Jenin

Jenin
View of Jenin from Mount Gilboa
Jenin
Arabic	جنين
Country	Palestine
Governorate	Jenin
Government	City
Also spelled	Jinin (officially) Janin (unofficially)
Coordinates	32°27′42.51″N 35°18′4.88″E / 32.4618083°N 35.3013556°E / 32.4618083; 35.3013556Coordinates: 32°27′42.51″N 35°18′4.88″E / 32.4618083°N 35.3013556°E / 32.4618083; 35.3013556
Population	35,760 (2006)
Jurisdiction	37,342  dunams (37.3 km²)
Head of Municipality	Hadem Rida

Jenin (Arabic: جنين (help·info)‎; Hebrew: ג'נין‎), is a Palestinian city in the West Bank. Jenin serves as the administrative centre of the Jenin Governorate and is a major agricultural center.

Jenin^[1] also refers to the adjoining Jenin Refugee Camp and is the name of the surrounding district within the West Bank. The area is designated to be under the administration of the Palestinian Authority.

Geography

The ^[2] overlooks both the Jordan Valley to the east and the Marj Ibn Amer (Jezreel Valley) to the north. Jenin is thought to be the site of the Israelite village of En-Gannim, mentioned in the Bible (See also: Anem).^{[citation needed]}

Etymology

Jenin was known in ancient times as the Canaanite village of Ein-Ganeem or Tel Jenin.^[3][4] The city of Ein-Ganeem is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as the city of the Levites of the Tribe of Issachar.^[5] After some years, the city's name was changed to Ginat. In book of Yehudit^[6] the settlement is mentioned as Gini. The Jewish historian Josephus also mentioned Ganim as a city in northern Samaria.^[7]

The modern Arabic name Jenin ultimately derives from this ancient name. The origin of the place as Ein-Ganeem was recognized by Ishtori Haparchi. In the 20th century C.E., the State of Israel built a nearby Israeli settlement, Ganim, also named after the ancient village. This settlement was evacuated in August 2005 as part of Israel's unilateral disengagement plan. Another Israeli community was also given the name of Ein Ganim, today part of Petah Tikva.

History

Jenin In 1937

Jenin was a center of civil unrest during the 1936-1939 Arab revolt in Palestine which was prompted by the death of Sheikh Izz ad-Din al-Qassam in a fire-fight with British colonial police, for whom a Hamas military wing was since named. It was also used by Fawzi al-Qawuqji's partisans. On August 25, 1938, the after the British Assistant District Commissioner was assassinated in his Jenin office, a large British force with explosives entered the town. After ordering the inhabitants to leave, about one quarter of the town was blown up.^[8]

In the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the city was defended by the Iraqi Army, then captured briefly by the forces of Israeli Carmeli Brigade during the "10 Days' fighting" following the cancellation of the first cease-fire. The offensive was actually a feint designed to draw Arab forces away from the critical Siege of Jerusalem, and gains in that sector were quickly abandoned when Arab reinforcements arrived. The southern entrance of Jenin holds a cemetery for the dead of the Iraqi army and some Palestinians who fought with them against the Israeli forces.^[9]

The Jenin refugee camp was founded in 1953 to house Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their native villages and towns in the areas that became the Israeli territory during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. For 19 years, the city was under Jordanian control; it was then captured by the Peled division of the IDF on the first day of the Six-Day War of 1967.

Palestinian control

The city was handed over by Israel to the control of the Palestinian National Authority in 1996. At the start of the al-Aqsa Intifada, Israel alleged that the city had become a central source for the dispatching of suicide bombers to the North and Center of Israel. According to Israeli sources, a quarter of all suicide bombings carried out in Israel during the current, second Intifada originated in Jenin. See Palestinian political violence for an in-depth discussion of this broader issue.

Battle of Jenin

Following the battle, Jenin fell under the control of the Israeli military.^{[citation needed]} In that time, residents of Jenin have been subject to extended curfews (over 150 days since June 2002, nearly all prior to 2004. Several Palestinian militants and nearby civilians have been killed by the Israel Defense Forces on targeted killings. 56 Palestinians were killed, the majority combatants, and 23 Israelis. UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) employee Iain Hook was also killed by Israeli troops on November 22, 2002.^[10][11]

Demographics

According to projections based on a 1997 census, the city of Jenin has a population of 35,000 Palestinians. The Jenin refugee camp housed approximately 12,000 refugees, according to UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) on 373 dunams (92 acres). Some 42.3% of the population of the camp is under the age of fifteen.

Features

One of the city's quarters is an official United Nations refugee camp housing mostly the descendants of Palestinian refugees from the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It has long been a center of Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The city includes the Martyr Doctor Khalil Suleiman Hospital. The city also includes a monument for German pilots whose planes were shot down in Jenin during the First World War and the monument holds an original propeller made of wood^[12] Recently, the city's only movie theater, Cinema Jenin, is being rehabilitated.

