Kafr Qallil () is a Palestinian town in the Nablus Governorate of the State of Palestine, in the northern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the town had a population of 3,029 inhabitants in 2017.
Location Kafr Qallil is located 4.30 km south of Nablus. It is bordered by Nablus to the north and east, and by Burin to the south and west.Kafr Qallil Village Profile, ARIJ, p. 4-7
History Pottery sherds from the early and late Roman and Byzantine eras have been found here.Bull and Campbell, 1968, p. 35 In addition to ceramics, inscriptions dating to the Byzantine era have been found here.Dauphin, 1998, p. 800
Pottery from the Umayyad era has also been found here.
Kafr Qalil was mentioned in the Samaritan Chronicle,Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 163 and was inhabited by the Samaritans in the 7th century CE.Conder, 1876, p.196 Samaritan historian Benyamim Tsedaka references the Samaritan 'Aanaan family, cited in an 8th-century source, as former inhabitants of Kafr Qalil before their destruction or conversion. The Samaritan lineage record, called the Tolidah, mentions a Rabbi called Iṣḥāq b. Khalaf of the Benē Maṭar taught the Torah and lived in Kafr Qalīl before moving to Beit Bizzīn near Kafr Qaddum.Marom, Roy. "Continued Pasts: Samaritan Tolidah Extensions and Self-Reflections on History." Texts as Living Objects: Dhayls and Knowledge Transmission in the Islamic World, edited by Sacha Alsancakli and Philip Bockholt, Brill, 2026, pp. 223–49 (pp. 231-232).
Ottoman era Incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517 with the rest of Palestine, in 1596 the village appeared in Ottoman tax registers as being in the nahiya of Jabal Qubal, part of Nablus Sanjak. It had a population of 50 households and 11 bachelors, all Muslim. They paid a fixed tax-rate of 33.3% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, goats and beehives, in addition to occasional revenues and a press for olive oil or syrup; a total of 15,000 akçe.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 135
In 1838, Kefr Kullin was noted as a village on the side of Mount Gerizim,Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, p. 94 located in the District of Jurat 'Amra, south of Nablus.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. 127
In 1870, Victor Guérin described it as being a village of two hundred inhabitants, separated by a valley in two districts, one northern and the other southern. A few gardens adjoined it.Guérin, 1874, p. 459
In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described Kefr Kullin as "A small village at the foot of Gerizim, with a spring in it; it stands higher than the main road."
British Mandate era In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Kufr Qallil had a population of 298 Muslims,Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Nablus, p. 24 increasing at the time of the 1931 census to 332, still all Muslim, in 79 houses.Mills, 1932, p. 63
In the 1945 statistics, Kafr Qallil (including Khirbat Sarin) had a population of 470, all Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 18 with 4,732 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 60 Of this, 83 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 2,397 were used for cereals,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 106 while 39 dunams were built-up (urban) land.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 156
Jordanian era In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Kafr Qallil came under Jordanian rule.
The Jordanian census of 1961 found 749 inhabitants here.Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. 26
1967, aftermath Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Kafr Qallil has been under Israeli occupation.
After the 1995 Accords, 27% of the village land was classified as Area A, the remaining 73% as Area C. Kafr Qallil Village Profile, ARIJ, p. 14
Israel has confiscated hundreds of dunams of land from the village. Some has been used for Israeli military checkpoints, and 15 dunams went to the Israeli settlement of Har Brakha. Kafr Qallil Village Profile, ARIJ, p. 15
Demography The inhabitants of Kafr Qallil belong to various families, such as the Amer, Mansour, and Theab families.
References
Bibliography
External links Welcome to Kafr Qallil Survey of Western Palestine, Map 11: IAA, Wikimedia commons Kafr Qallil Village Profile, Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem (ARIJ) Kafr Qallil, aerial photo, ARIJ Development Priorities and Needs in Kafr Qallil, ARIJ