Habla is located just east of the Green Line, about 1-mile (1.6 km) southeast of the Palestinian city of Qalqilya as the crow flies, in the West Bank.[5][6] It is bordered by Al Mudawwar to the east and south; Ras ‘Atiya and ‘Izbat Jalud to the south, the Green Line to the west, and Qalqiliya, Wadi ar Rasha and Ras at Tira to the north.[2]
History
About a dozen tombs, with loculi have been found, together with cisterns. The type of tombs indicate that they are Christian.[7] Ancient remains of a mosque and houses have been found in the village.[8]
In 1265, Hableh was among the villages and estates sultan Baibars allocated to his amirs after he had expelled the Crusaders. Hableh was divided equally between three of his amirs: Izz al-Din Aydamur al-Zahiri, the na'ib of Al-Karak, Jamal al-Din Aqush, and Shams al-Din Sunqur Jah al-Zahiri.[9]
Ottoman era
During the period of Ottoman rule over Palestine, Hableh appeared in Ottoman tax registers in 1596, where it is listed as forming part of the nahiya (subdistrict) of Jabal Qubal in the liwa (district) of Nablus. It had a population of 41 Muslim households. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 33.3% on various products, such as wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, goats and beehives, in addition to "occasional revenues" and a press for olive oil or grape syrup; a total of 3,800 akçe, of which two-thirds went to a waqf (charitable endowment).[10]
Pierre Jacotin listed the village on his map in 1799.[11] In 1838 Hableh was noted as a Muslim village, in the Jurat Merda district, south of Nablus.[12]
Edward Robinson and Eli Smith visited Hableh in the mid-19th century and describe it as being situated along the southern side of a low rocky ridge overlooking a plain on which could be seen the villages of Qalqilya, Kafr Saba, Jaljulia, and Ras al-Ain.[13] Camping on the ground to the south of the village and north of a maqam on a low rocky hill, Robinson and Smith found themselves surrounded by cisterns dug into the rock.[13][14] Most of these had round openings, some with one or two steps by which one could descend into them to draw water. All appeared to be ancient, and only one was still in use.[13] There was also a sepulcher with an arched vault and an ancient wine press made up of two vats, one shallower and smaller than the other in which grapes would have been trodden with the juice going down through a hole to the larger, deeper vat directly adjacent and slightly below.[13]
Victor Guérin, who visited Hableh in 1870, said it contained 800 inhabitants. A few of the houses and the village mosque were built using large stones of apparent antiquity. He too noted the presence of ancient rock-cut formations around the village.[15]
In 1870/1871 (1288 AH), an Ottoman census listed the village in the nahiya (sub-district) of Jamma'in al-Awwal, subordinate to Nablus.[16]
In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described Hableh as a "village of moderate size, evidently an ancient site, surrounded with cisterns and tombs. The houses are principally of stone. The water supply from cisterns."[17]
By the end of the mandate period, in the 1945 statistics, the population had increased to 580 Muslims.[21] The village lands covered an area of 10,903 dunams: 8,391 of which were owned by Arabs, 570 by Jews, and 1,942 of which were public lands.[1] A total of 28 dunams were for citrus and bananas, 169 dunams for plantations and irrigable land, 6,847 for cereals,[22] while 15 dunams were classified as built-up (urban) areas.[23]
Inhabitants of Habla were among the 10,000 Palestinians displaced as a result of the 1967 war.[25] According to Nur Masalha, Israeli forces evicted civilians and deliberately destroyed Habla among a number of other villages during the war (such as Imwas, Yalu, Bayt Nuba, Bayt Marsam, Bayt 'Awa, al-Burj, and Jiftlik).[26]
After the 1995 accords, about 21.1% of the village land was classified as Area B, the remaining 78.9% as Area C.[27]
Separation barrier
Palestinians wait in groups of five for the Israeli soldiers to allow them through the "agricultural passage".
According to a report in The Jerusalem Times on January 24, 1996, Israeli bulldozers began levelling 1.7 square kilometers (0.66 sq mi) land in Hiblah belonging to its Palestinian residents in order to build an electronic wall that would separate the towns of Tulkarm and Kalkiliya from the Green Line. In February of the same year, it was reported that the security fence being built on Hibla's land would be 22 kilometers (14 mi) long and would separate the village from the Israeli village of Matti.[28]
The construction of the Israeli West Bank barrier to the north of the village in the first decade of the 21st century changed the life of Habla's inhabitants. Palestinian labourers line up every day before 5am at gate no. 1393 in the barbed wire fence surrounding Habla. Manned by soldiers from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). They wait approximately two hours so as to enter the seam zone, a closed military zone, where they seek to tend to land that they own there or in nearby Qalqilya or to work in these areas as manual labourers.[29]
All those entering the seam zone must have a valid "pass-permit" that allows them to leave and enter for work which is issued by the Israeli military authorities.[29] Those with the proper pass permits who wish to access Qalqilya can drive 12 miles (19 km) around the barrier, through multiple checkpoints.[5] Alternatively, they may use a tunnel that was built in 2004 to connect Habla to Qalqilya.[30][31]
References
^ abGovernment of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 75