Government

Jenin municipality was established in 1886 under the Ottoman rule with no more than 80 voters and elections were made every 4 years until 1982 when the Israeli government took control over the municipality until 1995.

List of Jenin mayors:^[13]

Municipal elections were held in Jenin on 15 December 2005. Six seats each were won by Hamas and the local coalition of Fatah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Jenin was one of several Palestinian cities where Hamas showed a dramatic growth in electoral support. ^[14] The mayor of Jenin is Hadem Rida.

See also

• Cinema Jenin
• Jenin Youth Orchestra

External links

• Unofficial page (in Arabic)
• Who Lives In Jenin Refugee Camp?: A Brief Statistical Profile
• A project aimed at reopening a movie theater for the residents of Jenin and the refugee camp.
• Heart of Jenin documentary on PBS WIDE ANGLE

References

v • d • e Jenin Governorate Cities Jenin Municipalities Ajjah · Arrabah · Burqin · Deir Abu Da'if · Jaba · Kafr Dan · Kafr Rai · Meithalun · Qabatiya · Silat al-Harithiya · Yabad · Al-Yamun Villages 'Anin · Anzah · al-Attara · Araqah · Arranah · Barta'a ash-Sharqiyah · Bir al-Basha · Dahiyat Sabah al-Khei · Deir Ghazaleh · Fahma · Fandaqumiya · Faqqua · Jalamah · Jalbun · Jalqamus · Kufeirit · Mirka · Misilyah · al-Mughayyir · Nazlet Zeid · ‎ Rummanah · Sanur · ash-Shuhada · Silat ad-Dhahr · Sir · at-Tayba · Ti'inik · Tura al-Gharbiya · Umm ar-Rihan · Umm at-Tut · Zababdeh · Zububa

v • d • e Cities in Palestinian National Authority areas West Bank Bethlehem · Beit Jala · al-Bireh · ad-Dhahiriya · Dura · Halhul · Hebron · Jenin · Jericho · Nablus · Qalqilyah · Ramallah · Tubas · Tulkarm · Yatta Gaza Strip Bani Suheila · Beit Hanoun · Beit Lahia · Deir al-Balah · Gaza · Jabalia · Khan Yunis · Rafah

v • d • e Palestine refugee1 camp locations and populations as of 2005  Gaza Strip 986,034 refugees  Jordan 1,827,877 refugees  Lebanon 404,170 refugees  Syria 432,048 refugees  West Bank 699,817 refugees Al-Shati (Beach) 76,109 Bureij 30,059 Deir al-Balah 20,188 Jabalya 103,646 Khan Yunis 60,662 Maghazi 22,536 Nuseirat 64,233 Rafah 90,638 Canada Camp disbanded Amman New 29,805 Baqa'a 80,100 Husn 19,573 Irbid camp 23,512 Jabal el-Hussein 27,674 Jerash 15,696 Marka 41,237 Souf 14,911 Talbieh 4,041 Zarqa 17,344 Beddawi 15,695 Burj el-Barajneh 19,526 Burj el-Shemali 18,134 Dbayeh 4,223 Dikwaneh destroyed Ein el-Hilweh 44,133 El-Buss 9,840 Jisr el-Basha destroyed Mar Elias 1,406 Mieh Mieh 5,078 Nabatieh destroyed Nahr el-Bared 28,358 Rashidieh 24,679 Sabra Shatila 11,998 Tel al-Zaatar destroyed Wavel 7,357 Dera'a 5,916 Dera'a (emergency) 5,536 Hama 7,597 Hims 13,825 Jaramana 5,007 Khan Dunoun 8,603 Khan Eshieh 15,731 Neirab 17,994 Qabr Essit 16,016 Sbeineh 19,624 Latakia 6,534 Yarmouk 112,550 Ein Al-Tal 4,329 Abu Dis Aida 3,260 Am'ari 8,083 Aqabat Jabr 5,197 al-'Arrub 9,180 Askar 13,894 'Azza 1,828 Balata 20,681 Deir Ammar 2,189 Dheisheh 10,923 Ein Beit al-Ma' 6,221 Ein as-Sultan 1,888 Far'a 6,836 Fawwar 7,072 Jalazone 9,284 Jenin 14,050 Kalandia 9,188 Nur Shams 8,179 Shuafat (Shu'fat) 9,567 Tulkarm 16,259 1 The UNRWA definition of a "Palestine refugee" is a person "whose normal place of residence was Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948, who lost both their homes and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict ... UNRWA's definition of a refugee also covers the descendants of persons who became refugees in 1948." [1] Palestinian exodus · United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)