taslef & Tauffer", a micro financing group; "Saedat Shaweal" (Engl.: “gentle ladies”) a Fatah organization; and a social workers’ co-operative.
Youth Organization: Qaffin has one youth organization, a soccer camp for only boys.
Sports Clubs: There is one sports club in Qaffin.
Political Organizations: Qaffin is represented by Fatah, Hamas, and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
7. Services: Any schools or clinics? How many shops? Nearest hospital, nearest university.
Schools: Qaffin has four operating schools, two for girls and two for boys. Reportedly, Qaffin has been approved for $1 million to build a fifth school, for only girls.
Health Center: Qaffin has one public health center, which operates 8am-2pm, five days a week. Qaffin has 4-5 private doctors that charge money for their services. Emergency cases are transported to Tulkarm or Nablus. Hamas built a small hospital in Qaffin two years ago, but due to shortages of doctors, staff, medicines, and equipment, the hospital has never opened.
University education: Residents of Qaffin go to Jenin, Tulkarem, or Nablus for university education.
8. Utilities: Does the village have electricity, running water? When did they receive these? Other water sources. Any restrictions on their use?
Electricity was connected into Qaffin in 1984.
Water pipelines were built in 1990. Today, every house in Qaffin is connected to the water pipes; however, the pipes are too thin, the quantity of supplied water is too small, and the water pressure is too weak for all of the homes in the village to receive water throughout the entire day. Two hundred houses only receive water at night, when the other houses are not depleting the water and water pressure supply for the village.
The pipes that deliver water to Qaffin are 20 years old. Qaffin looses a lot of (expensive) water to extensive leaks in the pipelines. Because it is difficult to discern exactly where the leakages are, Qaffin hopes to replace all the water pipelines to the village.
9. Transportation: what transportation services exist, transportation and road closure problems.
Buses: One bus runs through Qaffin once per day. It goes to Tulkarem. No bus connects Qaffin to Jenin.
Road Closures: The road between Qaffin to Jenin has been permanently blocked by a metal gate since 2005. Since then, a large road connecting settlements has been built several feet beyond the closure. When the road is open, the 15 kilometers between Qaffin and Jenin require only a 10-minute drive; since 2005, at least one hour is necessary to drive between Qaffin and Jenin.
10. Housing: Village plan, problems with building permits, and history of house demolitions.
Demolitions: Four houses have been demolished: two because families moved to Jordan and two because they were located in Area C, where there is full Israeli control over security, planning and construction. Both these houses as well as a petrol station were considered by the Israeli military authorities as "threats to security" and were therefore being demolished.
Projected Demolitions: Two houses, similarly located in Area C have pending demolition orders. One petrol station has a pending demolition order.
11. Land confiscation, the Wall and access to land
1984 600 dunums of land belonging to farmers from Qaffin have been confiscated in order to build the settlement of Hermesh. Around two hundred families whose land is scattered around the settlement find it increasingly hard to access and work on it.
Another 5,000 dunums of land were practically annexed to Israel through the building of the Separation Barrier. Four hundred families have agricultural land behind the barrier.
So far only one gate within the Wall may be used by Palestinians. This gate is however only opened at specific times and only one or two days per week. Additionally, the gate itself is located 4km from most of Qaffin’s farmers’ land. Because cars, tractors, and also animals are prohibited from crossing the gate, Qaffin farmers and their families loose up until six hours each of these two days to moving by foot to and from their land. This closure is causing serious problems for Qaffin’s farmers.
Israel approved construction of a second gate in the apartheid wall. This new gate would open near the middle of Qaffin’s extra-walled land, such that 2km of Qaffin land would be on either side of the gate. Construction of this gate was begun but was not finished; the wall remains sealed.
12. Settlements: when built, population? Settler roads? Any problems with settlers?
In 1984 the illegal Israeli settlement of Hermesh was built on Qaffin land.
Hermesh which has approximately 200 residents, is situated at the main road connecting Jenin with Qaffin and also with Tulkarm. Approximately in 2005 this road was closed for Palestinian use by the Israeli military. This does not only complicate the travel between Tulkarm and Jenin and Qaffin and Jenin but further also hampers some farmers' access to their lands which are located around the settlement and the road beneath the gate.
According to locals settler attacks on Palestinians do occur occasionally.
13. Past human rights violations: killings, serious injuries, house demolitions, administrative detention by army and/or settlers.
Arrests, administrative detention etc. One hundred and fifty Qaffin villagers are currently held in Israeli prisons, including 22 children under the age of 16.
Killings: One Qaffin villager has been killed by the Israeli army since the 1st Intifada.
With Best WISHES
Qaffin Municipality
Saeed Harashi
| | Posted on الأثنين 13 أكتوبر 2008 by admin |
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ct villages and very old graves like then Racine, two suns and Al Ragmen father, and naming reason is related that followed up to a Canaanite word that concerns the rocks city and by it several rhymed prose from it are sheikh Othman's shrine and sheikh Mogahed's shrine, and followed up in the past expressing and main to the convoys .